The Masters 2014 * Warning Post #19 *

slave1

I thought when Jordan holed from that bunker he was going to get it but Bubba played the course in an excellent manner, that 366yard drive was unreal.
And to celebrate winning another major and over a million he goes to Wafflehouse, gotta love that, I love Wafflehouse

Sean_pop

I never thought his game would hold up under pressure to win a major. Anyone that has 11 single putts on the final day of a tournament has a great chance of winning. The turning point was the 2 shot swing on 8 and 9.

stephen310581

The Masters from Augusta is one of the most anticipated golf tournaments of the year. It is right up there with the Ryder cup and is probably the most competitive of all the other three majors. The golf course is beautifully laid out and Amen corner is looking as good as ever. Whoever scores best on the par fives will have a very good chance of winning. Weather is never a problem and the course will be immaculate, as always. Anyone can win, leading to great excitement and anticipation and no little drama.

AGC

PARlance

stephen310581 wrote: »

The Masters from Augusta is one of the most anticipated golf tournaments of the year. It is right up there with the Ryder cup and is probably the most competitive of all the other three majors. The golf course is beautifully laid out and Amen corner is looking as good as ever. Whoever scores best on the par fives will have a very good chance of winning. Weather is never a problem and the course will be immaculate, as always. Anyone can win, leading to great excitement and anticipation and no little drama.

Stephen, I see from your username that you are a fellow Gemini.
Well known for our split personalities....
I think one of your personalities needs to tell the other one what date it is and inform it that Bubba won.

RikkFlair

Just thinking it was probably the dullest Masters back 9 since 2008 when Trevor Immelman strolled away with it. That 4 shot swing on 8 and 9 really gave Bubba a cushion.

The last 5 Masters had been great with close finishes/playoffs etc so I suppose we were due a snoozefest.

John Divney

There's always a bit of resentment when players who don't crumble win while everyone else does.

Unlike last year when we were told to love Adam Scott.

We'll I can 't warm to that bloody robot, I'm not a Bubba fan really but he's fearless, to take a Driver over trees like that was mental really, a quarter inch off centre and his masters could have been over.

The_Architect

snaphook wrote: »

That was a really enjoyable US Open.
Lokking forward to the Masters next. :pac:

Very astute.

tunguska

LuckyGent88 wrote: »

Well as masters go, this has been one of the least dramatic ones iv watched.
Not much excitement on the back 9 at all.

+1.
The masters is always watchable but that in fairness was dull. Happy for Bubba but that tournament definitely needed more Cabrera.

applehunter

Was it just me or was there something wrong with the sound on the BBC coverage?

Its like the turned down the volume of the crowd.

eg. Fred Couples walking up to 18th green to rapturous applause but it sounded like it was being muffled.

DuckSlice

I think the masters would be more exciting, and this goes for all majors, if you make the pins more accessible on the last day. Get people scoring low. It was a bit exciting until the turn and then no one was getting birdies, which made for boring enough viewing, the only exciting thing was watching bubba's tee shots. I wish they had the pro tracer on more tho so we could see his shot shapes!

Rikand

Great to see Rory finish well, got himself together and got a top 10 for his trouble. Not bad for a lad who drops his shoulders at the first sign of a bad shot

GreeBo

Rikand wrote: »

Great to see Rory finish well, got himself together and got a top 10 for his trouble. Not bad for a lad who drops his shoulders at the first sign of a bad shot

Its a lot easier to play well when you are already out of it though...

Doing what Bubba did was mighty impressive, very Phil like imo.

AGC

GreeBo wrote: »

Its a lot easier to play well when you are already out of it though...

Doing what Bubba did was mighty impressive, very Phil like imo.

Even easier to just go through the motions and shoot 75,75

The_Kew_Tour

etxp wrote: »

I think the masters would be more exciting, and this goes for all majors, if you make the pins more accessible on the last day. Get people scoring low. It was a bit exciting until the turn and then no one was getting birdies, which made for boring enough viewing, the only exciting thing was watching bubba's tee shots. I wish they had the pro tracer on more tho so we could see his shot shapes!

