2018 Masters

[Jack Lambert]

It's that time again. With the Houston Open in the books, it is officially Masters Week! The Masters is one of the best sporting events of the year, and I always look forward to watching. This year has no shortage of compelling story lines, with a lot of players who are playing well at the right time. Among the favorites are: Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, and Rory McIlroy. With so many good golfers playing well, this Masters should be one for the ages. In any sane world, the biggest stories of the week would be: whether Rory will win the career grand slam this week, Phil potentially riding his good play this season to a fourth Green Jacket en route to becoming the oldest Masters winner, if Jordan Spieth is able to shake off a so-so start to his season, Justin Thomas winning two majors in a row, if Rose is able to win after two runner-up finishes in the last three years, and if Bubba Watson is able to win a third Green Jacket.

However, the biggest story for the media, is of course, the return of their Messiah, Tiger Woods, to the Masters. Woods, despite not having won in over five years, is THE favorite to win the Masters over the golfers I mentioned above. Needless to say, there will be an undue amount of hype surrounding Woods this week. While it is a story line along with the others I referenced, the media of course, will be blowing it up much more than it actually deserves, and Woods will likely overshadow the other stories. If Tiger wins, it will be impossible to pay attention to any source of news, because Woods win will likely be broadcast everywhere for weeks on end.

Despite the media fawning over Tiger, it should still be a great tournament. Personally, I would like to see Phil or Jordan Spieth win, but any of the guys I mentioned above winning would be great to see. I'll be hoping for some fireworks on the Back 9 Sunday. As Carolina Speed mentioned in the regular thread, with all of the hype surrounding the Masters favorites, it wouldn't be surprising to see somebody come out of nowhere to win. It should be a great tournament! If you need something to tide you over, I noticed that The Masters has uploaded the Final Round broadcasts in their entirety from the last 50 years to YouTube, if anybody is interested in watching them.

 

[Jack Lambert]

I checked BSPN's golf page today, and in the least shocking news imaginable, 7 of the top 10 stories are about Tiger of course. At least "only" two of the "Top Headlines" are on Woods. Par for the course for this sports "news" outlet. The "non-Tiger" stories are on Bubba Watson, what it would take for a pro to skip Augusta, and Justin Thomas and Nick Saban. Nothing on DJ, Rory, Phil, Rickie, Justin Thomas, Justin Rose, or Jason Day. However, one of the stories is Day commenting on Tiger, so I guess there's that. Oh, and of course the Bubba story involves Tiger too. So even the stories on non-Tiger golfers end up being on, of course, Tiger. The media worship is absolutely nauseating. I usually don't root against players, but a Sunday Back 9 where Woods isn't a factor would be the best.

 

[Claimjumper]

I know we like referring to this event as one of the last vestiges of America 1.0 and I came across something that further drives this point home: the food and beverage prices. Nothing costs more than $5, and if you take beer out of the equation nothing is more than $3. Fair, spectator centric pricing with probably a slim profit margin built in.

 

[Jack Lambert]

I was watching one of the old Masters Final Rounds on YouTube. It was the 1977 Final Round, where Tom Watson won. What struck me is that Ben Crenshaw, who was playing with Jack Nicklaus was interviewed at some point and was asked about Jack. Crenshaw said something to the effect of: "We [other golfers in the field, I'm guessing] respect Nicklaus, we want to emulate Nicklaus, but we aren't afraid of Nicklaus anymore, so he'll have to play well to win." I would like to ask, where is that attitude today in regards to Woods? Now, with the exception of Mickelson and 1-2 others, it's the defeatist line: "If Tiger was near the top of the leader board, we knew nobody else was going to win."

Could anybody imagine Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, or any of those guys saying "Well, when Jack was near the top of the leaderboard, we knew nobody else had a chance."

