2024 Masters

[Carolina Speed]

The Masters begins on Thursday and normally I get to watch most of it, however my choice of careers has me away during the daytime hours on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Don't like to work on Sunday, but twice a year I have to. This is the first time I can remember the International Home Furnishings Market taking place the same week of The Masters.
Hopefully someone here will keep tabs and post the scoring and post.
My top five:
1. Spieth
2. JT Poston
3. Phil Mickelson
4. Scottie Scheffler
5. Dustin Johnson
HM: Rory McIlroy

 

[Don Wassall]

The forecast for tomorrow's first round is storms and thunderstorms with wind gusts between 40 and 45 between 8 am and noon, so part or all of the round could be washed out. Friday is supposed to be windy but there shouldn't be any rain after Thursday. The weekend weather should be fine.

This will be Verne Lundquist's final Masters after 40 years. He made many memorable calls over the years, including the famous "Yes sir!" after Jack Nicklaus sunk a 12 foot putt at 17 to take the outright lead for the first time at the '86 Masters.

I was surprised to realize that of the 13 LIV players in the field, 7 are former Masters champions -- Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed, Charl Schwartzel, and defending champion Jon Rahm, who was still on the PGA Tour at the time.

 

[Don Wassall]

Bryson DeChambeau is the first round leader after shooting an impressive seven under 65. Tournament favorite Scottie Scheffler is just one shot behind, followed by Nicolai Højgaard of Denmark (-5), 2016 Masters winner Danny Willett (-4) and Max Homa (-4).

The predicted bad weather wasn't nearly as bad as forecast so playing conditions weren't bad after the rain stopped but it was quite windy and will be again for the second round. Not all players finished their round due to the morning weather delay, among them Tiger Woods, who unfortunately is at -1 with several holes still to play. I say unfortunately because he may well make the cut, which means the drooling over him will continue all weekend no matter how far back he is. Before he teed off today, ESPN kept showing shots of him warming up, then walking from the warmup area to the first tee, and then of course every shot of his round was shown. It's always Groundhog Day when it comes to Tiger Woods, as to Rabbi Rich Lerner and the rest of the We Worship Tiger media cult, it will always be the year 2000 when Woods was at his peak and they'll keep pretending Tiger is a serious contender whenever he enters a tournament even if one or both of his legs are eventually amputated.

But the Woods cult will always be with us, in spite of which the Masters is always a great event and usually has spectacular drama on the back nine of the final round and hopefully will again this year.

 

[icsept]

Good first round. I’ve been disinterested in golf with the lack of good leaderboards. The Masters rarely disappoints. It looks like this will be a good one.

 

[Snow Plow]

The Masters is all class. Tickets are affordable (if you can get them), lines move fast, you can place a chair and no one will take it, the food and beer is cheap and plentiful, there a no fights/ shenanigans, the course is pristine, etc.

I wonder why….

 

[FootballDad]

Bryson DeChambeau is the first round leader after shooting an impressive seven under 65. Tournament favorite Scottie Scheffler is just one shot behind, followed by Nicolai Højgaard of Denmark (-5), 2016 Masters winner Danny Willett (-4) and Max Homa (-4).

The predicted bad weather wasn't nearly as bad as forecast so playing conditions weren't bad after the rain stopped but it was quite windy and will be again for the second round. Not all players finished their round due to the morning weather delay, among them Tiger Woods, who unfortunately is at -1 with several holes still to play. I say unfortunately because he may well make the cut, which means the drooling over him will continue all weekend no matter how far back he is. Before he teed off today, ESPN kept showing shots of him warming up, then walking from the warmup area to the first tee, and then of course every shot of his round was shown. It's always Groundhog Day when it comes to Tiger Woods, as to Rabbi Rich Lerner and the rest of the We Worship Tiger media cult, it will always be the year 2000 when Woods was at his peak and they'll keep pretending Tiger is a serious contender whenever he enters a tournament even if one or both of his legs are eventually amputated.

But the Woods cult will always be with us, in spite of which the Masters is always a great event and usually has spectacular drama on the back nine of the final round and hopefully will again this year.

Thanks for the news on the leaderboard. I finally took a look at ESPN after reading your post. From listening to the morning radio guys here in KC, you would think that Tiger is running away with the event. They could teach Rabbi Lerner a thing or two about excess drooling.

 

[Sean89]

He has done well to be fair and that's a great record he has achieved.

Dechambeau playing some great stuff. Wind is whipping around.

Homa finally showing up for a big one.

Mc Ilroy and his work with Harmon not paying off. His Wedge and chipping are keeping out of another tournament

 

[Snow Plow]

We all know Scotty is a pro’s pro, but I have also been impressed by Bryson. I would imagine they will be the final pair on Sunday and would be happy if either won.

 

[icsept]

I’m rooting for all the LIV guys. It was so hypocritical for the PGA holdouts to condemn the LIV players. Everybody is playing for money.

 

[Don Wassall]

Very strong winds and cool temps made the second round a survival test, more like some of the wild weather days at a British Open than a typical Masters day. The winds were strong enough to send sand from the bunkers flying all over the place, including in players' eyes.

