OT - 2017 Masters Discussion Thread

[Matthew Essig]

Analysis of the weather:
Thursday - High around 60F. Winds W at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph. Wind chill around 40F.

Friday - Sunny with gusty winds. High 66F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph.

3 of the par 5s will not be reachable the first two days. 13 plays NW then W. 15 plays W. 8 plays N, but the tee shot will be blown toward the fairway bunker and away from the bend left at the green. That is why a plotter wins in those conditions in Masters past.

Some additional fun facts. 1, 3, 4, and 11 play into the wind. 12 has a down off the right.... so you aim over Rae's Creek. The wind helps you on 2, 5, 7, 9, 14, and 17. Notice that these are some of the shallowest greens on the course. 2 has fronting bunkers, 5 has the large fronting ridge, 7 has the fronting bunkers, 14 has the large fronting ridge, 17 has fronting bunkers.

So, the only hole this wind direction helps is 9, and you could argue 2. That's about it.

If we use 2007 as a reference, the winning score was +1."The third round saw the worst playing conditions in many years at Augusta on an unseasonably cool day with wind gusts reaching 33 mph (53 km/h). The conditions were clearly a factor as no scores broke 70 for the round."We will have two days of these conditions. And a cut will be made after them.

Good luck to any betters. I think you'll need it just as much as the players.

[jeffwarne]

Analysis of the weather:
Thursday - High around 60F. Winds W at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph. Wind chill around 40F.

Friday - Sunny with gusty winds. High 66F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph.

3 of the par 5s will not be reachable the first two days. 13 plays NW then W. 15 plays W. 8 plays N, but the tee shot will be blown toward the fairway bunker and away from the bend left at the green. That is why a plotter wins in those conditions in Masters past.

Some additional fun facts. 1, 3, 4, and 11 play into the wind. 12 has a down off the right.... so you aim over Rae's Creek. The wind helps you on 2, 5, 7, 9, 14, and 17. Notice that these are some of the shallowest greens on the course. 2 has fronting bunkers, 5 has the large fronting ridge, 7 has the fronting bunkers, 14 has the large fronting ridge, 17 has fronting bunkers.

So, the only hole this wind direction helps is 9, and you could argue 2. That's about it.

If we use 2007 as a reference, the winning score was +1."The third round saw the worst playing conditions in many years at Augusta on an unseasonably cool day with wind gusts reaching 33 mph (53 km/h). The conditions were clearly a factor as no scores broke 70 for the round."We will have two days of these conditions. And a cut will be made after them.

Good luck to any betters. I think you'll need it just as much as the players.

Matthew.
Blame me.
I went down three weeks ago and brought the coldest weather of the season -to March.
21 degrees and covers on the greens at Palmetto for the first time all year.
WAs headed up to 75 the day I left and has been 80 degrees + ever since.


Today it's 87 there and I'm arriving tomorrow to 100% thunderstorms, then Thursday and Friday's blustery, cloudy chill.-
Leaving saturday as it returns to beautiful and 70's - for the next 10 days......


First world problems

[Jason Topp]

Interesting tidbits from Twitter:

Geoff Ogilvy on putting Augusta greens: http://golfweek.com/2017/04/04/geoff-ogilvy-talks-about-putting-on-augusta-nationals-famous-greens/

15th Club analysis on where the top five finishers gained the biggest advantage over the field average  in 5 year periods from 1986-2016.   You can see the impact of course changes with this graphic  7 and 13 have gotten more important 8 and 17 appear less important.  15 and 2 are trending towards less importance with leading players actually losing a bit on 2 over the last five years.

  https://twitter.com/15thClub/status/849276453875310592/photo/1

15th Club analysis of the skills needed at Augusta National compared to the average tour course.  Around the green shots, long putts and approaches from 150 yards are more are emphasized:   https://twitter.com/15thClub

USA Today article with Tiger discussing that the height of cut has increased and greens have been softened since his 97 victory - https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/golf/masters/2017/04/03/tiger-woods-augusta-national-changes/99964456/

[Ronald Montesano]

I'd like to know where these free Masters pick'em contests are, that everyone is posting on Twitter.

[David_Tepper]

Comments from Spieth, Scott & Mickelson on the course:

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2017/4/4/scott-mickelson-and-spieths-insights-on-augusta-national.html

[Ben Sims]

Convective activity is pretty extreme in the Southeast today. That said, the ATL area and north GA in general seem to be getting the worst. Augusta will get lucky this morning, with only a couple isolated cells moving in on the area. Depending on temperatures, there will be more activity later in the day. Fingers crossed they don't get hit too hard.

[Ronald Montesano]

Someone stole your vowels...

Convective activity is pretty extreme in the Southeast today. That said, the ATL area and north GA in general seem to be getting the worst. Augusta will get lucky this morning, with only a couple isolated cells moving in on the area. Depending on temperatures, there will be more activity later in the day. Fingers crossed they don't get hit to hard.

[Ben Sims]

Someone stole your vowels...

Convective activity is pretty extreme in the Southeast today. That said, the ATL area and north GA in general seem to be getting the worst. Augusta will get lucky this morning, with only a couple isolated cells moving in on the area. Depending on temperatures, there will be more activity later in the day. Fingers crossed they don't get hit to hard.

Ooh, you're right. Changed it for you. I always hate when people mix up "to" and "too." Good catch. 

[Matthew Essig]

Par 3 Contest is under way so those severe storms are holding off to the north for now.


EDIT: Scratch that. Play is now suspended. It is cancelled for the rest of the day because of a tornado watch. Mike Weir was able to make a hole in one before play was called.

