Masters Wrap: The Course And The Future

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It's hard to argue with Chairman Billy Payne's era as Masters Chairman. Sure, he follows the bumbling Hootie Johnson and just about any sign of progress or forward thinking would have made for a successful tenure after those turbulent years.

But the stability Payne brought to tournament business, coupled with the improvements to the property under his watch, makes it very hard to see anyone else doing the job (particularly when the not-gregarious Fred Ridley's name is mentioned as a likely successor).

Can you imagine anyone else spearheading the Drive, Chip and Putt or resisting the urge to spend some of that Berckman's Place money on more course changes? This was the point of my May Golfweek piece on Payne's tenure and the other many progressive moves that have upheld the Roberts/Jones desire to constantly advance The Masters as a sporting event. However, there is Payne's odd issue with cell phones, which doesn't make much sense when juxtaposed against other digital initiatives.

The summer of 2017 figures to be an interesting one for Payne since, as I wrote in this golf course-focused piece for Golfweek, the 5th hole is likely to see changes. The extent of the changes could range from a mere lengthening to a total land rearrangement to expand the course border once constrained by Berckman's Road.

Given the original hole's design concept, the changes made since, the difficult land forms at No. 5, and the lack of respect for strategic design by consulting architect Tom Fazio, I don't have high hopes for an upholding of the Jones/MacKenzie vision.

That said, Payne stemmed the Hootie Johnson era hemorraging, and that was a huge victory for those hoping to see some preservation of what remains from the original design vision.

The "second cut" of rough still strips the place of elegance that you get with wall-to-wall tight grass (not to mention slowing balls from the pine straw), and still rears its head on odd places.

The leafy, 3/8 inch-cut fairways do slow down roll but have made a links-inspired course almost entirely an aerial design.

With his first major golf course change potentially in the offing this year, we'll get to see another sign of Payne's chairmanship. One that most Masters watchers hopes does not end any time soon.

WSJ: "Low Amateur at the Masters Lines Up His Next Shot: Business School"

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While these stories could come off to the unsuspecting as extreme first world tales, having seen Stewart Hagestad up close last week and watching him handle his Masters "wild ride" with aplomb, his is another great 2017 Masters memory.

Brian Costa and Rebecca Davis O’Brien file for the Wall Street Journal on Hagestad's time in New York and the unusual golf life he lived in the city.

During the day, Hagestad helped put valuations on commercial properties. Most weeknights, Hagestad would head to Golf & Body NYC, a specialized golf gym in an office building off Herald Square. The gym, which has just under 200 members, charges a $10,000 initiation fee and $7,500 in annual dues.

He spent hours there, trainers at the club said—a routine in the weight room, putting on a turf green, practicing drives in a simulator—sometimes closing the club on weeknights at 10pm. One Saturday morning, Bradley Borne, the club’s director of sports medicine, arrived to find Stewart sitting behind the golf desk, “like he worked there,” Borne said.

Tim Rosaforte for Golf World on Hagestad's week that started with nerves, bad signs for his game and ended with a made cut, not to mention the joy of seeing Jimmy Dunne on the range. Hagestad had interviewed with Dunne for a job (unsuccessfully).

And there was this:

From the most nervous he’d ever been in that practice round with Spieth and Kuchar, to fairly relaxed as a Masters rookie, Hagestad made the cut and turned the competition for low amateur with U.S. Amateur champion Curtis Luck into a story line. After making the turn on Sunday, Hagestad’s caddie asked if he wanted to know what Luck posted.

“I told him honestly it’s not going to have any effect on how well I want to play on this back nine,” Hagestad said. “It’s a beautiful Sunday, the day before my birthday, on the most special place on earth. Let’s go enjoy the walk and do the best I can.”

Hagestad talked to Shane Bacon on The Clubhouse podcast this week and back in December, appeared on Andy Johnson's Fried Egg podcast.

He also was begged to turn pro on CNBC this week by Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leery, notes GolfDigest.com's Alex Myers.

