Hoggard On Masters Ball, Other Stuff

Golfweek's Rex Hoggard ties up a few loose Masters ends. First, there is this quote from Joe Ogilvie, reminiscent of Tom Weiskopf's cadaver line from a April, 2000.

"It's like if you have a really good looking woman, but after her 20th or 30th 'plastic surgery,' she really doesn't look as good," Joe Ogilvie said.

On the Masters ball concept, Hoggard seems to think the idea is still floating around:

A winning score south of double digits and an eclectic leaderboard may keep Hootie and the bulldozers at bay for at least a year or two. But it seems Augusta National officials remain interested in the idea of a "Masters" golf ball to combat the distance gains of modern orbs.

"What are they going to call it?" asked Nick Price at the Players Championship. "The dogwood ball? What do you do, turn around and tell the manufacturers we're going to play the dogwood ball this week."

The green jackets may be closer to creating a "dogwood" ball than some would think. Sources said last week officials were measuring not only the length of players' drivers, but which particular brand and model of ball went where.

And on the David Toms rant from earlier this week, Hoggard made this point:

During Toms' tenure on the PGA Tour's four-player Policy Board, it didn't seem as if he spent a lot of time rocking the boat. But since being freed of his elected duties, Toms has been pulling fewer punches than CNN lightning rod Lou Dobbs.

Earlier this week, Toms rifled a few well-aimed – and well thought out – 5-iron shots directly at Augusta National Golf Club.

"It's still a place where the players walk around on eggshells," Toms said. "It's like, the only place all year where the players don't feel like they are the most important thing there."

Although there are no shortage of prima donnas on the PGA Tour, Toms is not one of them, and his observations likely resonate among his Tour card carrying brethren.