Thursday Masters Clippings: Let The Fun Begin, Maybe
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We survived the Par-3 Contest this year thanks in part to a shorter telecast, faster play and an unforgettable 3 by Gary Player. I'll be doing the live blog thing again Thursday during round one, so come join us.
As for the coverage from Wednesday, there's plenty of fun stuff, though I did once again get the sense that a few stories were posted early so the scribes could go clean up and practice their GWAA award acceptance speeches.
Mark Soltau captures the day best, says the buzz was back in the air Wednesday and shares some fun miscellaneous observations.
Players
Lawrence Donegan on England's Oliver Wilson, an Augusta State man:
Wilson shared a house bordering the 13th fairway of the Augusta National with other members of the golf squad, although,like everyone else in the world, they spent most of the time outside peering through the fence. "We were literally 10 yards from the course, and you heard all kinds of stories about people sneaking on," he says. "Not that I ever did myself."
Mark Lamport-Stokes on Jeev Singh, who will see a lot of the next few days.
"I'm going to be a little nervous for sure but that's what we play golf for, try to make the most of it and see what happens. It's certainly a pleasant surprise."
Drew Kittleson learned a valuable lesson: BYOS...bring your own Sharpee!
Billy Payne
John Boyette reports that the Californication of Augusta has arrived, with smoking no longer allowed in the seating areas.
Doug Ferguson looks at Billy Payne's contention that weather is to blame for the course changes not working and leans on Tiger to make the case that even weather might not be enough to restore the ANGC of old. He also notes Payne's admission that the last few years haven't been too exciting.
Champions Dinner
James Corrigan on Seve's emotional letter that was read to the Champions Dinner gathering Tuesday night:
At the Champions Dinner in the Augusta clubhouse on Tuesday night, Jose Maria Olazabal read out a letter from Seve Ballesteros. Inevitably, these were to prove emotive words from the Spaniard still trying to beat cancer at his home in Pedreña. But the part that had the likes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh really reaching for the hankies, came near the end. "I wish I could be there," said Seve.
Par-3
Dave Kindred writes a par-3 contest column and manages to do it without doting on the children. Hallelujah!
John Boyette posts the closest-to-the-hole shots for the day.
Tom Cunneff recounts what he saw Wednesday, including a conversation between Mickelson, Norman and Evert.
Michael Walker hands out awards.
History
Al Barkow considers Gene Sarazen's double eagle and other all time great Masters shots. So many great memories and so many created by great risk-reward moments.
Golf Course
Gary Van Sickle wonders which course will show up and reminds us of the tweaks and their possible impact. Why am I not getting excited about an extra 7 yards on 1 and 7?
Larry Fine files a Reuters piece titled "No more back nine charges". This one goes around the world. Nothing new here, just noting for the record.
Bill Fields brings up a point that often gets lost. The staged choreography of a tough first three days, then a big change in gear for day four, at which time most players are locked in defensive mode.
Less choreographing early could mean more excitement late, because a tournament's character begins to form well before the television cameras come on in the fourth round. It will be interesting to see if Masters officials are more friendly in setting up the course for the first two days this year in an attempt to restore what people remember and enjoy about the Masters although championship committee chairman Fred Ridley denied there has been a hard-to-easy approach.
David Westin says it all comes down to the weather cooperating.
"I think if you get dry conditions and they set the course up relatively the same every Sunday, guys can go out and make some birdies," Snedeker said. "If the weather's bad, then par is going to be a good score and that's the Masters you're going to have."
Snedeker says course officials "don't miss on anything; they know what they're doing."
One thing the club can't control is the weather.
"It has to cooperate to get those low scores (on Sunday)," Snedeker said.
It might happen this week. The long-range forecast for Sunday calls for a high in the mid-70s and 5 to 15 mph winds out of the east.
So I ask yet again, as we saw with Oakland Hills: does a major now require perfect weather for a design to function? If so, doesn't that say something about the architecture and the setup? I guess we'll see.
Picks
The SI guys make their selections as do the PGATour.com staffers (here). They also offer sleeper picks, including Par 3 winner Tim Clark!
Flora, Fauna
Eric Soderstrom cleverly looks at the Twitter craze breaking out in Augusta and in the Cink household.
David Dusek digs up a YouTube video of Vijay Singh skipping in a shot for a 1 at 16 on Wednesday. Granted, it makes the Zapruder film look like a Pixar film, but it's still pretty neat to see and hear the roar.
Daly declined to chat this morning as he unloaded boxes of hats and shirts and carefully placed them on a table outside his coach bus. But he looked downright trim by his standards, having shed some 40 pounds in recent months.
Bob Smiley posts some Onion-esque headlines with photos!
Imagery
Golfweek's slide show is here, still minus the music. Must be a victim of the lean times.
Augusta.com again has a great and extensive gallery of images from the Par 3 Contest.
And finally, Rob Matre posts a guest piece at Waggle Room on his museum show and the power of Augusta imagery.
