Billy Payne has changed the qualification criteria for the Masters. Returning in some ways to the old format, anyone who wins a fully-allocated FedEx Cup points event will be invited to the next year's Masters. As Brian Hewitt pointed out on the Golf Channel, this brings back the drama of the event the week before the Masters as someone without an invitation can then get in with a win...this move adds drama, I love it. This change will be very popular with the players, especially the second-tier guys.
Ernie Els said some great things in his press conference. He acknowledged that if he never wins this event, it will be a blight on his resume. My concern with Ernie, and I confess this was voiced a couple of weeks ago by former tour pro-turned-commentator John Maginnes, is that I don't know if he has the confidence necessary to win. Ernie is an extremely nice guy (or so it seems), and I wonder if he lacks the killer instinct necessary to beat Tiger and Phil at Augusta. I think it would be a real shame if his name was added to the list of almost-rans rather than the list of champions. Again, I don't necessarily care about what a win would mean for a golfer, but were Ernie to win the third leg of the career slam this week, it would add some fantastic drama to the PGA this year at Southern Hills. Only five players have won the career slam, making it one of the most difficult accomplishments in professional sports.
This happened yesterday, but it was awesome:
Someone asked Tiger "Do you start to get the sense that maybe there are a few guys younger than who've got up to the task to possible push you and Phil and Vijay on this course now?"
Tiger paused. Had a slight smile and said: "Who?" Arrogant? Confident? Either way, it's awesome. You've got to earn Tiger's respect and that means playing well at Augusta. Not winning the Houston Open or the FBR Open.
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