2016 Masters Final Round Primer And Notes

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There was a surreal sight in watching post-round interviews following another tough round three.

The young guns looked spent. The geezer from Germany who has won two of these? Fresh as a camelia.

Christine Brennan on Langer having a chance to win one for the old guys.

Matthew Rudy looks at how Langer is doing it with the unanchored stroke.

Scott Michaux on the showdown fizzling in the difficult conditions.

Sam Weinman notes that McIlroy, amazingly, still has hope.

Rory's 77 was a killer, but he's not out of it. Jim Litke on McIlroy losing ground to Spieth in the aura sense.

GolfDigest.com's crew did manage to find some birdies and bogeys from an ugly Saturday.

The players have a long, excruciating wait Sunday. Steve DiMeglio talks to Rory McIlroy as well as former Masters winners on how they pass the time, including Ben Crenshaw and Nick Faldo.

Kevin Casey at Golfweek.com on Smylie Kaufman and Hideki Matsuyama lurking. Wayne Staats on the Kaufman family and friends following their (young) man around.

Smylie Kaufman's interview with Jim Nantz was a gem according to Luke Kerr-Dineen. I found it veering into Hord Hardin territory.

Billy Horschel experienced a horrible break on 15 in stride, amazingly. I wrote it up for GolfDigest.com. Here is the video posted by The Big Lead.

As Weinman notes, Sky Sports asked for follower questions for Monty and it didn't go well. An #askMonty link for your reading pleasure.

Kindred on DeChambeau. The kid is hanging around, he just can't quite master the par-5s.

Lee Trevino tells Phil Stuckenborg that the players are "gutless" to not fight back against the club's cell phone policy.

Sang Moon Bae is doing his 21 months of military service in Korea and Gene Wojciechowski goes to Korea to check in with the man who's missing out on this week's Masters.

After a soft first day, ESPN's Friday Masters ratings were strong and up over last year.

ESPN’s live telecast of Round 2 of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on Friday, April 8, earned a 2.2 U.S. household rating, averaging 3.060 million viewers, according to fast national data from Nielsen Media. The telecast aired from 3-7:30 p.m. ET.
 
The rating and viewership rose for the second consecutive year for the Friday telecast, up from a 2.1 rating and an average of 2.952 million viewers in 2015 and a 1.8 rating and an average of 2.465 million viewers in 2014.
 
Viewers were able to watch more than half of the round played by leader Jordan Spieth as he and the other players battled wind and tough scoring conditions in the 80th edition of the Masters.
 
Friday’s telecast peaked with a 2.6 rating and 3.727 million viewers from 5:30-6 p.m. During that time, the telecast followed longtime golf star Tom Watson, competing in his final Masters but not making the cut, as he completed his last round at Augusta with a walk to the 18th green.

Interesting note from SportsTVRatings on Golf Channel Live From coverage vs. ESPN's during the Masters telecast run-up:

Masters official Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Tee times.

CBS's coverage in the United States begins at 2 pm ET and is simulcast at Masters.com. Jim Nantz Remembers features Jack Nicklaus at 1 pm.

The Leaderboard.

Masters Live coverage starts at 10:50 am ET with Featured Group coverage of Hunter Mahan-Justin Thomas followed by Sergio Garcia-Bubba Watson (10:35), Daniel Berger-Rory McIlroy (1:55 p.m.) and Jason Day-Dustin Johnson (2:25 p.m.).

All other groups and Masters.com coverage info is here in Ward Clayton's five things to look for.

Amen Corner Live commences with the first group through the corner, at approxmiately 11:45 am ET.