The 2018 Masters Thread

[trickblue]

Rickie played well, finally. Get off his a**.

 

Maybe we found out today that chasing the leaders is where Rickie stands his best chance.

Maybe so... he was stellar today... just behind Spieth...

 

Rickie always seems to have one bad round, but he was really good all week... I hope he wins a major...

[DBill]

So the wife and I have been talking about me getting a vasectomy for 6 months or so. Had my consolation appointment a few weeks ago and have mine scheduled for Thursday, first thing in the morning.

 

Here is to Thursday and Friday binge watching The Masters with no work, no kids and a house all to myself! Well, the frozen veggies/ ice packs will be with me every second, but they don't talk back or try to change the channel.

 

i guess we talk about everything on golfwrx so here goes- i went after school for my vasectomy, 2 quick needles on both side and 2 cuts and he was done, i felt absolutely nothing. Drove myself home and took my son to little league practice, went back to school the next day and said not a word to anyone. I think i was in his office for 30 minutes and was fine the next day. I know its a good reason to sit around and watch the masters, but u will be good to go

 

What are you thinking, man!! There are women that read this forum! Don’t blow it for all those poor fellas who are forced to suffer such a horrific procedure and then endure a recovery period with hours of relaxation while watching TV and being waited on by a sympathetic spouse/gf.

 

As Larry the Cable Guy might say; now that's funny right there. Who consoled you at your appointment? Guess you meant to say consultation appointment. Sorry, don't mean to flame, just found it funny.

 

Made sure the nurse consoled me, and consoled me she did. She was a little rough at first but then I got numbed up and couldn't feel a thing.

[Mick Douglas]

By my count Reed 9 greens in reg and Rory 8 so the pressure got to both of them but Rory on fast greens is very very hard to watch.

 

Reed shots 1 under after that and hit only 1 approach inside 10 feet on 14.

 

3 of the best putters in the game in Reed, Speith and Fowler, no surprise to see a 1-2-3 finish.

[Lodestone]

So the wife and I have been talking about me getting a vasectomy for 6 months or so. Had my consolation appointment a few weeks ago and have mine scheduled for Thursday, first thing in the morning.

 

Here is to Thursday and Friday binge watching The Masters with no work, no kids and a house all to myself! Well, the frozen veggies/ ice packs will be with me every second, but they don't talk back or try to change the channel.

 

i guess we talk about everything on golfwrx so here goes- i went after school for my vasectomy, 2 quick needles on both side and 2 cuts and he was done, i felt absolutely nothing. Drove myself home and took my son to little league practice, went back to school the next day and said not a word to anyone. I think i was in his office for 30 minutes and was fine the next day. I know its a good reason to sit around and watch the masters, but u will be good to go

 

What are you thinking, man!! There are women that read this forum! Don’t blow it for all those poor fellas who are forced to suffer such a horrific procedure and then endure a recovery period with hours of relaxation while watching TV and being waited on by a sympathetic spouse/gf.

 

As Larry the Cable Guy might say; now that's funny right there. Who consoled you at your appointment? Guess you meant to say consultation appointment. Sorry, don't mean to flame, just found it funny.

 

When I had mine, I was never offered a consolation appointment. I don't know what goes on in a vasectomy consolation appointment, but if it's anything like I'm imagining, I think I wish I'd had one.

[Lodestone]

Tiger is the GOAT!

 

• 79 PGA Tour wins, second all-time to Sam Snead

• 14 major championships, second all-time to Jack Nicklaus

• Only player ever to win four consecutive majors

• Lowest scoring average in PGA Tour history

• Scoring average of 67.79 in 2000 the lowest single-season average in Tour history

• PGA Tour Player of the Year a record 10 times

 

and there you have it....

[rainkingjr]

I wanted Rickie to win. Don't care for Reed for several reasons. Number 1 being his arrogance.

[redfirebird08]

Today was a bit letdown in the manner it happened but Rory was 3 back and didn't win. If he was 3 ahead and shot 2 over to lose to Reed, then I think you could call it a collapse.

 

Rory had the collapse in 2011. Not quite as drastic as Norman's collapse. Rory was up by 4 shots and Norman was up by 6 shots.

 

Having said the above, today felt like a choke to me. Rory said last night all the pressure is on Reed and none of it is on Rory. Reed said he saw all the people on Golf Channel picking Rory this morning and it motivated Reed. Patrick bogied the first hole and struggled on the second hole for par, Rory stuffs it to 4 feet for eagle at #2 to tie for the lead...it had the makings of a Rory blowout with Reed choking hard.

