Ahh, the beauty of early April is with us again. About Rory, Tiger, and Lefty, I say they’ll finish Tiger > Rory > Phil, but Tiger won’t get another jacket this year. My money is on Westwood.
Get jealous…I’m heading down to Augusta this wekend for Saturday and Sunday. I’ve only been to practice rounds before. My money is on Tiger. I’ve watched him more than anybody and he looks absolutely GREAT right now. Yeah, he just won, but his lack of winning wasn’t due to bad mechanics. At the PGA Tour level, 80% of any player’s game is mental. That’s why Rory collapsed last year, why Dustin Johnson imploded at Pebble, or why Dufner hasn’t won shit after having so many 36 hole leads. Tiger’s mental game is back and that’s the only thing that has been missing from his bag.
Bad weather rolled into Augusta today and is expected to continue through the first two rounds. That will make an already lengthy course very very long.
The short hitters like KJ, Furyk, Z. Johnson, and McDowell are going to need to be dialed-in with their long irons.
I went Tuesday to the practice rounds. It was my first time at Augusta and I was amazed at the course. One thing that TV does not pick up is Augusta’s undulations and slopes of the fairways and greens. We walked over 8 miles and it was just incredible. Phenomenal golf course.
In terms of who is going to win, you cannot go wrong with either Mickelson, Rory or Tiger. Until Tiger wins another major I don’t think he is back especially physically. He put things together at Bay Hill, but until he wins another major I think the young guys relish the challenge and are not intimidated by Tiger at all.
To me, Tiger looks like an old 36, although I am still a fan and I do want him to break Jack’s mark of 18 majors.
I like Justin Rose and Luke Donald this week as somewhat outside picks.
^hard to call the #1 world ranked player an “outside pick”
^ I like Luke Donald, but anyone ranked #1 without a major in his pocket is just keeping the seat warm for someone else.
Agreed. I think Luke Donald has to be considered among the favorites this week. I also like Keegan Bradley this week. It’d be unheard of for a player to start his major career at 2-for-2, but he’s playing well and has the perfect (i.e. long) game for Augusta.
Poor Stenson, after his dreamy first nine, that quad bogey was brutal. Augusta giveth, Augusta taketh.
Despite Tiger, I don’t botha watch da Massas.
Wow, what a finish.
Well done Bubba.