"The Masters is always pandemonium, and there are all sorts of rumors about what's going on with the golf course."

Cameron Morfit files a short but typically enjoyable Geoff Ogilvy Q&A. Topics include contending in last year's U.S. Open, lessons from Tiger's effort and this about the Masters:

What tournament are you most looking forward to this year?

Well, I've never really been in contention at the Masters. On Saturday in '07, that really horrendous, cold, windy day, I was two back, and I spun two wedges into the water on 15. The Masters is always pandemonium, and there are all sorts of rumors about what's going on with the golf course. I look forward to the next Masters from the moment I leave the course on Sunday. It's such a cool place.

And in a PGATour.com writer roundtable previewing major storylines they expect in 2009, Stan Awtrey writes:

The buzz will return to Augusta National. The Gods of the Green Jackets wanted to stay relevant when they put the course on steroids three years ago. Instead they doused the excitement that made the Masters the greatest tournament in the world. Chairman Billy Payne is a bright guy who understands the correlation between excitement and ratings. Look for the roars to return to Rae's Creek and the hollers to return to the hollars this spring. There will be enough excitement this spring to make up for the last two borefests. And if this happens to be the week that Tiger Woods decides to return from the disabled list, the excitement -- and the ratings -- may be Super Bowlian

I'm wondering how much the rumors (which I keep hearing too), or the hopes expressed by folks like Awtrey,  are mostly a case of wishful thinking and not really based on anything folks have seen or heard. After all, the golf course has been off-kilter and out of balance for a decade now and none of the glaring deficiencies have been remedied.

I keep hearing from knowledgable folks that the club's top officials realize they went way too far and it's a matter of time before they swallow their pride or stop worrying about Hootie Johnson's fragile ego or whatever the excuse is, to get this thing turned around. But adding a few yards on the front of some tees and chopping a couple of trees down just doesn't strike me as being what the Good Doctor and Bobby Jones would have prescribed to repair Augusta National. Not that they would have created the problem in the first place.

"Augusta is now one of the purest majors we play."

SI Golf Plus's excellent year-end issue featured a roundtable with scribes Garrity, Van Sickle, Bamberger and Shipnuck joining the "anonymous tour pro" for a discussion about 2009.

It's all quite entertaining in an pared-down sort of way, but one comment from Mr. Anonymous made me hurl my magazine across the room.

ABOUT THE MAJORS

Bamberger: Augusta National sets up for some semiobscure guy — like Zach Johnson or Brandt Snedeker — to have a great driving and putting week. To me, they have taken the emotion out of the tournament by toughening the course so much.

Van Sickle: The course negates ability because now you make birdies only by accident. They pushed the course to the brink of difficulty, and weather conditions can push it over the edge.

Garrity: If they fix the course the way we want, they may be left, once again, with ridiculously fast greens as the course's only defense. I didn't like that, either. Ease back on the course, and a Masters-regulated ball may be the only solution.

Anonymous Pro: I hate to say this, but Augusta is now one of the purest majors we play. With the length, the rough and especially the trees, it's less of a bomber's paradise. The trees have changed the course. They have Tiger-proofed it. They've taken a lot of the risk out of the course. You have to plod along and play to point A and B and C.

So let me get this right. It's the purest major they play, yet it takes away risk and you have to plod along and play to committee-dictated points of interest?

That's what a pure major does? Yikes.

Masters Field at 88

...after the World's Top 50 for 2008 is finalized. Doug Ferguson reports. Some of the names in and not yet in might surprise you:

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland tied for third at the South African Open and will move up to No. 39, while Lin Wen-Tang of Taiwan tied for sixth in the Volvo Masters on the Asian Tour and will be No. 49.

Augusta National since 2000 has invited the top 50 in the rankings at the end of the calendar year. With no more official tournaments remaining, the final 2008 rankings were determined Sunday.

The 15 players not otherwise eligible except for their top-50 ranking were Justin Rose, Martin Kaymer, Ross Fisher, Luke Donald, Shingo Kayatama, Graeme McDowell, Rory Sabbatini, Jeev Milkha Singh, Aaron Baddeley, McIlroy, Oliver Wilson, Sterne, Soren Hansen, Tang and Soren Kjeldsen.

Along with other criteria, that puts the Masters field at 88 players who are expected to compete April 10-13. Among those still not eligible are Woody Austin, Scott Verplank, Davis Love III and J.B. Holmes, the only Ryder Cup player who could miss the first major of the year.

Augusta National has the smallest field of the four majors, and it most likely will get larger.

Players still can qualify by winning one of 13 PGA Tour events leading to the Masters, or by getting into the top 50 in the rankings published a week before the Masters. The Masters has not had more than 100 competitors since 1966. 

Sensing Need To Contribute To Masters Par-3's Circus Atmosphere, Greg Wants Chrissie To Caddy

Thanks to reader Andrew for Josh Robbins' story on Greg and Gregory Norman. Dad knows his cheesy Tony Robbins metaphors:

"I've learned from Gregory his tenacity and his desire to be good at whatever he does," the father said. "It resonates out. When you're under pressure, you could see the intensity that comes out of an individual. What do you want to do? "Do you want to fly like an eagle or fly like a buzzard? And Gregory wants to fly like an eagle."