 

[Carolina Speed]

I was watching one of the old Masters Final Rounds on YouTube. It was the 1977 Final Round, where Tom Watson won. What struck me is that Ben Crenshaw, who was playing with Jack Nicklaus was interviewed at some point and was asked about Jack. Crenshaw said something to the effect of: "We [other golfers in the field, I'm guessing] respect Nicklaus, we want to emulate Nicklaus, but we aren't afraid of Nicklaus anymore, so he'll have to play well to win." I would like to ask, where is that attitude today in regards to Woods? Now, with the exception of Mickelson and 1-2 others, it's the defeatist line: "If Tiger was near the top of the leader board, we knew nobody else was going to win."

Could anybody imagine Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, or any of those guys saying "Well, when Jack was near the top of the leaderboard, we knew nobody else had a chance."

Good point JL, however, I believe this was the attitude of the late 90's and early to mid 2000's. As you said with exception of a few, it was a pretty soft group as Tiger was coming up. Phil was pretty much all he had to compete against. Don't get me wrong, I think there's still some soft players out there. It's this generation, but I don't think the current group of youngsters are as intimidated by Tiger. Especially the Europeans. I don't think for one minute Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, John Rahm or even Ian Poulter are afraid of Tiger. I can't necessarily say that about all of the Americans with exception of Dustin Johnson or Jordan Spieth. I know Patrick Reed is not intimidated by anyone. He's a great golfer. He just hasn't been able to get it done in the Majors. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Reed won the Masters!
I really don't think we'll be talking about Tiger winning The Masters this weekend.
With all that said, give Tiger credit. He was not shy about what he wanted to accomplish and that was to pass Nicklaus and win more Majors. I don't think most of today's golfers have that kind of motivation. For all his talent, Dustin Johnson for one just doesn't seem to want it! The only current player that I've heard express interest in winning as many Majors a Tiger or Nicklaus is Jordan Spieth. I believe Spieth or Rory could catch Tiger, but they have so much more competition than Tiger had coming up.

BTW, did anyone see Nicklaus's grandson Gary Nicklaus junior make a hole in one on the last hole of the par 3 tournament. At 15, he has a great looking swing!

 

[Don Wassall]

I've been watching the Golf Channel some when I can, and the same theme is echoed over and over and over: "This is the most anticipated Masters ever!!"

Bull feces. It's greatly anticipated every year. The timing of it after a long winter is perfect, it has the peerless traditions, the legendary golf course and history, it's just a wonderful and unique event that all golf fans love and can't wait for every year.

Golf Channel's propaganda maestro Rich Lerner and the rest of the studio analysts cite a variety of reasons why this Masters is supposedly far and away the most anticipated, and then claim that they're just reflecting the feeling among golfing fans, but they're force-feeding a narrative based on the one reason they care about -- their idol Tiger is playing and has a chance to play very well.

Lerner portrays an urbane, intellectual manner, but he can rarely speak more than a sentence or two without mentioning Tiger Woods. He always leads the discussions when he's on-air, and when the subject isn't about Tiger directly, Lerner always mentions him at some point, and of course everyone else then has to add to the Tiger worship. He's actually a 10-year-old boy permanently stricken with puppy love for Tiger rather than a 50-something intellectual, but then again his Tiger love undoubtedly derives from his ideological agenda. He's a professional change agent, a relentless promoter of multiculturalism and feminism in golf, as are all the other analysts, or at least they know that at the very least they have to pretend to be a fellow traveler. Lerner's type are well placed all through the media to make sure the right narratives and agendas are being promoted.

At any rate, the Tiger-centric coverage has been a staple for going on a quarter-century now, as always it just needs to be tuned out as much as possible. Tiger hasn't won The Masters in 13 long years and is way past his prime and golf is a very healthy, super-White sport. As long as Woods isn't in the hunt it'll be fantastic theater as always, starting tomorrow!

 

[Carolina Speed]

As predicted, the Golf Channel covering or updating us on every single TW shot. Woods birdied early, but now has bogeyed a par 3 and is even through 4. Mark Leishman leading at -2.
Patrick Reed one of my favorites is T-2 at -1.
Garcia, -1

 

[Carolina Speed]

As predicted, the Golf Channel covering or updating us on every single TW shot. Woods birdied early, but now has bogeyed a par 3 and is even through 4. Mark Leishman leading at -2.
Patrick Reed one of my favorites is T-2 at -1.
Garcia, -1

Henrik Stenson, who we haven't said much about is -1 early.
Another bogey for Woods, now +1.