'17 Masters TV: 1.41 Strokes Per Minute, Ratings Analyzed

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There is still much to consider from this year's Masters broadcasts, but before we consider what it all means for the future of golf on TV, a few stories related to the always-scrutinized telecast.

The annual Classic Sports TV compilation of shots shows that since tracking has taken place (2014), the 2017 Masters featured the most shots shown per minute (1.41). Kevin Chappell, 7th, was the highest finishing golfer not to be seen.

As for the ratings decreases, Joel Beall at GolfDigest.com talked to former CBS Sports president Neal Pilson who thinks the lovely weather in much of the northeast cut into the number of folks watching.

"Good weather is a killer in swing months. In the fall, people are sneaking in one last trip to the park, and in the spring, it's more pronounced, going outside for the first time," Pilson says. "It was a gorgeous day in the Northeast, where 20 percent of America's households are located. I had to struggle to stay inside myself."

Interestingly, Pilson did not think the number of people streaming cut into the main number. I think that may be a tough sell for those of us who all know people who...streamed instead of watching on a conventional television.

One Little 2017 Masters Quibble: Sudden Death

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I know that daylight issues discourage the Lords of Augusta from ever considering Amen Corner from being used for playoffs.

Deciding the Masters in a sudden death playoff continues to not sit well with me and Justin Rose's errant tee shot Sunday reminded why it's such cruel way to decide history. The other majors and Players use aggregate playoffs and the golf world is a better place for it.

Shoot, even a two-hole aggregate of the 10th and 18th would be better than sudden death and faster given the 10th tee's location. You'd get play on two demanding holes requiring very different shot shapes.

Matt Adams and I discussed with Lisa Cornwell today while John Feinstein enjoyed a post-Masters break.

The 2017 Masters Covers And Images

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Great to see golf on the Sports Illustrated cover accompanied by Alan Shipnuck's cover story and portrayed so beautifully by Fred Vuich's image.

A nice look at recent SI covers featuring the Masters:


Golfweek's April issue went with Andrew Redington's shot for Getty Images.

Global Golf Post used Harry How's shot for Getty Images.

 

ESPN! Stephen A. And Kellerman Trash Golf, Do We Care?

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Golf has needed ESPN but since losing or waving goodbye to the many golf properties they once enjoyed rights to, not so much.

ESPN the television network makes clear it needs golf once a year when the Masters rolls around (ESPN.com still shows great interest in and respect for covering the sport with their team of Harig, Sobel, O'Connor, Collins, Maguire, Wojciechowski, etc.). But as we saw with last week's no-golf Sportscenter in between live broadcasts and the round replays, golf seems to be an annoyance these days.

Still, the ignorance and disrepect shown by Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman takes things that may have the golf world no longer caring what the network thinks of our sport.

Let's get to the comments first as transcribed by Joe DePaolo (do watch the Mediaite embed as the tone is worse than the transcript.) Here is Stephen A lamenting the sportsmanship shown by Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose's:

This notion that we’re really not competing against each other. We’re really just playing golf and it’s really competing against the course. Nonsense. There’s a game to be played. Each of you go out there to do it. You’re trying to compete at a level that eclipses the individuals that are also on the course. Last time I checked, that’s competition.

He added: “I damn near told them to get a room. It was ridiculous, how they were with one another…I want to see you rooting for the other to fail.”

These comments were the most-noticed and they are silly given that Sergio and Rose did not walk arm-and-arm up the playoff hole. Even sillier when you have to know the heartbreak Rose the competitor feels in those moments and yet shows such respect.

Sure, there is a discussion to be had for players helping each other out by leaving balls down as backboards, or a softening of competitive edges due to the immense amount of money in the sport.

However, I feel the comments from Max Kellerman, Stephen A's colleague on First Take, speak to a lack of knowledge within the Worldwide Leader that is perplexing. He questions golf's "status as a sport" and then...

