2010 Masters Sunday Blog

Written by: Tony Korologos | Sunday, April 11th, 2010
Categories: PGA TourPro GolfThe MastersTiger Woods
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6:55pm ET: Phil Mickelson wins his 3rd green jacket after an exclamation point birdie on the last hole.  What an incredible week it has been for me in particular, as I was on the grounds at Augusta National for the first time.  What a tournament.  What a place.  And I’m spent.

Good news: only 361 days left until the 2011 Masters.

6:40pm: Westwood makes birdie on #17 but Phil handles the pressure making a par putt from about six feet.  Two shot lead with the final hole to play.  It ain’t over yet. Woods finishes with a 69 after making birdie on the final hole.  Strangely, he and Choi played together for four straight days and shot the exact same scores all four days.

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Over 100 new photos added to Masters image gallery

Written by: Tony Korologos | Saturday, April 10th, 2010
Categories: PGA TourTiger Woods
Tags:

I’ve just added over 100 photos to the HOG Masters Gallery.  I also added a whole new album called Masters Odd Stuff for things you may not normally see at Augusta National.  Here are a couple of samples from the 2010 Masters Tournament gallery.


Above: Tiger Woods tees of on #9


Above: Ian Poulter reads a tough break on the par-3 6th hole


Above: A view you never see, looking back at the tee from #13 fairway.  COOL!


