Georgia Runoff - 2020 Masters

[Ray de Galles]

Lockdown is a good excuse to binge on this year's tournament with little else to do. Sergio out due to C19 is a pisser and just hope DeChambeau doesn't muscle his way in to the green jacket.

This Jon Rahm shot in practice is just insane though :

https://twitter.com/themasters/status/1326232433373704194?s=21

[Fred Ricketts]

Did he mean to do that, or did he blade it? That looks like a 9 iron. Wouldn't you use a putter to try that?

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

I expect this weekend to come down to DJ, Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Patrick Cantlay and Hideki Matsuyama. Although I will be rooting for McIlroy and Tyrell Hatton.

Bryson's going to be ... fun to watch. He'll do his thing of smacking the ball 400 yards off every tee like Happy Gilmore. There's talk of him taking out, for example, the need to draw the ball into the fairway on the 13th (the hardest drive on the course) by just fucking it off and smashing it straight over the trees onto the 14th fairway, from where he'd have an easy shot. Clever, that. Especially with no pesky fans in the way.

Augusta, however, doesn't allow those green cheat guides Bryson relies on (and I'd ban everywhere). Let's see how he putts when he actually has to rely on his own eyes and judgement and not what the computer tells him to do!

[San Bernardhinault]

Did he mean to do that, or did he blade it? That looks like a 9 iron. Wouldn't you use a putter to try that?

I was wondering the same. I'm sure if I ever get a hole in one it'll be because I totally fucked up the shot and bladed it, or sliced it onto some rocks and it bounced back out on to the green.

[ursus arctos]

Given that it was a practice round, I think he was trying to skip the ball off the water. He and his caddie were clearly gobsmacked at the result.

[San Bernardhinault]

There are things I find fascinating about Bryson's approach - having all the clubs the same length, for example, and just using the different loft, may actually make sense, make the game easier because every set up is the same. But mostly he still annoys the crap out of me, even if it's just because of the silly "look how interesting I am" hat

[Mr Cogito]

C'm on, Tommy!

[Ek weet nie]

I'm really looking forward to this. I splashed out on a half price deal for SkySports on Nowtv last month so have watched a fair bit of golf with it.

Dustin Johnson was really impressive last week given how long he was out with his Covid-19 diagnosis. Koepka looked good at the weekend too.

I think a lot of the coverage that Bryson is getting is unfair. He is completely earnest about what he is doing - it isn't a pose. He didn't win the US Open because of his length - he won it because of his scrambling and putting and being very strategic with where he played his approach shots to. Every player on tour uses the same putting books for the greens. However, his putting record in Augusta is not encouraging - he ranks last of 58 for the players who played 8 full rounds over the last two years here. He has also only broken 70 once at the Masters. I watched a good bit of him at the Shriners and although he shot a 62 and ultimately finished in the Top 10, he had a run of five holes in the third round that had two doubles and two bogeys. He won't get away with a blip like that here. His odds are down around where Tiger's peak years odds are. I see his group is one of the feature groups on Thursday - looking forward to that.

Hatton seems like a petulant prick but he has been playing really well - I look forward to seeing his short game over the next week.

Predictions for the hell of it - Bubba Watson to win (he has been amazing tee to green, decent scrambling and horrendous putting this season - he knows Augusta greens better than anyone so it will all come good this week), Jason Kokrak to place.

[Sporting]

Bryson's going to be ... fun to watch. He'll do his thing of smacking the ball 400 yards off every tee like Happy Gilmore. There's talk of him taking out, for example, the need to draw the ball into the fairway on the 13th (the hardest drive on the course) by just fucking it off and smashing it straight over the trees onto the 14th fairway, from where he'd have an easy shot. Clever, that.

Wouldn't this be considered as hitting the ball out of bounds and/or interfering with other players' shots and concentration? I'd prohibit it, in any case.

[ursus arctos]

My recollection is that those two fairways are close enough together that there is not Out of Bounds territory between them.

[ad hoc]

Still sounds like cheating. Like taking a shortcut in a marathon

[Sporting]

If it's done by accident fair enough. Doing it deliberately seems to break the conventions of correct golf etiquette.

[Ek weet nie]

DeChambeau is touring the trees and fauna of his first five holes. Managed a terrible double bogey on 13th which is effectively a triple bogey for him going by his claim about par around Augusta.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Tee and indeed hee. Lee Westwood meanwhile is 5 under having completed the (usually most challenging) front nine. He really ought to get to a 65 or even better from there.

[San Bernardhinault]

DeChambeau is touring the trees and fauna of his first five holes. Managed a terrible double bogey on 13th which is effectively a triple bogey for him going by his claim about par around Augusta.

That was always the risk with his plans on the 13th. Not that I've seen how he played it but the nature of trying to hit a really long shot over a load of trees into the 14th fairway is that there's a good chance you'll totally fuck it up and end up in those trees.

[Gangster Octopus]

It's finally started?

[jwdd27]

My tip Webb Simpson has ignored my kiss of death and is 5 under after the opening round. Nice one Webbo.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Paul Casey leads (where have we heard that before on day one at a major). Hideki Matsuyama tidily placed.

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/magicratsf/status/1327390406917582848

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

I think we could see Sunday's final round teeing off early, to not risk bad light at the end of the day. Last year they teed off at breakfast because storms were forecast later on. It will raise merry hell with the TV companies but better that than the leaders all walking off Sunday night with three or four holes to play and having to come back Monday to finish.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

At the halfway point, the top three in the world (Johnson, Thomas and Rahm) are sharing the lead. The beeb are saying that's unprecedented, and I think they're right - the only near precedents I can quickly remember are the 1987 Masters, where Ballesteros, Norman and Langer all went into the last round within two shots of the lead, and the 1993 Open, where rhe final round began with Faldo, Norman, Langer and Price all in the mix. Fantastic stuff and another for the "2020? - if only fans had been there" box. (NB I know fans refer to themselves as 'patrons' at Augusta, the pompous tits).

[ad hoc]

Not having seen actual televised golf for years I was reading the report on the masters this morning and got to those three names (none of whom I'd heard of) and was then taken aback when it started to talk about "the Spaniard". I actually had to look further into things to discover that "Jon Rahm" is Spanish. In my day Spanish golfers were called things like Jose Maria Olazabal

[ursus arctos]

Born in Viscaya. Father's heritage is Swiss.

[Satchmo Distel]

Langer is the first player aged 60 or over since Tom Watson in 2010 to be under par through 54 holes.

CBS tomorrow is due to conclude coverage of the Masters at 3pm EST so they can broadcast NFL from 4.05pm EST. I think that means split tees from 8am.

[Satchmo Distel]

Michelle Wie is a welcome addition to the commentary team. Calm and authoritative.