 

Instead it was Rory who started missing the 5 footers, beginning with #2. Happened again at #3, #5, #8, etc. Rory's putter was a massive letdown for him today. He putted like a guy who was feeling the weight of trying to get the career Grand Slam. Enormous pressure to deal with. Reed made some great comeback birdies after bogies, such as #7 and #12. He made a great birdie at #14 after failing to make birdie at #13. Spieth and Fowler put some pretty good pressure on Reed and he did very well standing up to it.

[stanger37]

Tiger is the GOAT!

 

• 79 PGA Tour wins, second all-time to Sam Snead

• 14 major championships, second all-time to Jack Nicklaus

• Only player ever to win four consecutive majors

• Lowest scoring average in PGA Tour history

• Scoring average of 67.79 in 2000 the lowest single-season average in Tour history

• PGA Tour Player of the Year a record 10 times

 

and there you have it....

 

 

I also think what people give to Tiger, and I admit I am ignorant to some of the all-time greats so maybe take this with a grain of salt, but that his golf domination took place over a 10-12 year span. And it was pretty insane at the rate he was winning. He won all 14 of his majors in 11 years, and 71 of his wins in 12 years (8 more were added few years later) Now some of the all-timers had a longer lasting careers which some people could use that against Tiger. But it's hard to not give him at least a convo of a "GOAT" for how he took over a sport like that for so long. Jack won 18, but over 20 or so years. So do people say "well Tiger only took 11 years to get 14" or "Jack has 18 and he was better for longer!" Both sides have their arguments for sure.

[DBill]

Reed jumps up to 11th in the world golf rankings. Rickie moves up two spots to 6. Tiger to 88.

[gatorpedsMD]

Reed jumps up to 11th in the world golf rankings. Rickie moves up two spots to 6. Tiger to 88.

 

Tiger stock very bullish.

[DBill]

Tony Finau up to 32 in the world. The guy made a lot more fans over The Masters week.

[Dave230]

Today was a bit letdown in the manner it happened but Rory was 3 back and didn't win. If he was 3 ahead and shot 2 over to lose to Reed, then I think you could call it a collapse.

 

Rory had the collapse in 2011. Not quite as drastic as Norman's collapse. Rory was up by 4 shots and Norman was up by 6 shots.

 

Having said the above, today felt like a choke to me. Rory said last night all the pressure is on Reed and none of it is on Rory. Reed said he saw all the people on Golf Channel picking Rory this morning and it motivated Reed. Patrick bogied the first hole and struggled on the second hole for par, Rory stuffs it to 4 feet for eagle at #2 to tie for the lead...it had the makings of a Rory blowout with Reed choking hard.

 

Instead it was Rory who started missing the 5 footers, beginning with #2. Happened again at #3, #5, #8, etc. Rory's putter was a massive letdown for him today. He putted like a guy who was feeling the weight of trying to get the career Grand Slam. Enormous pressure to deal with. Reed made some great comeback birdies after bogies, such as #7 and #12. He made a great birdie at #14 after failing to make birdie at #13. Spieth and Fowler put some pretty good pressure on Reed and he did very well standing up to it.

 

Yeah that's all fair. I'm very disappointed as a Rory fan with how today went.

 

Just wouldn't call it a Norman style collapse. Maybe some of his lesser ones but certainly nothing on 96. I don't remember Rory ever even leading this tournament on his own.

 

If you wanted to be super critical, you could say Spieth choked Friday morning and that cost him the tournament. Exceptional round today but there's no way he should have been 9 back, after being 2 ahead in the first day.

[SwooshLT]

 

 

think they need to lengthen it 30 ...

 

30 yards? i fear that makes a push staying in play then and takes the cool pinestraw shots outta play. Re-YJS today.

 

you fear it makes a push stay in play? ... not sure what you meant ..

 

you can't have a par 5 at 510 yards ... rory and dj are athletic enough for me to give them their distance, but the others depend on the changes to the ball ... that hole used to be a fairly strenuous decision to go for it or not ... now, even if they miss the fairway, they're going for it and 2-putting ...

 

Rory had 195 on 2 and DJ had 9i on 15.....lengthening 13 doesn't protect the course at all....leave things be.

 

Personally I did prefer it when you had to come in with a long iron on 13. It made it a much more spectacular shot when someone pulled it off.

 

Today, Reed had 186 in.

Rory had 195 in.

DJ had 172 in.

Rickie had 205 in.

Rahm had 182 in.

 

That yardage is becoming a mid-iron for these guys. Just move the tee back 15 yards.