Love to have seen his shots on pro tracer. Especially on 13.

Were they on any channel I wonder. I only saw it on BBC and no shots were showed using pro tracer.

Rikand

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Love to have seen his shots on pro tracer. Especially on 13.

Were they on any channel I wonder. I only saw it on BBC and no shots were showed using pro tracer.

Sky had the one on 13 on pro-tracer.

I was watching on Sky on the computer on sky go and BBC on the TV - BBC didn't do the pro tracer stuff, maybe didn't have the rights to do so...

The_Kew_Tour

Rikand wrote: »

Sky had the one on 13 on pro-tracer.

I was watching on Sky on the computer on sky go and BBC on the TV - BBC didn't do the pro tracer stuff, maybe didn't have the rights to do so...

Tried to see if it was on Youtube to no avail. Might check around it would be worth a look

GreeBo

AGC wrote: »

Even easier to just go through the motions and shoot 75,75

I'd be pretty disappointed in a young pro just going through the motions though...
The top guys don't do that ever

Rikand

GreeBo wrote: »

Its a lot easier to play well when you are already out of it though...

Doing what Bubba did was mighty impressive, very Phil like imo.

I wasn't trying to say that what Rory did was better than what Bubba did, if you got that from my post ?

SnowDrifts

I'm still thinking of Buba's drive on 13. 366 yards. A shame to see such a great hole ripped apart by a driver and a wedge.

BigChap1759

SnowDrifts wrote: »

I'm still thinking of Buba's drive on 13. 366 yards. A shame to see such a great hole ripped apart by a driver and a wedge.

I don't understand this thinking - it was an absolutely amazing drive......why is that a shame??

It was an unbelievable shot that maybe only Bubba could have made. My hats off to him

dball

Speaking as a golfer with a very long par 5 13th hole in my local club.
Its a risky shot but if the wind is right and im feeling confident Ill take it on anytime I play.
Speaking as a TV Golf fan and with an appreciation for what Agusta has i thought it was an amazing shot and anyone who has the bottle to risk everything on one shot - deserves to win

SnowDrifts

BigChap1759 wrote: »

I don't understand this thinking - it was an absolutely amazing drive......why is that a shame??

It was an unbelievable shot that maybe only Bubba could have made. My hats off to him

It was more of a lucky drive - he hit it a lot further left than he wanted. Gmac said the same here... http://www.irishgolfdesk.com/news-files/2014/4/17/g-mac-wowed-by-bubba-golf-he-could-literally-win-six-masters?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IrishGolfDesk+%28Irish+Golf+Desk%29

I understand what you are saying though.. it was an amazing shot (albeit a bit lucky) but I just think it a shame how such a classic hole, where long 2nd shots used to be fraught with danger are now reduced down to a wedge.

Think I side with Mr Nicklaus regarding his comments about the game getting too long. 366 yards.

BigChap1759

SnowDrifts wrote: »

It was more of a lucky drive - he hit it a lot further left than he wanted. Gmac said the same here... http://www.irishgolfdesk.com/news-files/2014/4/17/g-mac-wowed-by-bubba-golf-he-could-literally-win-six-masters?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IrishGolfDesk+%28Irish+Golf+Desk%29

I understand what you are saying though.. it was an amazing shot (albeit a bit lucky) but I just think it a shame how such a classic hole, where long 2nd shots used to be fraught with danger are now reduced down to a wedge.

Think I side with Mr Nicklaus regarding his comments about the game getting too long. 366 yards.

Surely that's the definition of risk/reward which is one of the exciting things about the game - I don't think anyone else could have done it so it's not like it's routinely being reduced to a drive and a wedge?

SnowDrifts

BigChap1759 wrote: »

Surely that's the definition of risk/reward which is one of the exciting things about the game - I don't think anyone else could have done it so it's not like it's routinely being reduced to a drive and a wedge?

Perhaps. Or maybe his length took some of the risk out of it. I generally enjoy risk/reward par 5s and love to see them being taken on. It could be sentimentality is forcing hypocrisy for me in this case.

snaphook

SnowDrifts wrote: »

I'm still thinking of Buba's drive on 13. 366 yards. A shame to see such a great hole ripped apart by a driver and a wedge.

