"I may not say anything, I may just do sign language."

So nice to see Nick Faldo talking to the British press, this time to James Corrigan in advance of his first Masters in the booth:

"I've always said exactly what I thought, but if I do that at Augusta, only one thing will happen - I'll be out," he said, smiling as he thought of the expulsions that have befallen the loose-lipped in the past. "I'll be walking on eggshells and have my guidelines right next me: they're not 'fans', they're 'patrons'; it's not 'rough', it's 'first cut'. Actually, I may not say anything, I may just do sign language. Only joking. I'm sure Augusta will cut me some slack on my first year."

"I played the members' tees. I can't play the back tees anymore"

Does anyone know when Nicklaus made these comments? From an unbylined report from South Africa's Pretoria News:

Nicklaus played a social round at Augusta recently and came off the course disgusted with its new length.

"I played the members' tees. I can't play the back tees anymore," he told reporters. "Every tee I stood on I saw 73 to 91 yards before the back tee.

"The members tees at Augusta used to be 18 or 27 yards in front, which was a normal distance. It's so far now it is ridiculous, but every golf course is that way."

"I believe they were necessary"

From Ron Sirak's Golf World profile of new Masters Chairman Billy Payne:

The course changes under Johnson--criticized by, among others Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, who are members and winners of a combined 10 Masters--get Payne's approval. "I believe they were necessary," he says. "This course should never be reduced to driver-pitching wedge as it was becoming." He adds, however, a rolled-back Masters ball is still possible if another distance explosion occurs.

A follow-up for Wednesday's press conference: Do you believe the "second cut" and added trees are integral to preventing the course from being reduced to a driver-wedge design?

I know, I know...he won't say. 

Golf Digest Launches Masters Coverage

Groundbreaking stuff here, but it appears GolfDigest.com is actually going to start the serious online Masters coverage before the first tee shot Thursday when people have been known to go to the Internet for insights into what's happening on-site. I know, revolutionary.

They have some interesting looking blogs set up. A main Masters blog and a photo blog inviting reader photos from the event. And Bob Carney covers some other Masters related info in the "Editor's blog."

A Joe McNally photo from the Masters blog. Because we miss him already...

 

Tiger's Pre-Masters Visits

After winning at Doral:

 Q. How many times in the years you've played the Masters have you gone to Augusta the week before you get there?

TIGER WOODS: Only when there's changes. Only when they decide to rebuild the place.

Q. So most.

TIGER WOODS: Lately.

Augusta National Tree Planting Looks Just As Bad From The Air As It Does From The Fairway

The April Golf Digest features several aerial overviews of Augusta National, and while the "second cut" continues to make the once wall-to-wall tight grass layout look like a thousand other inland American courses, it's the tree planting that says, this could be any country club you see flying into O'Hare.

Most shameful of all is the 15th/17th corridor, which I had to look at twice to convince myself that it wasn't the super narrow 7th hole, but in fact the 17th on the left. Look how narrow those landing corridors are.

The Big Three Together Again?

Nick Seitz dreams of Masters honorary starter scenarios, including a Palmer-Player-Nicklaus trio. I think Middle East peace is more likely.

Palmer As An Honorary Starter

In reading yesterday that Arnold Palmer was considering the club's invitation to serve as the Masters Honorary Starter, I noticed that he's sounding more likely to reprise one of the tournament's great traditions.

While reading Scott Michaux's piece on it today, I wondered about this quote from Palmer:

"I'm giving it some careful consideration now that I have stopped playing competitively.  And you know Augusta is one of my very favorite places, and of course Bill Payne is a good friend and I think he is a great guy to have as the chairman.

"So as of this day, I am really giving that some serious consideration. It isn't that I have anything against doing it. I just want it to be the right time when I decide to do it. That's all."

Is he giving his more careful consideration because of the timing, or because Billy Payne is the chairman (and you-know-who is not running the show). 