Gregory responded: "I learned how to do those things from him."

Gregory Translation: "Okay dad, that was a bit over the top. I'm going to keep my answer brief."

Now the real news:

It's possible, however, that Evert, not Gregory, may caddie for Norman in the Par 3 event on the eve of the Masters. In fact, it's an idea that Gregory endorses.

"She should definitely caddie," Gregory said when a reporter brought up the possibilityon Friday.

Norman agreed, saying anything is possible.

"[Chris and I] have talked about that actually," Norman acknowledged. "Whether that happens or not, I don't know."

"You used to be able to have a train wreck, but you also could shoot 30 on the back nine."

Ron Kroichick profiled Nick Price prior to last week's Schwab Cup and included this item on Augusta National, which is not anything we haven't heard in the last few years from noted players. But considering the disappointing announcement on course changes, offers a reminder how much work remains to get ANGC back to respectability.

Along the way, Price has followed a popular road of past major champions, forming his own course-design company. The experience helped convince him that Augusta National, among others, is taking the wrong approach to combat technology.

Price, who shares the Augusta National course record (third-round 63 in 1986), pointed to the plodding nature of the past two Masters. Those tournaments offered a striking contrast to the '80s and '90s, Price said, when players who finished the final round early rushed to the nearest television, never sure who might surge out of the pack.

"I totally disagree with what they've done there," he said. "They've taken a lot of the theater out of that event - now it's about not having a train wreck. You used to be able to have a train wreck, but you also could shoot 30 on the back nine."

Random Augusta Thoughts

Doug Ferguson's AP story on the Augusta National course changes kindly notes the increased "flexibility." That's charitable considering we're talking about adding 7-10 yards to the front of a tee leaving the core setup problem intact: the old tees are gone, meaning it's almost impossible to diversify the course from day-to-day as the USGA did at Torrey Pines. And there is likely not enough flexibility to accommodate weather extremes we've seen in recent years.

In considering the timing of this announcement a bit more, note they sent their release out on a Tuesday, missing (intentionally?) Monday deadlines at Golf World and SI (no Golfweek this week), and sending it out on a day that everyone's attention will be turned elsewhere.

Now, they are without a media representative after Glenn Greenspan left to work for Tiger Woods, so the odd timing could be caused by not having an experienced figure there manning the ship, reminding the chairman that you leak this news on a Monday in time for the print world or the AP notes column. Some might argue that the driving range project is their sole focus right now, therefore the course changes were not a priority. But I'm more inclined to believe that the club is loyal to Hootie Johnson and does not want to embarrass him, even though time has shown Hootie's judgement on nearly every topic to have been poor.

Or could the election day timing be telling us that the club is embarrassed to be announcing so little news after unprecedented player and media criticism of the course changes? Doubtful, but those hoping to see the course restored can hope.

Either way, it is perplexing that in light of the glaring deficiencies exposed in recent years, greater action hasn not been taken to provide more tee options and to address the widely despised narrowing via tree planting and rough.

ANGC Announces Course Changes On Election Day!

My, what interesting timing. Subtle, I tell ya.

No significant changes to report (sadly). In fact I'd say it's much less than what we thought we'd see after Mike Weir's comments last month. Nonetheless, a gentle chipping away at some of the more disastrous moves but ultimately, a long way from where they need to be.

Click on the image to read the full release:

Update on 2008-11-05 04:10 by Geoff

Here is Doug Ferguson's AP story on the changes noting the increased "flexibility." That's really being kind when you are talking about adding 7 yards to the front of a tee. The core setup problem remains: the old tees are gone, meaning it's almost impossible to diversify the course from day-to-day as the USGA did at Torrey Pines, and there is even less room to accommodate weather extremes.

In considering the timing of this announcement a bit more, note they sent their release out on a Tuesday, missing (intentionally?) Monday deadlines at Golf World and SI (no Golfweek this week), and sending it out on a day that everyone's attention will be turned elsewhere.

Now, they are without a media representative after Glenn Greenspan left to work for Tiger Woods, so the odd timing could simply be caused by not having someone there manning the ship. You could argue that the driving range project is their sole focus right now, but I'm more inclined to believe that the club is inexplicably loyal to Hootie Johnson and does not want to embarrass him, even though time has shown Hootie's judgement to have been poor.

Or could the timing be telling us that the club is embarrassed to be announcing so little news after unprecedented player and media criticism of the course changes?

"The club has made alterations that will help the course assume some of its former personality."

Thanks to reader Don for catching this in Lorne Rubenstein's column on Mike Weir's interest in course design:

Tournament chairman Billy Payne told Weir during the Tour Championship in Atlanta two weeks ago that the club has made alterations that will help the course assume some of its former personality.

"They've moved the tee up on 7 and changed the green contours there," Weir said of the tight par-4. "There are other changes also, at 11 where the tee's been moved up a bit, and maybe at 18, too."