Tiger Woods is in the lead. Who’d a thunk it? Phil Mickleson gags away any chance on the first hole. Stuart Appleby looks like he is stoned out of his gourd. Plus he bought his sweater in the pro shop two minutes before he teed off. You’d think that his sponsors could Fed Ex him one with a logo when they saw the forecast. And what is it with the Aussie golfers, anyway? They saw how well the South Korean Kims were doing on the womens side, and decided that it might be a good idea to name all their golfers the same - Stuart Appleby, Robert Allenby, Aaron Baddelly, Byron Adderly, Richard Flabbishly…
The old guys in the green jackets are pissed. All that yelling by the crowd (sorry, patrons) makes it sound like it’s a regular old plebian tournament.
Nobody seems to be wilting away from Tiger like they usually do (except for Phil, of course) - but then again, the real tournament starts on 11.
Yeah, he is not on today - but he’s not out of contention, either. He’s down a club, too, after wrapping it around a tree on 11.
This is shaping up to be a great finish. Tons of guys in contention. Tiger still might do it. I think Appleby has been flying under the radar and could pull it off.
Some other observations - It wasn’t that long ago when all the caddies were local black men smoking cigarettes. Not a one anymore. Also, where are the amatuers? Did none make the cut?
While I don’t watch much golf (on TV–and none at all not on TV), I think Tiger gets much more attention than anyone else when he’s having a bad day. Other players having bad days get ignored. Tiger still gets attention.
And on the other hand, in some ways Tiger had the worst kind of bad day-- he had the lead at one point (if I heard the announcer correctly) all by himself, and then he had a bad hole or two, lost the lead, and was just not quite able to catch back up. In some ways that can be harder to cope with, especially in public, than the frustration of being middle of the pack or way out of the running.
What a great tournament. A classic, almost magical venue. The best golfers in the world. Congratulations to Zack Johnson, a charming young man who earned his green jacket the hard way! The Masters. My, oh, my…
Bless his heart, though. His name sounds like it was made up by a bad writer outlining a bad novel.
I was kind of surprised when I watched the last few holes on tv and then I heard someone say something like “what the hell was that?” and then I realized it was Tiger that said it.
I’m just glad Goosen lost. What a chicken shit…tees of on the 13th with an iron and plays it safe with Tiger two strokes off and right behind him. I used to like the guy because of his coolness under fire and overall imperturbability, but not anymore. After that show of timidity he sucks canal water.
The Masters is a paradox to watch: usually the best drama and tension of the golf year, but all the reverential crap about the course and Tiger is tough to take.
Nantz is a real pain. And the tinkly piano music. And the framed shots of azaleas. And the castrated TV commentators who can’t step out of line (e.g. The Masters mandates that they call sand traps “bunkers” and fans “patrons”)
Don’t they realize that we want to see a sporting event? And that would be the golf shots. Instead we see endless minutes of Tiger and Appleby lining up putts.
I usually like to see the big names win the majors, (it still bothers me that Mize and Tway beat Norman), but any tournament that Tiger doesn’t win is a joy. I’m so tired of his arrogance and what he did to Fuzzy that I don’t think I’ll ever like the guy.