The Nicklaus Golf Digest Article, Vol. 5

Finally, there were Jack's comments on Augusta National which I found interesting because last year he appeared to back off of his original assertions made during the Golf Digest Panelist Summit (and subsequently published in the April 2006 Digest).

No grey area here:

I miss the old Augusta National. Is the radically redesigned golf course a good one? Yes. Is it the golf course with the design principles that Bobby Jones and Alister Mackenzie intended? Absolutely not.

Augusta was generous off the tee, which made it great for everyday member play. But to score—to really play golf—you had to position the drive to get a good angle at the green. It was a second-shot golf course.

Now the tee shot is more restricted. Trees and new bunkering have narrowed the landing areas, making Augusta a tight course with few angles or options. I know the changes were made to provide an increased challenge for modern pros and keep them from overpowering the course, but it has taken the charm out of the Jones/Mackenzie design.

So much for any possible misinterpretation that Nicklaus thinks they are upholding the integrity of the original design.

I was disappointed that in doing the redesign, Augusta didn’t consult the five oldest multiple Masters champions who also are course designers [Palmer, Player, Nicklaus, Watson, Crenshaw]. We would have had a lot of good ideas, and we wouldn’t have clashed. We would have come to an agreement because we all have so much respect for what’s there.

Well, I don't know about the part about not clashing...but those five would be a lot better than what they've been doing! 

Payne: Bringing Back "Win-and-you're in" (Maybe)

Doug Ferguson sits down with new Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne and manages to wrestle one bit of news out of him:

Payne wants to restore starting in 2008 the eligibility criteria that PGA Tour winners receive an automatic invitation to the Masters. Johnson did away with the category after the '99 Masters when the Tour began scheduling events – usually with weak fields – the same week as the World Golf Championships and the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup.

But bringing back the "win-and-you're in'' category is not that simple.

Should the Masters recognize winners from opposite-field events in Mexico, Milwaukee and Reno, not to mention the seven events after the FedEx Cup?

Hey, what about PGA Tour events played against European Tour events with much better fields? Oh, sorry. Continue... 

And does it continue to take the top 40 on the PGA Tour money list or the top 30 in the FedEx Cup? Or both?

"There's a lot of arithmetic in this,'' Payne said. "What you don't want is all of a sudden to have 100 playing participants, and we have arguably eroded the quality of the tournament. Notwithstanding folks' opinion of how the best way to get there is, we're going to do the best we can.''

His goal is to keep the field around 90 players, and "anything that puts that number at significant threat has got an uphill battle.''

"If you knew what you were going to get every week, then there's no point in having me"

The Augusta Chronicle's Scott Michaux considers the impact of Nick Faldo's sudden retirement from Masters play:

Faldo might have been pushed into the booth at Augusta somewhat prematurely by the latest batch of changes that have lengthened and tightened the course beyond the reach of aging, moderate hitters such as himself. When he got his first glimpse of the course last April, he offered a clue about his future at the Masters.

"I can't play it now," he said. "I'm just here for fun. I can't compete on a course like this, but fortunately I know that I have three jackets in the locker room, so that's fine by me."

As for some of the changes, Faldo wasn't afraid to be critical. Having those three green jackets earns him the license to be critical without fear of retribution, just as other multiple winners and club members Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer enjoy. Faldo called the changes to the tee shot on No. 11 "a little heavy-handed," with the dramatic alterations making the hole "not the same by miles, and it's a shame."

"I'll be smiling and laughing in another 10 years' time, when all these pine trees have grown up," he said last April. "It will be a scream sitting up here drinking pina coladas and watching them thread it through the Augusta needle."

Faldo certainly won't be drinking cocktails from the tower above the 18th green, but whether or not he will be free to be that candid on the air with his say-no-evil colleagues at CBS remains to be seen. Faldo is a man not easily muzzled.

"I duck and dive and go with the flow each week," Faldo said. "If you knew what you were going to get every week, then there's no point in having me, I guess. ... I'm respectful. I'm not going to beat on the guys but I think I call it pretty fair and square."