 

Ok 15

[trickblue]

Tony Finau up to 32 in the world. The guy made a lot more fans over The Masters week.

This tourney should have been a turning point for Finau. With his ankle injury he made his swing MUCH less busy and played some nice golf. He's 6'4". He doesn't have to rip it like shorter players... he has natural length...

[gatorpedsMD]

 

Ok 15

 

It's settled. Send Ridley our demands.

[redfirebird08]

If you wanted to be super critical, you could say Spieth choked Friday morning and that cost him the tournament. Exceptional round today but there's no way he should have been 9 back, after being 2 ahead in the first day.

 

Yes, I said earlier today Jordan must be kicking himself for holes 1-2 on Friday morning. Those 3 shots sure would have made a big difference today. But it was a heck of a run by him today to get himself into the mix on the back nine. He clearly knows his way around that course better than anyone.

[finleysg]

I think I first doubted Tiger would reach 18 when Y. E. Yang took him down. The back injuries sealed the deal against 18, imo.

[Yzmerf]

Tiger is the GOAT!

 

• 79 PGA Tour wins, second all-time to Sam Snead

• 14 major championships, second all-time to Jack Nicklaus

• Only player ever to win four consecutive majors

• Lowest scoring average in PGA Tour history

• Scoring average of 67.79 in 2000 the lowest single-season average in Tour history

• PGA Tour Player of the Year a record 10 times

 

You do realize you just made my point with he first two bullet points right. Notice they both say second? Ask Tiger if he is ok with that. I think you know what the answer would be.

[tgtaggie]

Today was a bit letdown in the manner it happened but Rory was 3 back and didn't win. If he was 3 ahead and shot 2 over to lose to Reed, then I think you could call it a collapse.

 

Rory had the collapse in 2011. Not quite as drastic as Norman's collapse. Rory was up by 4 shots and Norman was up by 6 shots.

 

Having said the above, today felt like a choke to me. Rory said last night all the pressure is on Reed and none of it is on Rory. Reed said he saw all the people on Golf Channel picking Rory this morning and it motivated Reed. Patrick bogied the first hole and struggled on the second hole for par, Rory stuffs it to 4 feet for eagle at #2 to tie for the lead...it had the makings of a Rory blowout with Reed choking hard.

 

Instead it was Rory who started missing the 5 footers, beginning with #2. Happened again at #3, #5, #8, etc. Rory's putter was a massive letdown for him today. He putted like a guy who was feeling the weight of trying to get the career Grand Slam. Enormous pressure to deal with. Reed made some great comeback birdies after bogies, such as #7 and #12. He made a great birdie at #14 after failing to make birdie at #13. Spieth and Fowler put some pretty good pressure on Reed and he did very well standing up to it.

 

I agree. Rors was primed to walk away with this one on the front nine. For someone whose game is made for this course, I believe this major will be the hardest of the four for him to win. Unless the greens slow down, I don’t see it for a few yrs. he got some serious competition for the next few yrs in Jordan and Rickie at Augusta. Some of the others Rahm, DJ and etc. are finally figuring out how to play the course

 

I think expectations (and a cold putter) got the best of him today. Also, most of his top finishes at The Masters the last few yrs were basically backdoored a la Kucher. I was more surprised that this was the first time in 7yrs that he was in the last pairing today.

[gatorpedsMD]

Tiger is the GOAT!

 

• 79 PGA Tour wins, second all-time to Sam Snead

• 14 major championships, second all-time to Jack Nicklaus

• Only player ever to win four consecutive majors

• Lowest scoring average in PGA Tour history

• Scoring average of 67.79 in 2000 the lowest single-season average in Tour history

• PGA Tour Player of the Year a record 10 times

 

You do realize you just made my point with he first two bullet points right. Notice they both say second? Ask Tiger if he is ok with that. I think you know what the answer would be.

 

2 two different golfers... Tiger has more wins than jack and more majors than Snead.

[farmer]

I wonder if Finau will have his ankle MRI'd? Can't imagine as nasty as that looked that there wasn't damage. For all the dislike of Reed, it needs to be noted that he has some big ol' stones. There were people tailgating him for all the back 9 and he stared them down.

[trickblue]

Tiger is the GOAT!

 

• 79 PGA Tour wins, second all-time to Sam Snead

• 14 major championships, second all-time to Jack Nicklaus

• Only player ever to win four consecutive majors

• Lowest scoring average in PGA Tour history

• Scoring average of 67.79 in 2000 the lowest single-season average in Tour history

• PGA Tour Player of the Year a record 10 times

 

You do realize you just made my point with he first two bullet points right. Notice they both say second? Ask Tiger if he is ok with that. I think you know what the answer would be.