I would define a sport as a competition through which you accurately gauge the athleticism of its participants. And I don’t think that’s the case with golf. Among its many flaws…this ain’t Ali going at Frazier. They’re not throwing punches. They’re not tackling each other. They’re not in each other’s way. Golf is not a zero sum game. It’s more like a standardized test.

Needless to say we know some of the greatest athletes in the world have said they admire golf as a sport and have profound respect for their fellow athletes.

What's troubling is that a network we once relied on for balancing smart with entertaining coverage and for knowing where to draw the line on First Team All-American ignorance, even allows such an uninformed discussion to take place.

Mercifully, golf goes off ESPN's radar now until next year at The Masters. If there is a next year for ESPN.

Let's Savor Sergio's Masters Win A Little Longer

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Scanning the coverage of Sergio Garcia's 2017 Masters win, I noticed a fair number of stories looking ahead to the next major, wondering who is the next great player without a major and other random stories designed to generate clicks.

While The Players and BMW Championship will offer intrigue this year with renovated holes and so many players looking to move on from Masters disappoint, we have the bleak Erin Hills experience looming as the opposite of last week's joyful intrigue. So why rush?

A day later, the magnitude of Sergio's playoff win may not have sunk in.

--He finally has his first major after a historic number of opportunities.

--His play on the two back nine par-5s will join the highlight reels of best Masters moments.

--A lifelong drawer of the ball, Garcia won hitting a fade on a course that some feel strongly favors a right-to-left shot shape.

No matter how you feel about his behavior and attitude at times, golf fans should find it hard to ignore his incredible consistency, persistence even when he clearly mailed in some moments, and, in the last year, his maturation. (It is no coincidence this has happened since Angela Akins came into his life.)

In his USA Today lede, Steve DiMeglio referenced another chapter was looming in the "Shakespearean tragedy" that is Garcia's golf career.

Doug Ferguson's lede focused on the staggering numbers, especially as we stare down an upcoming era of careers shortened by money.

Eighteen years and 71 majors later, more tears for Sergio Garcia.

This time, they were accompanied by a smile.

Bill Fields summed up for Masters.com why we might even be in shock still that Sergio Garcia won a major.

People have been expecting Garcia to win a major ever since he burst onto the scene as a skinny 19-year-old and finished second to Tiger Woods at the 1999 PGA Championship, playing with joy and flair and the talent that said someday soon.

The skills never went away, because Garcia has been one of the purest ball-strikers of his generation, the primary reason he had 22 combined victories on the European Tour and PGA Tour prior to the 81st Masters. His putting can go hot or cold, but his attitude has been the anchor holding him back from more.

Randall Mell at GolfChannel.com took it a step further.

Sergio Garcia pulled off one of the great upsets of the modern era Sunday at the Masters.

Yes, few folks outside Garcia’s inner circle believed he could actually win a major championship, much less a green jacket, with such a formidable history of painful losses stacked against him, but the nature of this upset was even more stunning than that.

Over four hours at Augusta National, Garcia won the hearts and minds of American golf fans.
That’s your monumental upset.

Jaime Diaz of Golf World summarizes the backlash toward Garcia that may have prolonged his major chase.

In retrospect, Garcia suffered the backlash that often confronts sports prodigies. Used to both overwhelming their competition with talent and generally getting their way, being thrown in with older peers with more competitive grit and more polished skills can be jarring, especially when the expectations that were thrust upon them so early are, if anything, adjusted up. In Garcia’s case, he ran smack into the prime of Woods, a figure who, because he showed no mercy competitively, was especially chilly to potential rivals, and got into Garcia’s head. For the first eight years of Garcia’s career, the harder he tried to beat Woods, the more convincingly and dishearteningly he lost.

About that shot on 15 and the ensuing putt, it's the moment patrons on sight will forever remember and one of the best shots/putts/roars we've seen in years.

ESPN.com's Kevin Van Valkenburg on that moment and "one of the great finishing duels in Masters history."