 

[CrazyFinn]

As of this post, Woods at +3 thru 12, 6 behind the leader and tied for 63rd. BSPN with wall-to-wall coverage, but soon to be on suicide watch.

I'm rooting as strongly as I can against Woods this Masters. I want him humiliated and out of contention by Friday, so we can all enjoy the perfect Masters weekend on CBS on HD with Jim Nantz.

 

[Carolina Speed]

As of this post, Woods at +3 thru 12, 6 behind the leader and tied for 63rd. BSPN with wall-to-wall coverage, but soon to be on suicide watch.

I'm rooting as strongly as I can against Woods this Masters. I want him humiliated and out of contention by Friday, so we can all enjoy the perfect Masters weekend on CBS on HD with Jim Nantz.

Yeah, they've covered Woods' every shot, but when Spieth went -1 not a word was said?

 

[Carolina Speed]

Yeah, they've covered Woods' every shot, but when Spieth went -1 not a word was said?

Finally, they mention Spieth as he goes to -2 after 3 holes! Look out!

 

[Jack Lambert]

Woods finishes +1 on the day after making a couple of birdies. He was at +3 at one point, and the media were probably getting ready to proclaim the Masters was not the "most anticipated" ever. He's only 5 back, still too close for me. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Spieth currently at -2 after an eagle on 8. At least now that Woods has finished, it's a lot easier to enjoy the coverage. This must be a record today, but they haven't mentioned Woods for 10 minutes straight!!

Some other notables:

Henrik Stenson and Patrick Reed finish at -3, just one back.
Ageless Fred Couples are Rory McIlory are currently at -1.
Phil Mickelson leads a large contingent at Even.
Bubba Watson at +1
Justin Thomas finishes at +2, where Dustin Johnson currently is.

 

[Don Wassall]

A brilliant back nine by Jordan. He birdied 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 and then made an all-world bogey on 18 after a horrendous tee shot. He shot 66. When I first tuned in it was Stenson and a group of unknowns at the top, but the big names came on along with Spieth. McIlroy looks very solid, Matt Kuchar, Patrick Reed, Rickie Fowler and Phil Mickelson all had very good rounds. But right now it looks like yet another Spieth domination from the get-go; can he win a second Masters with all the big names chasing him? He's won one and lost two after being the early leader. Another great tournament is already taking shape!

 

[Jack Lambert]

What a round from Spieth; his Back 9 was brilliant! Yet, when I saw BSPN's highlight show after the 1st round concluded, they were showing Tiger highlights first. I can't say I'm surprised. The way they rush to Woods highlights, you'd think he'd shot a 63 to start off. Back to reality; Spieth has that look about him again. Like when he won back in 2015. It'll be interesting to see if those big names 2-4 shots back will be able to put any pressure on Spieth this go around. Personally, with the way I saw McIlroy putting today (his three par saves to close out his round were huge), I think Rory will be the one to challenge Spieth at the top. With Spieth playing so well, I think those having shot a good round today will be the ones in contention, especially since most of them get the (usually more favorable) morning conditions tomorrow.

 

[Don Wassall]

I agree; if I had to predict this far out it'll be a Jordan-Rory duel, which would be fantastic. Rory's clutch pars on the final few holes were as impressive as his birdies. But there's a long way to go after an enjoyable first round.

 

[Carolina Speed]

I'll have to say, I caught the Golf Channel highlights and they led off with Spieth, however it was right to Woods after Jordan. It was interesting commentary on Woods after his first round. All were backing off the risen one a little, saying, "we need to wait until after the PGA and beyond to see if Tiger is truly back." "We need to see more of a body of work."
We'll see?
Also, Lerner went into slobbering over Tony Finau. About how much of an athlete he was. Probably the best on the tour. To which Brandel Chamblee said, "if he's such an athlete, why can't he celebrate without injuring himself by spraining his ankle. Finau dislocated his ankle after celebrating a hole in one during the par 3 contest on Wednesday. Not that the injury was funny, just the way Chamblee came back at Lerner.

