The Masters

[rich76]

For me....THE tournament of the year. If you asked every single card carrying PGA professional which is THE tournament that they would like a win on their resume', IMHO an overwhelming majority would pick this one. Some may say The Open (British) but I'm not so sure they'd be telling the whole truth and nothing BUT the truth with that answer.

The defending Champion is one of the nicer guys you'll meet anywhere...not just on the golf course....,Zack Johnson
and he did it in a very unique way, he did NOT attempt to get on ANY of the par 5's in 2 the entire tournament. He laid up on every single one of them and put his wedges close enough to get birds on them. He finished the week 11 under on the par 5's...hard to argue with that game plan....considering he finished the tourn at +1 for a 2 shot win over SABRO/GOOSE/WOODS.

For those not aware, once you win a Masters you are invited to the tourn for the rest of your golfing life. I add this info because you might look at the field and ask...wth has he done to be there? The top 16 from the previous year's tourn are also invited back.

The winner this year (as in every year at Augusta) will be the guy that makes the putts. The greems are treacherous....fast and sloped and subtle breaks that one can only be aware of if they've played there before. It is also not hard to be distracted by the unequaled beauty of this course.
















I could go on with pics...but...

The field (and I'll add that there will def be some added from the present tourn in Texas..the winner and a few others...so with that in mind...here's the field by invitation...can't imagine that any would decline their invite:

Robert Allenby (Australia)(14,16,18)
Stephen Ames (Canada)(5,17,18)
Stuart Appleby (Australia)(10,17,18)
Woody Austin (13,14,15,16,17,18)
Aaron Baddeley (Australia)(14,16,17,18)
Jonathan Byrd (15,16)
Mark Calcavecchia (14,16,17,18)
Michael Campbell (New Zealand)(2)
K. J. Choi (Korea)(14,15,16,17,18)
# Daniel Chopra (15)
Stewart Cink (14,16,17,18)
Tim Clark (South Africa)(10,14,16,17,18)
Fred Couples (1)
Ben Curtis (3)
Luke Donald (England)(10,14,17,18)
Ernie Els (South Africa)(12,13,14,15,16,17,18)
Steve Flesch (14)
Jim Furyk (2,10,11,14,15,16,17,18)
Sergio Garcia (Spain)(12,14,16,17,18)
Retief Goosen (South Africa)(2,10,17,18)
Todd Hamilton (3)
Padraig Harrington (Ireland)(3,10,14,16,17,18)
# J. B. Holmes (15)
Charles Howell III (14,16,17,18)
Trevor Immelman (South Africa)(17,18)
Zach Johnson (1,14,15,16,17,18)
Jerry Kelly (10,11)
Justin Leonard (18)
Peter Lonard (Australia)(18)

Hunter Mahan (14,15,16,17,18)
Shaun Micheel (4)
Phil Mickelson (1,4,5,14,15,16,17,18)
Arron Oberholser (13,17,18)
Geoff Ogilvy (Australia)(2,14,16,15,17,18)
Sean O'Hair (15,18)
Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain)(1)
Ian Poulter (England)(10,17,18)
John Rollins (14,16)
Justin Rose (England)(10,14,16,17,18)
Rory Sabbatini (South Africa)(10,14,15,16,17,18)
Adam Scott (Australia)(14,16,17,18)
# John Senden (Australia)(13,18)
Vijay Singh (Fiji)(1,4,10,14,16,17,18)
# Heath Slocum (14,16)
Brandt Snedeker (14,15,16,17,18)
Henrik Stenson (Sweden)(17,18)
Steve Stricker (14,15,16,17,18)
Vaughn Taylor (10)
David Toms (10,11,17)
Scott Verplank (11,14,15,16,17,18)
Camilo Villegas (Colombia)(16)
# Nick Watney (15)
# Bubba Watson (11)
# Boo Weekley (14,15,16,17,18)
Mike Weir (Canada)(1,17,18)
Brett Wetterich (14,16,17)
Tiger Woods (1,3,4,10,11,14,15,16,17,18)

# means 1st Masters

The numbers after the players names are the way/ways they qualified for this tourn...here are the explainations:

Number after each name indicates the basis of qualification. The Masters Committee, at its discretion, also invites international players not otherwise qualified.
1. Masters Tournament Champions(Lifetime)
2. US Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
3. British Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
4. PGA Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
5. Winners of The Players Championship (2006 and 2007)
6. Current US Amateur Champion (6-A) (Honorary, non-competing after 1 year) and the runner-up (6-B) to the current US Amateur Champion
7. Current British Amateur Champion (Honorary, non-competing after 1 year)
8. Current US Amateur Public Links Champion
9. Current US Mid-Amateur Champion
10. The first 16 players, including ties, in the 2007 Masters Tournament
11. The first 8 players, including ties, in the 2007 US Open Championship
12. The first 4 players, including ties, in the 2007 British Open Championship
13. The first 4 players, including ties, in the 2007 PGA Championship
14. The 30 leaders on the Final Official PGA Tour Money List for 2007
15. Winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation for the season-ending Tour Championship, from previous Masters to current Masters
16. Those qualifying for the season-ending 2007 Tour Championship
17. The 50 leaders on the Final Official World Golf Ranking for 2007
18. The 50 leaders on the Official World Golf Ranking published during the week prior to the 2008 Masters Tournament.

Got to find some "smokers" that are worthy of being "associated" with the Masters....

[P562045]

Thank you rich and not the pics from extreme eastern central Georgia either.

And thank you for the field as well it can be a pain in the butt to get that as well sometimes.

What is the par 3 contest?

[P562045]

[rich76]

3 eagles today....all by J$ers

edit:
I do not see them finishing tonight.....there a few that have 4+ holes to play and I don't believe they have more than a half-hour or so of light.

[rich76]

My pick is IMMTR or SNEBR. If Tiger shoots 66 all they would have to do is shoot 1 under to win.(IMMTR gets the edge to win it all) Not sure that FLEST or Casey have what it takes here...both good guys. (I give FLEST the best chance).Biggest disappointment....MICKP. .

Tiger will post his score before those guys....if he DOES shoot that 66 or 67....and the winds DO pick-up...anything could and has happened.

[P562045]

Tiger had four bad rounds for him and finishes second.

He really struggled on the back nine yesterday and it was a little hard to watch. And even when he got close he couldn't make the putt. It was either sixteen or whatever the par three was around that hole.