2010 Masters leaderboard after day two – Saturday parings and tee times

Written by: Tony Korologos | Saturday, April 10th, 2010
Categories: PGA TourTiger Woods
Tags:
POS Name ROUNDS TOTAL
TOTAL Tee Time 1 2 3 4
T1 Ian Poulter -8 2:45 pm ET 68 68 136
T1 Lee Westwood -8 2:45 pm ET 67 69 136
T3 Phil Mickelson -6 2:15 pm ET 67 71 138
T3 Ricky Barnes -6 2:25 pm ET 68 70 138
T3 Anthony Kim -6 2:25 pm ET 68 70 138
T3 K.J. Choi -6 2:35 pm ET 67 71 138
T3 Tiger Woods -6 2:35 pm ET 68 70 138
8 Y.E. Yang -5 2:15 pm ET 67 72 139
T9 Tom Watson -3 1:55 pm ET 67 74 141
T9 Fred Couples -3 2:05 pm ET 66 75 141
T9 Soren Kjeldsen -3 2:05 pm ET 70 71 141
T12 Bill Haas -2 1:45 pm ET 72 70 142
T12 Hunter Mahan -2 1:45 pm ET 71 71 142
T12 Trevor Immelman -2 1:55 pm ET 69 73 142
T15 Robert Karlsson -1 1:15 pm ET 71 72 143
T15 Mike Weir -1 1:15 pm ET 71 72 143
T15 Dustin Johnson -1 1:25 pm ET 71 72 143
T15 Matt Kuchar -1 1:25 pm ET 70 73 143
T15 Sean O’Hair -1 1:35 pm ET 72 71 143
T15 Kenny Perry -1 1:35 pm ET 72 71 143
T21 Ernie Els E 12:25 pm ET 71 73 144
T21 Francesco Molinari E 12:25 pm ET 70 74 144
T21 Steve Marino E 12:35 pm ET 71 73 144
T21 David Toms E 12:35 pm ET 69 75 144
T21 Sergio Garcia E 12:55 pm ET 74 70 144
T21 Adam Scott E 12:55 pm ET 69 75 144
T21 Zach Johnson E 1:05 pm ET 70 74 144
T21 Nick Watney E 1:05 pm ET 68 76 144
T29 Retief Goosen +1 12:05 pm ET 74 71 145
T29 Heath Slocum +1 12:05 pm ET 72 73 145
T29 Ryan Moore +1 12:15 pm ET 72 73 145
T29 Charl Schwartzel +1 12:15 pm ET 69 76 145
T33 Geoff Ogilvy +2 11:25 am ET 74 72 146
T33 Jerry Kelly +2 11:35 am ET 72 74 146
T33 Scott Verplank +2 11:35 am ET 73 73 146
T33 Steve Stricker +2 11:45 am ET 73 73 146
T33 Camilo Villegas +2 11:45 am ET 74 72 146
T33 Ben Crane +2 11:55 am ET 71 75 146
T33 Steve Flesch +2 11:55 am ET 75 71 146
T40 Robert Allenby +3 10:45 am ET 72 75 147
T40 Angel Cabrera +3 10:45 am ET 73 74 147
T40 Chad Campbell +3 10:55 am ET 79 68 147
T40 Matteo Manassero(a) +3 10:55 am ET 71 76 147
T40 Nathan Green +3 11:05 am ET 72 75 147
T40 Yuta Ikeda +3 11:05 am ET 70 77 147
T40 Lucas Glover +3 11:15 am ET 76 71 147
T40 Miguel Angel Jimenez +3 11:15 am ET 72 75 147
T40 Jason Dufner +3 11:25 am ET 75 72 147
Missed Cut
CUT Tim Clark +4 75 73 148
CUT Ben Curtis +4 73 75 148
CUT Ryo Ishikawa +4 72 76 148
CUT Larry Mize +4 76 72 148
CUT John Senden +4 71 77 148
CUT Luke Donald +5 74 75 149
CUT Soren Hansen +5 74 75 149
CUT Padraig Harrington +5 74 75 149
CUT Martin Kaymer +5 76 73 149
CUT Bernhard Langer +5 71 78 149
CUT Graeme McDowell +5 75 74 149
CUT John Merrick +5 72 77 149
CUT Mark O’Meara +5 75 74 149
CUT Ryan Palmer +5 72 77 149
CUT Nathan Smith(a) +5 74 75 149
CUT Brad Benjamin(a) +6 73 77 150
CUT Simon Dyson +6 77 73 150
CUT Justin Leonard +6 75 75 150
CUT Edoardo Molinari +6 75 75 150
CUT Kevin Na +6 74 76 150
CUT Alvaro Quiros +6 75 75 150
CUT David Duval +7 76 75 151
CUT Brian Gay +7 74 77 151
CUT Todd Hamilton +7 74 77 151
CUT Marc Leishman +7 72 79 151
CUT Rory Mcilroy +7 74 77 151
CUT John Rollins +7 75 76 151
CUT Oliver Wilson +7 78 73 151
CUT Stewart Cink +8 76 76 152
CUT Shingo Katayama +8 75 77 152
CUT Louis Oosthuizen +8 75 77 152
CUT Paul Casey +9 75 78 153
CUT Ross Fisher +9 77 76 153
CUT Rory Sabbatini +9 75 78 153
CUT Vijay Singh +10 76 78 154
CUT Chris Wood +10 78 76 154
CUT Byeong-Hun An(a) +11 78 77 155
CUT Ben Crenshaw +11 77 78 155
CUT Chang-Won Han(a) +11 79 76 155
CUT Sandy Lyle +11 69 86 155
CUT Ben Martin(a) +11 75 80 155
CUT Henrik Stenson +11 80 75 155
CUT Jim Furyk +12 80 76 156
CUT Anders Hansen +13 80 77 157
CUT Craig Stadler +13 79 78 157
CUT Michael Campbell +20 83 81 164
CUT Ian Woosnam +20 81 83 164
WD Thongchai Jaidee

Fred Couples and his skateboard shoes lead the Masters

Written by: Tony Korologos | Friday, April 9th, 2010
Categories: PGA Tour
Tags:

While watching the Tuesday practice round at the Masters this week we followed Fred Couples around on hole #9 and hole #10.  We noticed the Ecco shoes and that he was wearing had no spikes. In fact my dad popped some pictures of the shoes (left).  He does this to help reduce the impact of walking on his bad back.

On hole #9 we watched Freddie bomb his drive far past three flat bellied younger players.

What can we learn from this?   Are spikes or regular golf shoes overrated?  Perhaps.  I know if I don’t wear spikes I slip all over the place because my weight and balance is shifting so much.  Freddy’s balance and center is so good, that he doesn’t slip.


Augusta National – Stuff you don’t see on TV

Written by: Tony Korologos | Thursday, April 8th, 2010
Categories: Uncategorized
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Pictured right: Sun dial in front of the player’s cabin.  I checked the time and it was dead on at 6:00PM!