 

[Don Wassall]

I guess that's a bit of an improvement over BSPN. I was watching the Penguins-Blue Jackets game but switched back and forth to BSPN when Sports Center started to see how Tiger-centric the coverage would be. About the first five minutes were dedicated to Woods, showing various shots and what he must do to get in contention, before they decided to cover what was actually taking place as far as the leaders of this great event. I've always respected Andy North and Scott Van Pelt on BSPN's golf coverage team, but North was paired with some black co-analyst. Blacks are so magical that even in sports where their visibility is close to zero (golf, hockey and tennis come quickly to mind), they're vastly over-represented among analysts and broadcasters. What an amazing race, shame on Whitey for holding back their clear-cut superiority in everything for centuries!

But yes, Lerner is sly but not at all once one pays attention to his role and how he leads discussions. He is Woods' all-time leading propagandist with no one else close and that's saying something, but he's always quick to focus on Fowler, Day, anyone who isn't one hundred percent White. Oh well, Fowler and Day are likeable and typical pro golfers in how they handle themselves, the best revenge as always will be seeing the fallen messiah fail yet again in a major, and CBS led by the always fair Jim Nantz will do their usual great job calling the tournament on the weekend.

 

[Fighting Pride]

Woods is +4, 9 off leader Marc Leishman as of this post.

 

[Jack Lambert]

Tough day of golf so far, but there have been some red numbers coming in as of late. The top of the leaderboard has been playing pretty well so far, with the exception of Phil, who put up some big numbers mid round.

The top of the leaderboard looks awesome right now!! Patrick Reed came out and birdied the first three holes of his round, and is the leader at -6. Marc Leishman continues to play good, and is in 2nd at -5. McIlroy finished -4, and Spieth will finish at -4 after a rough start, but another nice back nine limited the damages to +2. Fowler, Louis Oosthuizen, Dustin Johnson, and Justin Rose are all at -2. It's shaping up to be a great weekend with a lot of big names near the top!

 

[Thrashen]

At +4 for the tournament, Woods is 11 shots off the lead and is in 40th place. On Wednesday, the man who hasn’t won a Major in 10 years was the betting favorite...

Odds to win 2018 Masters (4/5/18):
Jordan Spieth 10/1
Tiger Woods 10/1
Dustin Johnson 12/1
Justin Thomas 12/1
Rory McIlroy 12/1
Bubba Watson 15/1
Justin Rose 15/1
Phil Mickelson 15/1
Jason Day 20/1
Jon Rahm 25/1
Paul Casey 25/1
Rickie Fowler 25/1
Hideki Matsuyama 35/1
Sergio Garcia 35/1
Alex Noren 40/1
Henrik Stenson 45/1
Matt Kuchar 45/1
Patrick Reed 50/1

http://www.vegasinsider.com/golf/story.cfm/story/1879590

Oops!

 

[Shadowlight]

The fawning fools were off "just a bit." Instead of thinking ( anyone with a brain knew he had no chance of winning) Tiger might win it they should have been focusing on the real question "will Tiger make the cut?"

Makes for a good laugh at least.

[Update--Four of the biggies are lurking and within striking distance and the battle of nerves starts to come into play so I figure at least one of the four-Dustin, Jordan, Rory or Justin will come charging. Nice set up for the weekend.]

 

[Carolina Speed]