DeChambeau, Scheffler and Max Homa are tied for the lead at -6. Homa isn't well known by those who don't follow golf closely but has won 6 PGA tournaments and is the 11th ranked player in the world. Nicolai Højgaard is next at -4, and then Collin Morikawa and Cam Davis of Australia at -3. Eight others are at -2 or -1.

Tiger Woods is +1, so Tigermania will continue unabated all weekend. The cut line ended up being +6 and a lot of big names missed it, including reigning U.S. Open champ Wyndham Clark, Justin Rose, Justin Thomas, reigning FedEx Cup champ Viktor Hovland, reigning British Open champ Brian Harman, Jordan Spieth, and Dustin Johnson.

Rory McIlroy is at +4. He didn't have a single birdie today.

Conditions should be much better for the final two rounds though it will still be somewhat gusty Saturday. Today's bad weather survival mode greatly cut down on the famous roars from the galleries but that should change dramatically beginning tomorrow.

 

[Snow Plow]

Very strong winds and cool temps made the second round a survival test, more like some of the wild weather days at a British Open than a typical Masters day. The winds were strong enough to send sand from the bunkers flying all over the place, including in players' eyes.

DeChambeau, Scheffler and Max Homa are tied for the lead at -6. Homa isn't well known by those who don't follow golf closely but has won 6 PGA tournaments and is the 11th ranked player in the world. Nicolai Højgaard is next at -4, and then Collin Morikawa and Cam Davis of Australia at -3. Eight others are at -2 or -1.

Tiger Woods is +1, so Tigermania will continue unabated all weekend. The cut line ended up being +6 and a lot of big names missed it, including reigning U.S. Open champ Wyndham Clark, Justin Rose, Justin Thomas, reigning FedEx Cup champ Viktor Hovland, reigning British Open champ Brian Harman, Jordan Spieth, and Dustin Johnson.

Rory McIlroy is at +4. He didn't have a single birdie today.

Conditions should be much better for the final two rounds though it will still be somewhat gusty Saturday. Today's bad weather survival mode greatly cut down on the famous roars from the galleries but that should change dramatically beginning tomorrow.

Yes, the winds were a major factor. I was texting with my brother and we both agreed that Scottie is a silent assassin while Bryson is different in that he was visibly upset by the conditions. We also agreed that it would have been nice for Scottie to have been able to compete with Tiger in his prime.

This is a great sport for us, so we should all watch this weekend.

 

[Don Wassall]

Exciting third round today. The pin placements were difficult and the greens were like glass and the scores reflected that. Scottie Scheffler leads by one stroke at -7. Collin Morikawa birdied the first three holes, which was enough for him to finish the round in second place at -6. Max Homa didn't have a single birdie but also had just one bogey so he's right there at -5. Ludvig Aberg the young Swede playing in his first major (but already ranked ninth in the world) is -4. Bryson DeChambeau imploded over several holes on the back nine but then made a ridiculous hole-out birdie on 18 that will give him momentum going into tomorrow's final round. He's -3. Three competitors are at -2 and four are -1. All have a shot but if history holds it'll be one of Scheffler, Morikawa, Homa or Aberg wearing the green jacket with DeChambeau having an outside shot.

The weather should be nearly perfect tomorrow and the course somewhat easier as Augusta National usually waters the greens a bit and makes the pin placements a little less difficult, the better to create drama resulting in Sunday roars.

BTW, Tiger Woods shot an atrocious 82 in the third round today, but CBS still felt obligated to show us most of his poor play. Phil Mickelson, five years old than Woods and owner of three green jackets, was studiously ignored despite like Woods making the cut and playing better than Woods.

 

[knightedsoldier5000]

I don't follow golf at all but they had golf coverage on at the car shop while I waited yesterday. It was nothing but non-stop Tiger woods worship. Gave me awful flashbacks to 20+ years ago when Tiger Woods worship in the media was just non-stop and inescapable.

 

[The Hock]

I was talking to a gal who likes to watch all four days of a major. I asked her who she was rooting for and she said she'd like to see Tiger win it.

I'll have to ask her how he did next time I see her.

 

[SneakyQuick]

I have a hard time watching golf usually but I can appreciate the skill needed.

Scottie has been unbelievable all weekend though. Pleasure to watch

 

[Sean89]

Scheffler just upped his game when the others struggled. Great performance.

Aberg is a talent. Magnificent debut at the masters and indeed major golf.

 

[SneakyQuick]

If you look at Scott’s family background it looks like what will happen for a lot of talented guys.

Start out in New Jersey, family has the foresight to move to Texas and they enjoy enormous success. Committed Christian and a father to be at 27 years old

We could use a few more like him for sure

Great win for a class act.

 

[Don Wassall]

Scheffler just upped his game when the others struggled. Great performance.

Aberg is a talent. Magnificent debut at the masters and indeed major golf.

Good summary. I hate to bring up you know who, but the way Scheffler's competitors all made double bogeys and fell away just as Scottie was heating up is reminiscent of the way Tiger Woods often won in his heyday. (Woods finished dead last btw among those who made the cut.) The exception was Aberg, who hung in there even after he also made a double bogey and looks to have the game and composure to become a superstar.

Scottie's still just 27 and now has two green jackets and has won The Players back to back, the first ever to do that. We'll see how he does in the next three majors and in the coming years but as of now he's far and away golf's biggest star.

This year's Masters was great as always.