Golf: 2018 Masters Tournament | APRIL 5th - APRIL 8th| ESPN + CBS

[OhCaptainMyCaptain]

“He got lucky” is funny analysis. Welcome to golf. A lot of times the winners get lucky breaks.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

“He got lucky” is funny analysis. Welcome to golf. A lot of times the winners get lucky breaks.

Where did he even get lucky? Maybe 13? Even then, he made par, so if thats in the creek, he could easily still have gotten par on that hole.

 

[OhCaptainMyCaptain]

Where did he even get lucky? Maybe 13? Even then, he made par, so if thats in the creek, he could easily still have gotten par on that hole.

That’s a good question. Didn’t see people complaining how lucky Rory got yesterday with his chip-in (considering how far past the hole it would have went).

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

Where did he even get lucky? Maybe 13? Even then, he made par, so if thats in the creek, he could easily still have gotten par on that hole.

15 yesterday. Without the moisture that ball potentially trickles back down.

But full credit to him. I don't like him either but he deserved the Green Jacket.

 

[OhCaptainMyCaptain]

15 yesterday. Without the moisture that ball potentially trickles back down.

But full credit to him. I don't like him either but he deserved the Green Jacket.

Not calling you out since you gave him credit, but just making the general acknowledgment that you could go through any player’s round and point out several times when they got lucky.

 

[Dr John Carlson]

15 yesterday. Without the moisture that ball potentially trickles back down.

But full credit to him. I don't like him either but he deserved the Green Jacket.

To be fair, without moisture in the air the ball would've travelled a lot farther than it did on his 2nd shot.

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

To be fair, without moisture in the air the ball would've travelled a lot farther than it did on his 2nd shot.

Yep, true.

 

[Raging Bull]

Patty wins it with Rory in the final pairing, and Jordan making a charge. Great Sunday.

 

[Dakota Sioux]

Don’t know if Rory will ever get the slam. Augusta on Sundays is in his head big time.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Oh the irony.

For the record, I'm not complaining, just think this is a little ironic now with today's context.

 

[MrFunnyWobbl]

Well that's unfortunate. Brutal miss by Jordan on 18, but it wouldn't have mattered.

Reed isn't as bad as Willett though.

Rory missing one of his few chances to win at Augusta cause he can't putt.

Overrated.

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

Well that's unfortunate. Brutal miss by Jordan on 18, but it wouldn't have mattered.

Reed isn't as bad as Willett though.

Rory missing one of his few chances to win at Augusta cause he can't putt.

Overrated.

Rory's been close to the lead at Augusta many times. He will have plenty more chances.

Few chances to win is nonsense.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Well that's unfortunate. Brutal miss by Jordan on 18, but it wouldn't have mattered.

Reed isn't as bad as Willett though.

Rory missing one of his few chances to win at Augusta cause he can't putt.

Overrated.

Jordan said he had no clue he was in contention. He doesn't usually look at leaderboards, and he didn't look at any today. And the putt didn't matter. Would've only tied him for second.

Rory putted decently today, and did so all week. He struck the ball really poorly. Rory plays really well at Augusta. This narrative that he can't play at Augusta is becoming extinct. He's had a top 10 at Augusta five times in a row. If you keep playing well, you'll give yourself chances.

 

[MrFunnyWobbl]

Jordan said he had no clue he was in contention. He doesn't usually look at leaderboards, and he didn't look at any today. And the putt didn't matter. Would've only tied him for second.

Rory putted decently today, and did so all week. He struck the ball really poorly. Rory plays really well at Augusta. This narrative that he can't play at Augusta is becoming extinct. He's had a top 10 at Augusta five times in a row. If you keep playing well, you'll give yourself chances.

He missed so many short putts inside ten feet.

He still hasn't won a professional tournament closer to par than 12 under. He needs to win a birdie fest at Augusta otherwise he won't.

Top tens don't matter. I can say that Rickie is better than Jordan based off his top 5s in majors if we're gunna do that. Win or bust.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Final thoughts. I'll sum it up in five points that defined the event.

1. I'll start with the winner. Reed always seemed like the type who'd win at least one major. I never got the sense he was a Westwood or Matsuyama or maybe Fowler. The guy is mentally tough and clutch. His ball striking has always held him back. Never been a good driver, and he still isn't, can only hit the ball one way, but his iron play has been pretty remarkable of late. Will it continue? Who knows, but if it does, he has the talent to compete at the top of the game. His short game and putting is very good. This win in a major was coming. I think nearly everyone would've preferred it to be one of the top players, whoever their favorites are, but Reed is a quality major winner.

2. I have slightly more respect for Fowler's game after this week. I think I called him the orange jumpsuit gimmick earlier in the week, and I think his lack of overall victories, whether its in regular tour events or majors, is indicative of his inability to finish. He now has 8 top 5's in majors without winning one. The record is 11 for Westwood. Wins are what defines careers, but I have to think that if you keep giving yourself that many chances, you'll win one eventually. I don't think Fowler's a choker or anything like that, he just hasn't seized the opportunity in one of these big events yet. Maybe he'll go into the final round of one of these tournaments leading by 3, and won't need to play great.

3. Going into the week, I wasn't sure Spieth had much of a chance to win. I had seen one half-decent putting tournament from him in the last month or two, Houston last week. Even that wasn't great, it included a terrible round 3 putting performance. But I thought Jordan putted reasonably well this week, at least in the part of putting that he was struggling with, set up, shorter putts. Looked way more comfortable, and had two demonstrably good putting rounds. The other two rounds I didn't think he putted poorly, putts just weren't going in. That was about as poor of a score as Jordan could've shot this week. Some better breaks, and he wins by five, so he didn't get those, but with his putting coming around, his game is excellent right now. Yet another high finish in a major for his resume, and its not like he needed to win this event, given his last major win was two major events prior.