Snead never gets enough credit for his dominating play... neither did Byron Nelson who won 11 straight tournaments... 11 straight... think about that...

[Lodestone]

Today was a bit letdown in the manner it happened but Rory was 3 back and didn't win. If he was 3 ahead and shot 2 over to lose to Reed, then I think you could call it a collapse.

 

Rory had the collapse in 2011. Not quite as drastic as Norman's collapse. Rory was up by 4 shots and Norman was up by 6 shots.

 

Having said the above, today felt like a choke to me. Rory said last night all the pressure is on Reed and none of it is on Rory. Reed said he saw all the people on Golf Channel picking Rory this morning and it motivated Reed. Patrick bogied the first hole and struggled on the second hole for par, Rory stuffs it to 4 feet for eagle at #2 to tie for the lead...it had the makings of a Rory blowout with Reed choking hard.

 

Instead it was Rory who started missing the 5 footers, beginning with #2. Happened again at #3, #5, #8, etc. Rory's putter was a massive letdown for him today. He putted like a guy who was feeling the weight of trying to get the career Grand Slam. Enormous pressure to deal with. Reed made some great comeback birdies after bogies, such as #7 and #12. He made a great birdie at #14 after failing to make birdie at #13. Spieth and Fowler put some pretty good pressure on Reed and he did very well standing up to it.

 

Yeah that's all fair. I'm very disappointed as a Rory fan with how today went.

 

Just wouldn't call it a Norman style collapse. Maybe some of his lesser ones but certainly nothing on 96. I don't remember Rory ever even leading this tournament on his own.

 

If you wanted to be super critical, you could say Spieth choked Friday morning and that cost him the tournament. Exceptional round today but there's no way he should have been 9 back, after being 2 ahead in the first day.

 

I think Rory was planning on dominating the start, getting into Reed's head early, and then riding the wave home. I don't think that shank off #1 helped his confidence in his driver even if he did save par, and missing the eagle on 2 didn't help his confidence with he putter. That's golf, and that's Augusta.

[Yzmerf]

But aren't those the two things we judge them by? He isn't the best in either category.

[Hawkeye77]

I wonder if Finau will have his ankle MRI'd? Can't imagine as nasty as that looked that there wasn't damage. For all the dislike of Reed, it needs to be noted that he has some big ol' stones. There were people tailgating him for all the back 9 and he stared them down.

 

They said he did the following morning.

[tgtaggie]

If you wanted to be super critical, you could say Spieth choked Friday morning and that cost him the tournament. Exceptional round today but there's no way he should have been 9 back, after being 2 ahead in the first day.

 

Yes, I said earlier today Jordan must be kicking himself for holes 1-2 on Friday morning. Those 3 shots sure would have made a big difference today. But it was a heck of a run by him today to get himself into the mix on the back nine. He clearly knows his way around that course better than anyone.

 

I think he figured it out faster than anyone in recent memory. The only other people I can think of is Phil and Tiger.

 

Impressive record T2, 1, T2, T11, 3 in 5 starts. The kid is special that’s for sure.

[lowndes]

Duval was and is the man.

 

yes, one of the few/only dude to take down the GOAT in his prime in a major.

 

I don’t think he ever played against Jack!

 

Since you subtly drop the GOAT thing in about half of everything you post, I thought I’d go with the stock response from the old guard.

 

Just giving you a hard time man, even if I might disagree with some, your posts are always fair.

 

Can we please quit referring to Tiger as the GOAT? He doesn't have the most wins, and he doesn't have the most majors.

 

No

[Lodestone]

Tiger is the GOAT!

 

• 79 PGA Tour wins, second all-time to Sam Snead

• 14 major championships, second all-time to Jack Nicklaus

• Only player ever to win four consecutive majors

• Lowest scoring average in PGA Tour history

• Scoring average of 67.79 in 2000 the lowest single-season average in Tour history

• PGA Tour Player of the Year a record 10 times

 

and there you have it....

 

 

I also think what people give to Tiger, and I admit I am ignorant to some of the all-time greats so maybe take this with a grain of salt, but that his golf domination took place over a 10-12 year span. And it was pretty insane at the rate he was winning. He won all 14 of his majors in 11 years, and 71 of his wins in 12 years (8 more were added few years later) Now some of the all-timers had a longer lasting careers which some people could use that against Tiger. But it's hard to not give him at least a convo of a "GOAT" for how he took over a sport like that for so long. Jack won 18, but over 20 or so years. So do people say "well Tiger only took 11 years to get 14" or "Jack has 18 and he was better for longer!" Both sides have their arguments for sure.