In light of today’s first round of the 2010 Masters, and now that I’m no longer a Masters / Augusta National virgin, I’m going to do some posts about Augusta National the place.  One of the main things I wanted to soak in while there was the vibe of the place.  I wanted to get a feel for not only how perfectly every blade of grass was cut, the fact that there can exist 365 acres of land without one weed and how incredible the layout of the course was, but a feel and insight for the little things that people may not know about.   Today’s post is eloquently titled “Stuff you don’t see on TV at Augusta National.”  There are many aspects to the course itself which TV doesn’t or can’t capture.

What TV can’t come close to showing about Augusta National

Talk to anyone who has walked Augusta National and the first thing they’ll tell you is how hilly it is and how much elevation change there is.  They always say TV doesn’t do the hills, elevation changes and contours justice.  Anyone who told you that is right.  The course is incredibly hilly.  The elevation changes from tee to fairway, tee to green on par-3’s and approach to green is amazing.

Pictured right: Masters Chocolate Mini Moon Pie

Blind or semi-blind approaches

Elevation changes from fairway to green on holes like #1, #5, #8 (if trying to reach this par-5 in two), #11, #15 and #17 require tee shots to travel far enough to reach a point where the green or a part of it or the pin can be seen from approach position.  Shorter tee shots will result in blind or semi blind shots to the green.

Downhill approaches

The severity of some of the downhill approach shots is certainly not captured by television.  In fact on some holes it doesn’t come close.   The par-5 2nd hole is shown as downhill on TV, but the severity and the angle of approach is not conveyed well.  Hole #2 and the drop to the green is pictured below:


Above: #2 and the drop in elevation from 280 out to the green.

The par-3 4th hole (about 240) is a huge downhill shot which on TV looks almost level.  The problem with #4 especially, is that the shot must carry all the way to the proper spot on the green or it will catch a bunker or roll down a false front and off the green to bogey land.  Par-3 #6 is severely downhill.  I watched Kenny Perry hit shots there and they were in the air for a long time.  The par-4 9th also can have a severely downhill approach to the green unless  you are a bomber and can get it close to the flatter area at the bottom of the hill.  #10 is a massive hole and is extremely downhill.  Most know it is severely downhill but no matter how HD the cameras and TV screens are, the elevation change simply is not captured.  The approach to #10 is also a tough downhill shot.  When I was there fans, sorry, “patrons” were impressed if a player managed to find themselves as close as 200 yards out.  The 505 yard par-4 #11 is well known for the tough downhill approach and is shown fairly well on TV.  The last downhill approach of the course is the par-5 15th.  TV can’t really show how thin the green looks from the top of the hill, where players debate whether or not to go for it.  A perfect shot must be struck there, or it is a water ball back left or short.  Bailing right finds a bunker.

The greens are not as big as they look on TV

In general, most of the greens are much smaller than I expected.  #2 is about the only one which is roughly the size I thought it would be.  #13 (par-5) is much smaller than I thought it would be.  #17, where Jack Nicklaus made the famous birdie in 1986, is about half the size I thought it would be.  How big do you think #18 is?  The angle of the TV cameras somehow make this green look much larger than it really is.

Massive open space

The clubhouse looks out over the #1 tee.  Beyond there, left of the tee is #9 green.  Continuing in that same direction toward #8 tee and #2 green is a huge wide open space which looks surreal from many directions.  Looking down from the top of the hill where #1 tee is toward that area and seeing the massive open space and thousands of patrons is amazing.  Conversely, looking from #7 green or even #17 fairway, you can see all the way through that massive open space up to the clubhouse.  Once again, seeing all of those bodies and all that space up the hill is an amazing sight.

Buildings


Above: The BACK side of Butler Cabin

During the broadcasts all you hear about is the clubhouse and Butler Cabin.  There are several other buildings you never see on TV.  Right of the clubhouse, the direction of #1 fairway, are several other cabins.  Down the left side of #10 tee there are several cabins which are never seen on TV.  Also, none of the concession stands (where the famous pimento cheese sandwiches are) are shown.  Most are very well tucked in areas in which they cannot bee seen from the course.

Butler Cabin, speaking of buildings, is not small.  I anticipated that it would be, well, a cabin.  It is probably 3000+ square feet.  The first image in this article is the back side of Butler Cabin.


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