[Ronald Montesano]

Someone stole your vowels...

hah! i meant in your name to the left, Bn Sms. The to/too was entirely coincidental.
RM

Convective activity is pretty extreme in the Southeast today. That said, the ATL area and north GA in general seem to be getting the worst. Augusta will get lucky this morning, with only a couple isolated cells moving in on the area. Depending on temperatures, there will be more activity later in the day. Fingers crossed they don't get hit to hard.

Ooh, you're right. Changed it for you. I always hate when people mix up "to" and "too." Good catch.

[Jason Topp]

I highly recommend watching the video replays of Palmer's Masters victories on Masters.com.

 You get to see televised golf evolve between each broadcast, Jim McKay referring repeatedly to the crowd as a "mob," Ben Hogan play flawless golf tee to green at age 51 and Jack Nicklaus evolve from low amateur to a force.

 Bob Jones interviews Nicklaus, Palmer and Venturi in 1960 and you see how gut wrenching that event must have been for Venturi, particularly after blowing great chances in 56 and 58.

One detail that surprised me was that Palmer's practice putting stroke and actual stroke were completely different.

The videos are a bit difficult to find but look under "watch" scroll below the live channels and click on "features" and scroll near the bottom.

[Matthew Essig]

"Masters favorite Dustin Johnson injures lower back after taking fall on stairs this afternoon. Manager says DJ "hopes" to play tomorrow." Wow.

[Buck Wolter]

I'd like to know where these free Masters pick'em contests are, that everyone is posting on Twitter.

I entered this one from one of our own:
http://friedegg.co/2017-masters-entry

[Tim_Cronin]

"Masters favorite Dustin Johnson injures lower back after taking fall on stairs this afternoon. Manager says DJ "hopes" to play tomorrow." Wow.

This is a shame. Whether or not he plays this week – up and down those hills – a bad back could mess him up forever, like Woods.

[John Kirk]

"Masters favorite Dustin Johnson injures lower back after taking fall on stairs this afternoon. Manager says DJ "hopes" to play tomorrow." Wow.

No.  The Big Guy.  Favorite player on tour; ever since the second round of the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay, I've been pulling for him.  A great success story.

[Matthew Essig]

ANGC and the weather is winning today.

[Howard Riefs]

With the 15th hole playing brutally difficult into the wind on Thursday (see Spieth's quad), reminded of this great thread about the treacherous short approach shot from a downhill lie...


http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,58093.0.html

[Keith Grande]

#11 is playing toughest - only 20% of the field has hit the green in regulation.

[RJ_Daley]

It is always fun to see a guy like Hoffman have what might likely be what he considers the best round of his career.  It seems a fine leaderboard, with a mix of oldsters who know the design and playing characteristics of the course, and some surprising new comers competing well.  But, will an older more savvy player's knowledge of the course prevail over 4 days, or will younger/perhaps less experience but raw power + talent overwhelm? 

[Mike Sweeney]

In the cut line conversations of people I was pulling for, 18 was tough to see (via Masters app) for Billy Hurley. Double bogey 6 on 18 pushed him over the cut line:


http://www.golfdigest.com/story/billy-hurley-iiis-walk-through-augusta-was-for-more-than-him

“I told myself I’ve been a professional golfer for eight years,” he said. “This is what I do. Approach it like it’s just another tournament.” He smiled. “I guess it was pretty naïve to think that was possible.”

Hurley wasn’t like any of the other 18 Masters rookies in any way. None of the other first-timers teeing it up Thursday had piloted a Navy destroyer in the Persian Gulf or, for that matter, graduate from the Naval Academy with a degree in quantitative economics.

[Ronald Montesano]

What is it that draws Fowler to water beyond greens, like a dowser?

[BCrosby]

Does it look to anyone else like they took out a few trees on the right side of the LZ on the 11th? The FW looks slightly wider to me. Or am I indulging is wishful thinking?


Another hole that was mangled circa 2000, in this case by the stand of trees added on the right side of the LZ. And another hole that would benefit by being restored to its circa 1935 design. Specifically, take out the "new" trees along the right side and put back the centerline bunker in the LZ that was there until sometime in the early 1950's. The hole would have lower scoring averages by the pros, but it would be a more interesting hole for them and hacks like us.



Bob

[Tim_Cronin]

Does it look to anyone else like they took out a few trees on the right side of the LZ on the 11th? The FW looks slightly wider to me. Or am I indulging is wishful thinking?


Another hole that was mangled circa 2000, in this case by the stand of trees added on the right side of the LZ. And another hole that would benefit by being restored to its circa 1935 design. Specifically, take out the "new" trees along the right side and put back the centerline bunker in the LZ that was there until sometime in the early 1950's. The hole would have lower scoring averages by the pros, but it would be a more interesting hole for them and hacks like us.



Bob

The tee was also over to the right of the 10th green (original and current), where the 15th tee is now. How about playing it from there – after the newish trees are removed.

[BCrosby]

Tim -


The old tee would make sense for member play. It made choices about which side of the fw to play down far from obvious. Wind would have been a big factor.   


You need the added yardage of the new tees for the pros. Before the new tees (even with old balatas) pros were hitting lofted approaches to the green.


Bob 

[Matthew Essig]

When Sergio knelt over and pounded the green... You could see every missed opportunity, every verbal berating, every demon he's had to deal with, sent out of his body and soaked up by the heavenly grounds of ANGC and I teared up. Such a beautiful scene; one I will never forget.