Good point JL, however, I believe this was the attitude of the late 90's and early to mid 2000's. As you said with exception of a few, it was a pretty soft group as Tiger was coming up. Phil was pretty much all he had to compete against. Don't get me wrong, I think there's still some soft players out there. It's this generation, but I don't think the current group of youngsters are as intimidated by Tiger. Especially the Europeans. I don't think for one minute Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, John Rahm or even Ian Poulter are afraid of Tiger. I can't necessarily say that about all of the Americans with exception of Dustin Johnson or Jordan Spieth. I know Patrick Reed is not intimidated by anyone. He's a great golfer. He just hasn't been able to get it done in the Majors. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Reed won the Masters!
I really don't think we'll be talking about Tiger winning The Masters this weekend.
With all that said, give Tiger credit. He was not shy about what he wanted to accomplish and that was to pass Nicklaus and win more Majors. I don't think most of today's golfers have that kind of motivation. For all his talent, Dustin Johnson for one just doesn't seem to want it! The only current player that I've heard express interest in winning as many Majors a Tiger or Nicklaus is Jordan Spieth. I believe Spieth or Rory could catch Tiger, but they have so much more competition than Tiger had coming up.t

BTW, did anyone see Nicklaus's grandson Gary Nicklaus junior make a hole in one on the last hole of the par 3 tournament. At 15, he has a great looking swing!

Really good Masters so far! I'm rarely correct in making predictions, but so far I've been on. I make no bones about it, I always pull for Spieth. I hope he wins, but I said I wouldn't be surprised if Patrick Reed wins. I know we've got a long ways to go, but this could be Reed's time. I knew I liked him when he said a few years ago after winning a tournament that he believed he was a top 5 player in the world. Love the confidence, but the media jumped all over him. No one ever went after Woods for his arrogance!
Anyway, we have Reed at the top and Spieth still in the hunt when he could have folded.....and we've got the guy no one predicted, Marc Leishman in second. I said earlier I wouldn't be surprised if someone came out of no where to be in contention. I don't think Leishman was on too many people's list to win. It would be a great story for Leishman to win with the near tragic death of his wife. A real sentimental favorite. A man who withdrew from the Masters a few years ago and who put off his career for a while to take care of his wife and children.
Also, Rory with the possibility of the career slam.
..and Stenson looming as well as DJ and Justin Thomas.
Tomorrow looks like bad weather, so it should be interesting! Anything can happen and generally does at The Masters!

 

[Don Wassall]

Too bad Woods made the cut, unfortunately so much coverage that should be devoted to the actual contenders will continue to be about Woods. But I do think CBS's coverage will be a lot more palatable over the weekend than that of cultural communist strongholds ESPN and the Rich Lerner-led Golf Channel the past two days. I remember two or three years back, Jim Nantz saying something on-air to the effect that golf was in a terrific place with all the great young players and it was time to move on from the past, a not-too subtle dig at Tiger-mania. Of course, the media will never let go of Woods, but as long as he doesn't win any more majors the golfing analysts and "experts" will continue to reveal themselves as the deracinated buffoons they are. Who would have believed in 2008 what was about to happen to Woods in his golfing career and in his personal life. It remains glorious karma the fake news media can't do anything about; in fact they are the ones who invented and pushed the Tiger Woods myth of personal and golfing infallibility.

Can't wait for the final two rounds. Saturday is supposed to be a rainy day, and Sunday is forecast to be rain free but on the cool side. Like Carolina Speed, I'll be rooting for Jordan, then for Rory to complete the career grand slam. If neither of those two then one of the Justins, Thomas or Rose. It's also a big test for Patrick Reed and I would be happy if he can run the table. Stenson is in a very good position to pull it off. Marc Leishman's a great guy but would be a meh winner to me.

 

[sport historian]

An ESPN headline said "Woods Makes Cut!" Another said "There Is Accomplishment In Tiger Woods' Struggles at Augusta."

 

[Don Wassall]

An ESPN headline said "Woods Makes Cut!" Another said "There Is Accomplishment In Tiger Woods' Struggles at Augusta."

I was just checking the comments after that lead story on ESPN, and 95% of the comments are negative toward ESPN and its coverage of Woods. Some are funny, about ESPN now wanting to give Tiger a participation trophy after earlier predicting his victory.

Where is Tiger's army of supporters defending his honor? Could it be there are far fewer than the media claims there are? I'm glad so many people "get" that ESPN's coverage is way over the top, but how many think a little deeper and understand why it's way over the top.

There is accomplishment in Tiger Woods' struggles at Augusta

http://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id...-tournament-is-playing-healthy-accomplishment