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Showing posts with label The Masters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Masters. Show all posts
The Design of Augusta National
Excerpt from the book The Caddie who won the Masters by John Coyne:
Augusta National Golf Club was originally a 365-acre indigo plantation. By 1857 it had become a plant nursery. At the height of the Depression the property was purchased by Bobby Jones, the brilliant amateur, and a friend of his named Clifford Roberts. Together they hired a Scottish golf architect, Alister MacKenzie, to design a course. There were American architects they could have hired, but Bobby Jones didn't want an American course - he felt they were too prescriptive. He wanted MacKenzie to design a golf course where every hole presented a problem or a puzzle for players.
Bobby Jones also wanted a course like St. Andrews in Scotland, with wide fairways, undulating greens, and bunkers that came into play only if a shot was mishit. He wanted each hole to look wide-open from the tee, and playable for any high handicapper, a hole that was a hard par and a difficult birdie.
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Tiger on verge, but not quite back
Back in the day this Masters would have been in the books. The "old" Tiger would have won this Masters in a runaway. All said and done, his 74 on Saturday included eight missed opportunities and Sunday he botched a three footer on 12 for par, didn't birdie 13, missed the eagle at 15, and didn't birdie 16, 17, or 18.
It didn't happen this time but there are tell tale signs that his game is returning to form. The front nine 31 with four birdies, an eagle, multiple fist pumps, and huge roars show that the game is still there. Overall though, the "process" is still in the works, most notably the putting.
The full swing looked much more grooved and ingrained and even Tom Watson said it looks like Tiger finally has the club in the proper position at the top of the backswing.
Once the swing changes fully click in creating more consistency, and the putting improves just a bit, Tiger should soon be hoisting a lot more trophies.
Whether you are a Tiger fan or Tiger hater, there is no doubt his game is capable of bringing unmatched electricity to the final round of major championships.
Photos / Getty
McILroy not alone in final round meltdown
Pressure. The intense pressure of the final round of a major championship and especially the pressure on the back nine at Augusta National on Sunday.
Rory McILroy started his Sunday by smashing his drive straight down the middle of the fairway at the first. Then, with a short iron approach shot, he pulled it left, short-sided himself, and then failed to get up and down when he missed a three foot putt. From there, the day turned into a disaster.
He fought hard to shoot only one over 37 on the front nine, but after hitting a tee shot into another zip code at the tenth leading to a triple bogey, he couldn't steady himself and it was over.
He's not alone however, with the final round blow-up. Most recently, Dustin Johnson had a six shot lead at the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble before posting a final round 82. Nick Watney held the lead at the 2010 PGA Championship before a final round 81. At the 2007 U.S. Open. Aaron Baddely held the lead before opening with a triple bogey and going on to shoot 80.
Of course, the most notable Masters blow-up happened when Greg Norman held a six shot lead over Nick Faldo in 1996. He shot a final round 78 to to lose by five strokes to Faldo, who shot 67.
It all just goes to show how much the stress and pressure effects the players with the lead heading into the final round of a major, especially younger players.
Charl Schwartzel: By the Numbers at the 2011 Masters
Charl Schwartzel became the 75th Masters champion Sunday with a final round 66 which included a bump and run chip-in from 60 feet at the first hole, a hole-out eagle on number three, and four consecutive birdies to end his round. He played the best down the stretch to defeat Adam Scott and Jason Day by two strokes to earn his first green jacket.
"Just an exciting day," Schwartzel said. "So many roars, and that atmosphere out there was just incredible. A phenomenal day."
Scores by round: 69,71,68,66 -14
Totals:
Eagles: 2
Birdies: 17
Pars: 46
Bogeys: 7
Greens in Regulation: 49 / 72
Putts per hole: 1.56 (2nd)
Prize Money: $1.35 million
Fed Ex Points: 600
With the win, he earns a lifetime exemption into the Masters, a five year exemption on the PGA Tour, as well as five year exemptions into the U.S. Open, British Open, PGA Championship, and the Player's Championship.
The Masters 2011 in Photographs
Final Round Photos
Third Round Photos
Second Round Photos
Tiger Woods 66 on Friday
Masters Final Round Pairings and Tee Times
Sunday Pairings and Tee Times:
2:40 Rory McILroy, Angel Cabrera
2:30 KJ Choi, Charl Schwartzel
2:20 Jason Day, Adam Scott
2:10 Luke Donald, Bo Van Pelt
2:00 Bubba Watson, Ross Fisher
1:50 Fred Couples, Geoff Ogilvy
1:40 Tiger Woods, Martin Laird
1:30 Matt Kuchar, Ryan Palmer
Complete tee times
Moving backwards day for Tiger
Any golfer can look back after playing a round to see where their score could have been lower. For Tiger Woods on Saturday at Augusta, the list is pretty long.
