I'll get to 1997 soon, but first a quick word about Tuesday's press conferences.
1. Gary Player is amazing. This year is his 50th Masters. His thoughts on the state of the game were quite interesting, especially his comment that food/diet will have the largest impact on the game over the next few years.
2. Aaron Baddeley is getting a lot of attention this week because an anonymous player picked him to win. http://www.golf.com/golf/gallery/article/0,28242,1603650,00.html
Baddeley doesn't impress me. He putted very nicely to win FBR this year, but he's NEVER been in contention in a major. Look at the last ten champions at Augusta: Tiger (4), O'Meara, Olazabal, Singh, Weir, Mickelson (2). All had much more experience than Badds. It's typical of the current media obsession with golf for one article to instantly make someone a favourite. Also, Badds has the fortune of playing with Tiger the first two rounds. You don't think Tiger will want to kick his ass to prove that article wrong? Don't be surprised to see Badds miss the cut.
3. I'm happy Arnie has agreed to be the ceremonial starter. It's a great tradition that was lacking these last few years. I kind of think Arnold should have considered going this route years ago, but what can you do? I know Arnold did a lot for golf, but having never seen him play great (see my post about the 1986 Masters) I don't have the same reverence as most golf writers and commentators (I give the Golf Channel guys a pass because he's their boss). Arnold made the game popular, I get it. He resurrected the Open Championship, wonderful work. But out of the Big Three, he was by far the least capable player. Arnold's swing mechanics and his lack of longevity bear this out. Jack had 24 years between his first and last pro majors, Gary had 19 years and Arnold? 6.
4. Interesting point made by Brian Hewitt on the Press Conferences show today...Tiger has run into problems over the course of his career when he couldn't get the speeds right on the green. As Hewitt pointed out, the only complaint of an otherwise incredibly confident sounding Tiger was that the greens have been different speeds on each of the practice days. Significant? Doubtful, but something to watch for.
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2 comments:
Good points on Arnie. I've never been The King's biggest fan and while I suppose I'll ultimately defer to those who saw him in his prime, I've never understood how he's even in the conversation when it comes to the best handful of players of all time.
I like the talk on Badds. I was reading some similar shit about him, but I disagree that he will not make the cut. He is 26th in world golf ranking, with an avg. of 2.94. I think he stands a chance to be in the top20, but a victory? I mean paaaalease.
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