This is certainly a valid point and don't think that the committee at Augusta haven't noticed this.

I recall an article written years ago about how a committee member who was stationed at the 11th looked on in utter disbelief at Mickelson hitting a flicked wedge to stone dead into the 11th green during the 1999 tournament. The committee took note and shortly after came the so called Tiger Proofing.

There has subsequently been a debate regarding the 'Masters golf ball' because of the expenses incurred carrying out the above.

Perhaps the debate will resurrect itself again. Manufacturers have obviously been the primary detractors against such a move not wanting to incur the expense but it may be time for the governing bodies to initiate a programme of declaring certain courses as Heritage courses with the aim of protecting their original design. It would be the responsibilty of ball manufacturers to R&D a ball which adheres to strict distance limitation guidelines and invoke their use by professionals and top amateurs on these newly designated heritage courses.

They would still be allowed to use the current arsenal in regular tour events on non designated courses so we will never miss those Bubba Bombs.

Sean_pop

Bubba basically took the fairway bunker on the 8th out of play as well with his length.

snaphook

Sean_pop wrote: »

Bubba basically took the fairway bunker on the 8th out of play as well with his length.

True. One of the suggestions for Tiger Proofing was to put pot bunkers at 300 yards from the tee to gobble up monster drives. Bubba could easily hit past 300 with his 3 wood.

The Sandy Lyle bunkers on the 18th were installed in the early 80's to stop the likes of Watson and Nicklaus bailing out onto a practice fairway.

slave1

One extraordinary guy does not change the scene, as others have said he went too far left and really boomed it so it was fraught with danger that drive.

Felexicon

Don't forget a lot of branches were lost from trees in the ice storm a few months ago. I'd wager that if Bubba had taken a similar line last year he would have been in trouble. You could see from his reaction that the line the ball took was bot the intended one

SnowDrifts

The television ratings for Saturday and Sunday of this year's Masters were the worst in more than two decades. (Ignore video clip)

Happyhacker

slave1 wrote: »

One extraordinary guy does not change the scene, as others have said he went too far left and really boomed it so it was fraught with danger that drive.

Absolutely agree - that shot was as freakish as it was reckless and will not be replicated by anyone else in future final Sunday pairings no matter what their driver spec. (Spieth believed it was at least 50 yards off line ) In a back nine of few memorable moments it will be remembered as the standout shot and the one that encapsulates the winner's mad genius. Hats off to Bubba for possessing the vision, power, artistry and balls to pull it off.

With the golf swing and golf pro persona incessantly striving to achieve some form of robotic conformity surely the likes of Bubba with his unmistakably recognisable yet eccentric approach is just what the game needs. Hogan, Palmer, Player, Trevino, Nicklaus, Langer, Ballesteros, Norman, Faldo, Woods Mickelson and even Harrington would all be instantly recognisable on a driving range - not something that can be said about the recent crop of young golfers with their technically perfect swings. I see bubba watson as a throwback to the past when players cultivated and honed their own swing to the point where they could simply see and execute shots rather than being slaves to trackman and swing
thoughts. But heh you can't stop progress

bobwilliams

snaphook wrote: »

True. One of the suggestions for Tiger Proofing was to put pot bunkers at 300 yards from the tee to gobble up monster drives. Bubba could easily hit past 300 with his 3 wood.

The Sandy Lyle bunkers on the 18th were installed in the early 80's to stop the likes of Watson and Nicklaus bailing out onto a practice fairway.

if you're talking about pure carry you're wrong my friend,

Slicemeister

Not surprised at the ratings stat. I fast forwarded the whole lot from ten to eighteen!! A certain Eldrick springs to mind too.

Rikand

Slicemeister wrote: »

Not surprised at the ratings stat. I fast forwarded the whole lot from ten to eighteen!! A certain Eldrick springs to mind too.

He does make things more exciting, but even had they a Rory or a Phil or a Sergio in the shake-up it would have made it all the more exciting!

Bubba does some cool things with a golf ball, but he doesnt have that character!