#1: Missed a five foot par putt (lipped)
#2: Missed a five foot birdie putt (lipped)
#5: Left birdie putt one centimeter short
#8: Failed to get up and down from behind the green on par-5
#9: Missed 8 foot birdie putt
#11: Missed 2 foot par putt
#15: Three jacked for par (missed 5 foot birdie putt)
#18: Failed to get up and down from over green (missed 7 foot par putt)
Had he taken advantage of all these opportunities, he would be at -13 with a one shot lead. Had he taken advantage of just half of these opportunities, he would be at -9, playing in the final group with McILroy. As it stands, he took advantage of none of them and is seven shots back. Woods most likely needs a 65 in the final round to have any chance.
McILroy, Quiros lead Masters at 7-under
First round Masters photo gallery
McILroy, at age 21, is attempting to become the youngest winner of the Masters since Tiger Woods in 1997. He took advantage of perfect conditions on day one to become the youngest first round leader in Master's history.
"I trusted everything," he said. "I trusted where I wanted to hit the ball. That's the key around here. With some of these pins, you can get tentative and try to guide it in there. You just have to pick your targets and trust your swing. I was very happy with the way I did that."
Quiros, the longest driver on tour, shot his lowest round at the Masters by 10 shots.
Trailing two shots behind at 5-under are 2009 PGA Champion Y.E. Yang, along with fellow Korean K.J. Choi.
Defending champion Phil Mickelson struggled with his driving accuracy all day, and finished with a 2-under 70.
Leaderboard
Photo: Rory McILroy / Getty Images
Tiger opens Masters with 71
Tiger Woods first round photo gallery
Woods nearly holed out his third shot at the par-5 15th for eagle but had to settle for par after missing a 10 footer for his birdie. On 17, after hitting his approach shot over the green from the trees, he played a magnificent flop shot, stopping the ball just two feet from the hole and saved his par. At the 18th, he stuck his approach shot to 10 feet, but missed the putt after over-reading the break.
"I hit a lot of beautiful putts today," Woods said after the round to ESPN. "Realistically, I could of had a 68 or 69."
Asked if he felt confident with his swing changes, he replied, "Absolutely. This is a major championship. It's go time. I'm only six shots off the lead."
This is a decent start for Woods because as the saying goes, you can't win the Masters after the first round, but you can lose it. A 71 puts him in a good position, just six shots off the current lead heading into Friday.
Tiger Woods not among some Masters golf picks
I entered into a Masters Pool in which I had to assemble a "dream team" of eight golfers: if my "team of eight" racks up the most prize money, I win the golf pool. Although I cannot say who started the pool, I can show you who I chose as my top finishers (not in any particular order). As an interesting note, twenty entries out of fifty-four did not include Tiger Woods which is this particular golf pool's record.
Here is my dream team of top money winners with quotes relating to how they feel going into The Masters.
1. *Phil Mickelson: After shooting weekend 63-65 win the Shell Open.
“It was a big confidence-booster,” Mickelson said. “To have that performance heading in here feels really good. It reminds me of 2006.”
*My pick to win the Masters
2. Tiger Woods: "Been using my new app to prepare. I’m loving it – what do you guys think?" http://t.co/Qw8VEEe (Another sales pitch...ahem)
"Logging so many hours heading into Augusta this week. Nervous, excited, hoping the hard work pays off." 5 days ago, Tiger Woods on Twitter
3. Martin Laird 4. Hunter Mahan during par-3 contest, talking about Palmer, Nicklaus and Player, It doesn't get better than these legends!!5. Dustin Johnson: "I've had a few opportunities to go play (Augusta), just a casual round. I didn't really want to because I wanted to earn my way into it."6. Bubba Watson "A little rusty on the golf course today. Need to hurry up & get good before next Thursday!!" Twitter, 1 Apr
7. Ryo Ishikawa: "My goal is to be in contention here at Augusta National," Ishikawa said Tuesday, after being grouped with three-time major winner Padraig Harrington and Bill Haas for the first two rounds.
‘‘But I don’t want to just contend. I want to fight it out with Woods for the title some day."8. K.J. Choi: "I just need to be 100 percent focused to the very last shot and the last hole on Sunday and stay patient," said Choi.
"There's no room for small mistakes and I'm not just referring to the shots you hit on the golf course. The Masters is more than that. I failed to do that last year during the final round." Choi finished in 4th place at the 2010 Masters.
Voice your opinion and your Masters picks on Golf4Beginners on Twitter
Read more blogs on Golf for Beginners
Will we see a Master's sudden death playoff?
Sudden death playoffs can be good, but if a guy hits one bad shot, he could be done immediately after playing well for four rounds. Ideally, it would be great if they made it into a three hole aggregate using holes 11, 12, and 13. This would be three of the most famous holes in golf, a par-4, par-3, and par-5. It would create an even larger amount of drama by having the players go through such a tough but famous set of holes again.
Currently, I believe they start at 18, then go to 10, 11, and so on. This is decent but playing Amen Corner would be so much better.
The most recent playoff occurred in 2009 when Angel Cabrera defeated Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell on the third playoff hole. Prior to that, Tiger defeated Chris Dimarco on the first playoff hole in 2005.
List of past winners
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