How will you remember the 2017 tournament? I'll remember it, perhaps strangely, for the unplayable lie Garcia took in the azaleas at No. 13, and then the two perfect shots he hit to give himself an 8-foot par putt that he somehow made.

"I feel like if he misses at that point, I make, I'm four clear and I've got my eye on Thomas Pieters and Matt Kuchar instead," Rose said.

Without that moment of steely determination, which oddly came at the same time Rose began to spray his irons and drives like Sunday Sergio of old, we might never have the biggest shot of the tournament, Garcia's second shot into 15, which kissed the flagstick and came to rest in a spot where Garcia had a makeable eagle putt. Even Garcia conceded as much.

So let's wait a few days to look forward and focus on the recent past just a little bit longer...

2017 Masters Ratings Wrap: Final Round Down 11%, ESPN Streaming Way Up

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As with ESPN's ratings drop, I suspect some context is needed to fully understand the drop in CBS ratings thar surprises a bit given the quality of the leaderboard. However, with the exceptional coverage online that can stream in places never before imagined, it would seem inevitable that ratings should decline.

On the other hand, perhaps this is an opening for a serious dialogue about how golf is presented on television.

Either way, let's start with Austin Karp's Tweets for SBJ:

 

ESPN's ratings were down but they did reveal streaming numbers that would suggest audience went to other means of watching. For immediate release:

Masters Tournament Coverage Earns ESPN’s Highest Streaming Numbers Ever

ESPN wrapped up its live coverage of the first and second rounds of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on Friday, April 7, with its highest streaming numbers ever for the two days.

Golf fans streamed a record 25.8 million total minutes, a five percent increase from 2016, and the two-day average minute audience of 46,812 was up three percent from the 2016 record of 45,313. Friday’s second round stream from 3-7:30 p.m. ET earned a record average minute audience of 49,038 viewers.

The success story for the Masters on ESPN digital platforms also included a record two-day average of 961,000 unique visitors to golf content on the ESPN App, an increase of 34 percent over 2016. Also, a two-day average of 1.3 million daily unique visitors went to golf content on ESPN.com. Across all ESPN digital platforms, the two-day average minute audience of 23,000 people on golf content was a 14 percent increase from 2016.

ESPN’s live telecast of the second round of the Masters on Friday earned a 1.8 rating, averaging 2.603 million viewers. The telecast peaked at a 2.0 rating between 6-6:30 p.m. Last year’s telecast of the second round earned a 2.2 rating and an average viewership of 3.060 million viewers. 

Orlando, Fla., was the nation’s highest-rated metered market with a 4.0 rating for Friday’s telecast, followed by Greenville, S.C., at 3.9; San Diego at 3.2; and Greensboro, N.C., and Norfolk, Va., tied at 3.0.s

Completing the top 10 metered markets were Louisville, Ky., at 2.9; Cleveland and Memphis, tied at 2.8; and Tampa-St. Petersburg and Oklahoma City, tied at 2.7.

The Friday telecast completed ESPN’s two days of live Masters coverage, but SportsCenter and ESPN.comwill continue to report from the event throughout the weekend.

 Golf Channel's debut of Jack following Live From The Masters went well:

Last night’s 1st episode of Jack (.24 overnight rating) matched 2 of 3 episodes of Arnie, which premiered following the 2014 Masters. This makes Jack the highest-rated Golf Films project in three years, exceeding 4 other projects in that span (Payne, Arnie & Me, Crenshaw: A Walk Through Augusta, ‘86). Live+3 final data will be available later this week. Episode 2 of Jack premieres tonight at 9 p.m. ET.

ShackHouse: Sergio Garcia Wins The Masters

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Hot after the thrilling finish, House and I talk all things 2017 Masters: Sergio, Justin, the course, the broadcast, the bets and the performances.

The link is here on Soundcloud.

You can subscribe on iTunes.

Here is The Ringer's show page.