 

Tiger has Jack on domination over a shorter span. Jack has Tiger on staying power. So far. Tiger could still change that, but I don't think he will, but he could. That book is still being written.

I have no problem with people arguing that Tiger's domination over his shorter span makes him the GOAT. I don't happen to agree, but I get the argument. But it's an argument. There is no argument that can be made that Tiger is the GOAT that can't be countered by a Jack stat.

 

Most who argue that it's clearly, unarguably Tiger, weren't around when Jack was in his prime. There is always a bias towards what one saw in their time.

[tgtaggie]

Today was a bit letdown in the manner it happened but Rory was 3 back and didn't win. If he was 3 ahead and shot 2 over to lose to Reed, then I think you could call it a collapse.

 

Rory had the collapse in 2011. Not quite as drastic as Norman's collapse. Rory was up by 4 shots and Norman was up by 6 shots.

 

Having said the above, today felt like a choke to me. Rory said last night all the pressure is on Reed and none of it is on Rory. Reed said he saw all the people on Golf Channel picking Rory this morning and it motivated Reed. Patrick bogied the first hole and struggled on the second hole for par, Rory stuffs it to 4 feet for eagle at #2 to tie for the lead...it had the makings of a Rory blowout with Reed choking hard.

 

Instead it was Rory who started missing the 5 footers, beginning with #2. Happened again at #3, #5, #8, etc. Rory's putter was a massive letdown for him today. He putted like a guy who was feeling the weight of trying to get the career Grand Slam. Enormous pressure to deal with. Reed made some great comeback birdies after bogies, such as #7 and #12. He made a great birdie at #14 after failing to make birdie at #13. Spieth and Fowler put some pretty good pressure on Reed and he did very well standing up to it.

 

Yeah that's all fair. I'm very disappointed as a Rory fan with how today went.

 

Just wouldn't call it a Norman style collapse. Maybe some of his lesser ones but certainly nothing on 96. I don't remember Rory ever even leading this tournament on his own.

 

If you wanted to be super critical, you could say Spieth choked Friday morning and that cost him the tournament. Exceptional round today but there's no way he should have been 9 back, after being 2 ahead in the first day.

 

I think Rory was planning on dominating the start, getting into Reed's head early, and then riding the wave home. I don't think that shank off #1 helped his confidence in his driver even if he did save par, and missing the eagle on 2 didn't help his confidence with he putter. That's golf, and that's Augusta.

 

That and the cbs team pretty much were talking like it was going to be a coronation for him. Golf has a great way of humbling everybody.

[redfirebird08]

Tiger is the GOAT!

 

• 79 PGA Tour wins, second all-time to Sam Snead

• 14 major championships, second all-time to Jack Nicklaus

• Only player ever to win four consecutive majors

• Lowest scoring average in PGA Tour history

• Scoring average of 67.79 in 2000 the lowest single-season average in Tour history

• PGA Tour Player of the Year a record 10 times

 

You do realize you just made my point with he first two bullet points right. Notice they both say second? Ask Tiger if he is ok with that. I think you know what the answer would be.

 

Hank Haney said Tiger could retire "happy" with his record before he had even reached 14 majors or 70+ wins. I think you should check out this article:

 

http://www.golf.com/...d-pga-tour-wins

 

There is a reason almost all of the top winners in the history of golf were born before 1950. It's not some random coincidence they were all born in that time period. They faced much weaker fields, plain and simple. Nicklaus agrees with that observation. So does Johnny Miller who said before Tiger turned pro that 50 wins with 12 majors is possibly the best career ever because of modern depth of fields. That was in the early to mid 1990's. It is obviously deeper and deeper now.

 

Remember Michael Campbell? He qualified for the 2005 U.S. Open through an international qualifying tournament that flat out did not exist until the 2000's. Guess who finished 2nd to him that week.

 

Setting that aside, I have no problem if you wish to stick with Nicklaus. Even though I think the field strength situation makes 14 possibly equal to 18, Jack getting those 19 second place finishes is incredible and destroys Tiger on that front. Jack also won a bunch of majors after turning age 35. Tiger stopped winning them at age 33. His run from 1996-2009 is the best 14 season run ever but it's basically a much better version of Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, or Seve Ballesteros. All of them stopped winning majors at a young age and so did Tiger.