4. Rahm contended for the first time in a major this week. I guess you could say he kind of contended at the Masters last year by being in one of the last few groups on Saturday, but he wasn't really in it. This week, he was in it. Started off terribly, shot -14 his last three rounds. Reed's last three rounds were -12, Fowler -12, Spieth -7, McIlroy -6, so it shows how well Rahm came back the final three rounds. The guy said he didn't really hit any bad shots the final few rounds. Almost every top level golfer doesn't win the first major they contend. They usually get going soon after that. Rahm's first time contending was this event. This might be remembered at least partly for being the event that got Rahm going in majors.

5. People are saying McIlroy choked or this or that, but I don't look at it that way. Some day's you just don't have it. Some days your numbers are off, you are in-between clubs, the wind gusts right as you hit a shot, maybe something in your game is technically off for a few holes or whatever. All the best players have rounds like this in majors where they are looked at as the favorite, and they don't favor in. Doesn't really mean much towards their careers. I remember last year Jordan was two back going into the final round, and he was the favorite, he was supposed to win, and all his shots were taken by the wind or he'd hit the top of ridges, miss his spot by one yard, didn't choke or anything like that, circumstances of the round just didn't go his way. I think the same thing happened today for Rory.

And I don't buy the "he has so much pressure on him to win the Masters" narrative. It becomes a storyline in 10 years, not when he's 28 years old. Right now, he needs to concentrate on four events per year, winning as many of those as he can. If he happens to win the Masters, even better for his career, but I don't see the US Open, Open or PGA as being any less important events to him right now. Like 86 other players in the field, he didn't win the first of the four this year. Another top 5 at the Masters, and the weakest part of his game, putting, once again looked good this week. Rory finally looks to be back.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

He missed so many short putts inside ten feet.

He still hasn't won a professional tournament closer to par than 12 under. He needs to win a birdie fest at Augusta otherwise he won't.

Top tens don't matter. I can say that Rickie is better than Jordan based off his top 5s in majors if we're gunna do that. Win or bust.

Rory's putting average was 1.515 this event, field average was 1.64. Thats 9 strokes gained on the field this week putting. 2.25 gained per round. Leader this year on Tour per round is Day at 1.386. Thats demonstrably a really good putting week for Rory. Putting is also always harder at this course. Its not Rory's strength, he struggles reading greens and these have the most break in the world, but I wouldn't say his putting was anything other than a positive this week.

I'd tend to agree with you that he does much better when you have to make birdies instead of grind out pars, but thats been the recent trend at the Masters. -15 won this year. He doesn't need to be -4 or -5 to win the Masters. Only years when its like that nowadays are when its very cold or windy that week.

And you'd be wrong about Rickie having more major top 5's than Jordan. Rickie has 8, Jordan has 9. Rickie has also been playing them way longer. Rickie has top 5's in .24% of his majors. Jordan has top 5's in .43% of his majors.

 

[MrFunnyWobbl]

Good post @Pavel Buchnevich

I think Rahm needs to sit down with a Jared Tendler or Elliot Roe and get some help. I think he is very heavily being held back by his mental game and emotions. If he can deal with these I think he can breakthrough even moreso than he has already.

 

[MrFunnyWobbl]

There's no way your math is correct there, but yeah I meant ballpark on that.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

There's no way your math is correct there, but yeah I meant ballpark on that.

Are you not counting wins as top 5's? Rickie played 4 majors prior to 2011, every major from 2011-2017, and then one this year. Thats 33 majors, 8 top 5's. Jordan played 4 majors prior to 2014, every one from 2014-2017, and then one this year. Thats 21 majors, 9 top 5's, three of which are wins.

Rahm has a temper, but so does Tiger. Tiger is known for making the announcers apologize for his language. If Rahm can get over bad shots, and focus for the next by throwing a tantrum, it doesn't really matter.

 

[MrFunnyWobbl]

And you'd be wrong about Rickie having more major top 5's than Jordan. Rickie has 8, Jordan has 9. Rickie has also been playing them way longer. Rickie has top 5's in .24% of his majors. Jordan has top 5's in .43% of his majors.

for 9 to equal .43%, you'd have to play around 2000 majors.

Nvm it looks like you mean 43% not .43%, which looks right.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Yeah, a typo, I didn't even realize.

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

Jordan said he had no clue he was in contention. He doesn't usually look at leaderboards, and he didn't look at any today. And the putt didn't matter. Would've only tied him for second.

Rory putted decently today, and did so all week. He struck the ball really poorly. Rory plays really well at Augusta. This narrative that he can't play at Augusta is becoming extinct. He's had a top 10 at Augusta five times in a row. If you keep playing well, you'll give yourself chances.

I always find it strange when people don't look at leaderboards.

I mean, I get in theory that you're always trying to play your best round, but there are times where knowing where you stand should have an influence on your strategy imo.

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

Where did he even get lucky? Maybe 13? Even then, he made par, so if thats in the creek, he could easily still have gotten par on that hole.

Hitting the pin on 17 likely saved him from a playoff.

That said, he still had to have the line to hit it and as others have mentioned, you usually need to have some luck on your side to win this tourney.

 

[MrFunnyWobbl]

Jordan now 2-1-2-T11-3 at Augusta

insane

 

[spintheblackcircle]