We are wrapping up special Masters coverage from The Ringer's ShackHouse with a very, very special giveaway from Odyssey: the O-Works One-Wide Putter complete with the Microhinge insert and the awesome commemorative Arnold Palmer headcover you’re seeing the Callaway Pros with this week at Augusta.
 
Get over to the Callaway Community and sign up, enter a comment in the giveaway thread with the year Arnie won his third green jacket.

2017 Masters Final Round Preview And Comment Thread

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The potential for a day unlike any other is there, with benign conditions, a softened course vulnerable to a low round, and a fantastic leaderboard. I'm dreaming of a classic, hope you are too.

As of 817 votes, 32% of you think Justin Rose will win, 26% Jordan Spieth. 

The leaderboard.

Golfweek.com's Live blog

All of the Masters.com live coverage is in operation.

Featured Groups are off and running.

Amen Corner should be a go around 12:30 ET.

Golf Channel's Live From is on until CBS starts coverage at 2 pm.

Remember, CBS has the half-hour special on Phil at 12:30 pm ET, followed by Jim Nantz Remembers on Arnold Palmer from 1-2.

Also, Amen Corner Live commences when play reaches the 11th hole, while other Masters.com coverage like Featured Group and 15/16, Masters On The Range.

 


And in case you need a mood setter, here's a nice new drone compilation posted of the back nine second nine.

 

 

 

Video: Spieth Off The Pine Straw At 13: "What Would Arnie Do?"

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One of the best moments in recent Augusta National 13th hole history happened Saturday at The Masters when microphones picked up Jordan Spieth's conversation with caddie Michael Greller.

The outstanding Amen Corner Live broadcast feed let us hear all of the conversation and announcer Grant Boone perfectly incorporated the moment into his call. Somewhat inexplicably, the dialogue and shot did not appear to make the CBS broadcast and therefore, highlights shows like Sportscenter and Live From.

Kevin Casey at Golfweek.com with some of the tweets and reaction to what is just a beautiful and saucey tribute!

Bill Fields at Masters.com on the round and Jordan's explanation of why he said it.

“I think Mike was taken aback,” Spieth said. “He was very much pressing for a lay-up there, and laying up was the smart shot. I couldn't see the green, given where the tree was located. The actual shot wasn’t blocked. It was just about committing to what you can see and what you actually know is there.”

Here it is:

2017 Masters Round Three This And That

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The leaderboard.

Golfweek.com's Live blog

All of the Masters.com live coverage is in operation.

Featured Groups are off and running.

Amen Corner should be a go around 12:30 ET.

Golf Channel's Live From is on until CBS starts coverage at 3 pm.

Your round three locations.

2017 Masters Round Two Wrap-Up

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There are multiple marquee pairings Saturday at Augusta National but it's hard to top these three in a row: Spieth-Mickelson, Rose-Scott, Rahm-Couples.

In the final pairing is Sergio Garcia, playing with Charley Hoffman who share the lead with Thomas Pieters and Rickie Fowler at -4. Steve DiMeglio's USA Today lede notes that Sergio is possibly the biggest story given his track record here and 2012 comments.

John Huggan on what a tortured history at Augusta it has been for the Spaniard.

Rickie Fowler opens the weekend as the betting favorite.

Just like that Jordan Spieth is only four back, notes Jeff Babineau of Golfweek.

Babineau also covers what was a joyless day for the players in relentlessly stressful conditions. The weekend should be much kinder.

Golf.com’s Alan Bastable followed Phil Mickelson’s round and reports.

The amazing Fred Couples is just three back and more incredibly, back at Augusta after sitting out in 2017. Beth Ann Nichols on his resurgence at 57.

Billy Walters won’t be wearing a green jacket in this lifetime, among other first world problems he’s experiencing today. A.J. Perez reports for USA Today.

ESPN.com’s Michael Collins shares his full chat with a player who is not named and they talk about what it was like out there the first two days.

Thomas Pieters may have had the most impressive hole of the day, eagling 13 from the pine straw.


And there was Branden Grace’s hole out, one of the few roars on another tough day for players to attack the course.