[BigEdSC]

I haven't posted in a long while.  Having watched the Masters for eons, you can pretty much guess where the pins are going to be set year after year.  Back in 2009 on 15, I remember they placed the four pins, back right, two in the middle back center, and one in the far left.  Having been to Augusta quite a few times, I always felt the front right being a "red light" pin.


Unfortunately for Sergio Garcia, it was.  The slope between the pin and the front of the green is kind of out of superintendent's revenge.  Back in '09, Pat Mucci kind of chastised me about the committee not using the pin.  But the pin kind of brings a little excitement from eagles (Sandy Lyle's) to others (Sergio) and all in between.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

That's the typical Saturday hole location, isn't it? Pretty sure.

So they should have been prepared for it, maybe not on a Thursday, but still.

[Peter Flory]

Sergio's legendary lag did him in. 

[Mark Chaplin]

15 and 13 were the joint easiest holes of the day. Had Garcia parred the hole it would clearly have been the easiest hole.

[Jeff Schley]

15 and 13 were the joint easiest holes of the day. Had Garcia parred the hole it would clearly have been the easiest hole.

In the entire history of the masters 15 is the easiest and 13 the 2nd easiest so no surprise there.

510	5	13	4.79	17
440	4	14	4.18	8
530	5	15	4.78	18

[David Lott]

It's a bad pin position with the shave and the slope. Far too much luck (bad luck) is involved unless you play away from the pin. Unless you have a straight on look at the pin and the backstop (like Speith did) well struck shots are punished. Speith could back it up from his angle, but that option did not exist for Garcia under the conditions of the day.

[Jason Topp]

I liked it.  It posed some interesting questions, made the bailout into the right bunker a bad play and imposed a difficult shot regardless of where the player hit their second. 

[Kalen Braley]

Given the exclusive nature of the participants in this field...I too think its perfectly fine to have such a difficult shot requirement on the hole that has traditionally been the easiest with respect to par.


And It didn't seem like the Olympic 18th US Open fiasco years ago, but I could be wrong.


P.S.  Jordan played a perfect shot in there on his way to 5 straight birdies...is it too much to ask this group to know how to hit a non-spinning wedge?

[BigEdSC]

Personally, I love the pin.  18 at Olympic was a screw up because the ball could never stop near the hole.  On 15, you have to hit a dead hand wedge beyond the hole.  Once the ball came to rest beyond the hole, it doesn't take off again.  Anything short or with a lot of spin, it's in the pond.  But it is one of the traditional pins through the years.

[A.G._Crockett]

Whether or not it is too severe a pin position, hitting five balls pin high and watching them spin back into the water is just weird behavior. 

Obviously his distance control was superb; why not hit the third ball PAST the freaking hole?  Or the 4th ball over the green?  Or something the 5th ball a mile the left.  Or something...

Either he didn't watch Tin Cup, or he needs a copy with Spanish subtitles.  I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like that.

[Kalen Braley]

At least there was one positive out of it for a few folks! 


https://www.golfdigest.com/story/masters-2018-gambling-book-refunds-sergio-garcia-bets-following-thursdays-octuple-bogey-13

[Steve Okula]

Not only did Sergio octuple bogey the hole, but he lost something like $20 worth of golf balls!

He might as well have poured out into the pond a passable bottle of wine.

[jeffwarne]

It's a bad pin position with the shave and the slope. Far too much luck (bad luck) is involved unless you play away from the pin. Unless you have a straight on look at the pin and the backstop (like Speith did) well struck shots are punished. Speith could back it up from his angle, but that option did not exist for Garcia under the conditions of the day.

It didn't seem like bad luck at all to me.
Every time he hit the spinning lofted wedge pin high it went in the water.
Seemed really consistent to me.....

[A.G._Crockett]

It's a bad pin position with the shave and the slope. Far too much luck (bad luck) is involved unless you play away from the pin. Unless you have a straight on look at the pin and the backstop (like Speith did) well struck shots are punished. Speith could back it up from his angle, but that option did not exist for Garcia under the conditions of the day.

It didn't seem like bad luck at all to me.
Every time he hit the spinning lofted wedge pin high it went in the water.
Seemed really consistent to me.....

Jeff, I agree 100%!  And fwiw, Garcia agreed, too, crazy as that sounds.  In his interview after the round, he essentially said that he hit every one of those five shots well. 

Which begs the question...

[Thomas Dai]

Move the tee up so that bombers are hitting their second shots from a Sergio type position? Maybe even toughen the green up a bit more too!?
Atb

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