It's Here!

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The field, which almost saw a late addition in J.B. Holmes, is set.

Coverage on this site will utilize Cover-It-Live's Live Blogging interactive software of the Par-3 contest coverage Wednesday and the four rounds of tournament play. It looks like they've added some neat features, including Twitter capability that will make it easy to get news updates as we watch, especially now that The Masters is on Twitter.)

So please come back, come often, bring a little attitude and be ready to share your innermost Masters thoughts with the world. (You can also check in via a mobile device.)

I also hope to feature the traditional clippings breakdown of must read items each day, but it depends on how much work and how little golf the on-site scribes decide to enage in Monday-Wednesday. (Now that the economy isn't so hot and Internet operations have been improved, I'm hoping for more early week items to help us make our pool picks get in the mood for Thursday.)

Either way, I can't imagine the Masters' stars aligning any better.

  • A couple of old geezers played nicely in Houston and it's easy to imagine a scenario where Greg Norman and Fred Couples contend.
  • Three teenagers are playing impressive golf in their debut events, and Johnny Miller even thinks Danny Lee could win. But Johnny also could probably find grain on Augusta's greens, so...I like Rory McIlroy to be low teenager.
  • A positive weather forecast for the tournament days. However, the practice rounds sound cold and windy, which Stewart Cink noted on Twitter will not bode well for the fans hoping to see players: "Very windy weather Mon-Tues means curtailed practice rounds by many players. You can get into bad habits playing in cold wind."
  • Golf Channel sounds like they are really stepping up their always-top notch pre and post round coverage, so this year they may actually have more people covering the event on site than in the Orlando studio.
  • We get to listen as the CBS and ESPN guys try tell to us that the course design is functioning beautifully, putting them in the same category as the Golf Digest Panel or Rex Hoggard, who confuses rankings with popularity contests. Jim Herre in this week's SI chat says the nets have been reminded not to say anything that might upset Hootie Johnson. Who knew that notorious tough guy who stood down Martha Burke and sidelined those harmless past champions could have his feelings so easily hurt?

As for a table setter, check out Doug Ferguson's breezy report about Sunday activities at ANGC, including which former champ took a cart for his round.

"The answer is they were smothered by Johnson's cack-handed alterations."

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Lawrence Donegan seems pretty confident that Billy Payne and Tom Fazio will restore Augusta National to its former glory, prior to Hootie Johnson and Tom Fazio making a mess of it.

The answer is they were smothered by Johnson's cack-handed alterations. He lengthened the course, he planted trees, he narrowed the fairways, he grew a "second cut" (rough) – in other words he did his best to turn a unique course into just another US Open course. He did not quite succeed but he did turn the Masters tournament into a glorified US Open, which is to say it has become devoid of much of the excitement that made it such a global institution.

The next seven days will be about restoring the excitement, although Johnson's successor, Billy Payne, will never, ever concede this point. Yet it has already begun, with a couple of holes being shortened and some greens being rebuilt. There will be further changes in the years to come – trees will be removed, and the strategic element of the course restored.

"I was hosting that year, but I just took my proper place in that line."

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Thanks to Taylor for catching this Mike Weir anecdote from a Q&A with Bob Verdi:

And eight years later, you win the Masters.

Crazy. Now, I get to go to the Champions Dinner every year. A highlight. In '04 I was running late. There's only one shower in the Champions Locker Room. I head there in my towel, Arnold and Jack waiting for Tom Watson. I was hosting that year, but I just took my proper place in that line.

"Imagine if No. 2 wasn't an easy par 5!"

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Nick Seitz analyzes how they mangled how changes have made the first hole incredibly difficult. He says it now can play as short as 426 and as long as 463. And gets this typically brilliant insight out of Tom Fazio:

"Imagine if No. 2 wasn't an easy par 5!" says architect Tom Fazio, who has been involved in revisions of the course. "But grinding is so typical of that tournament."

Yes, since you got your hands on the place!

Jack Nicklaus pretty much sums up the change in this quote:

"Used to be, with no wind in your face, you could take it over the bunker and play a wedge to the green," says six-time Masters winner Jack Nicklaus. "But once they lengthened the tee, extended the bunker, brought trees in on the left—the face of the hill became an issue, especially with the wind coming into you. You were hitting a 3- or 4-iron when the green wanted a 7 or 8 max."

That's why it's No. 1!

"I'm not capable of hitting a drive that goes straight for 270 yards then turns sharply to the left."

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John Huggan visited Augusta National recently, watched Geoff Ogilvy bat it around in wet conditions, and talked to the Aussie about different aspects of the course. A few highlights:

"Some spots look bad at Augusta, but only when you are actually there do you realise that they may not be quite so awful," contends Ogilvy. "That's the genius of the greens. Certain spots look wrong but are actually right. And on every hole there is a spot off the green that is better than a bad spot on the green.

"Professionals spend their whole lives trying not to 'short side' themselves with their approach shots. But, at Augusta, that is sometimes the thing to do. Take the par-3 6th. If the hole is cut on the top tier to the back right, you are much better off missing on that side. Just off the green to the right is way better than on the green but down the bottom of the slope. The 7th green is similar. If the pin is on the left side, you are better to miss the green on that side than be on the green and right of the cup. You can easily putt off the green from there. And the 8th is the same. If the pin is back and left, missing the green long and left is a good spot to be in."

This obviously explains how No. 13's lengthening has changed the dynamics there.

The problem is that moving the tee back has almost eliminated the possibility of going sensibly for the green in two shots.

As Ogilvy said: "I'm not capable of hitting a drive that goes straight for 270 yards then turns sharply to the left."

"A MUCH MORE DIFFICULT APPROACH TO THE GREENS FROM THE WRONG DIRECTION WAS THE PENALTY OF AN ERRANT DRIVE."

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When it rains it snows, or, when it snows it falls hard. Ah hell. Tom Watson joins the chorus criticizing changes to Augusta National in greater detail than I've seen anywhere else. This is from a newly posted architecture-driven Q&A on GolfClubAtlas.com. The all caps would be Tom's:

THE LENGTHENING OF THE COURSE WAS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, EXCEPT FOR HOLES # 7 AND # 17. THE NARROWING OF # 7 WAS NOT NECESSARY AND THE ADDED LENGTH IS NOT APPROPRIATE CONSIDERING THAT GREEN. IT’S SIMPLY NOT DESIGNED TO HOLD A LONG IRON APPROCH SHOT.

WHAT’S MISSING IS THE OPENESS OF THE ORIGINAL ROUTING BECAUSE OF THE ADDITION OF SO MANY TREES. THE CHARACTER OF THE COURSE I BELIEVE IS DIMINISHED WITH ITS RECOVERY SHOTS MADE SO MUCH MORE RISKY.

THE CHALLENGE OF AUGUSTA NATIONAL IS THE SET OF GREENS SO CAREFULLY AND MASTERFULLY CREATED BY MR. JONES AND DR. MACKENZIE. A MUCH MORE DIFFICULT APPROACH TO THE GREENS FROM THE WRONG DIRECTION WAS THE PENALTY OF AN ERRANT DRIVE.