2014 Masters

[mr. synellinden]

Halfway through the season's first major, we might as well have a thread in place for the weekend. 2012 champion Bubba Watson is in control right now with a 3 shot lead, but there's a lot of golf left. Still, Bubba has looked even more solid this week than he did two years ago - with a bogey free round yesterday and five straight birdies on the back 9 today. Duke's Kevin Streelman is in the mix at -1 and tied for 10th.

Other than Bubba, the most notable names at the top of the leader board are Adam Scott and Jordan Spieth at -3. What's remarkable so far about the tournament is how many of the world's top players and former major champions missed the cut or made it just on the number. Mickelson, Dufner, Schwartzel, Els, both Johnsons (Zach and Dustin), McDowell, Cabrera, Simpson, Els, Bradley, Sergio, and Donald all got bounced while Rory and Jason Day just made the cut on the number.

Supposedly the course is drying out and the greens are getting even harder and faster, so the weekend should be extremely interesting. If Bubba comes back to the pack a little bit, pretty much anyone left in the tournament has a chance to win with 2 good rounds this weekend.

One interesting thing about Bubba's 3 shot lead is that it kept a lot of players from making the cut via the 10 shot rule. If Bubba only had a 1 shot lead at -5, Donald, Garcia, Mickelson, Schwartzel, Els and Simpson (among others) would have made the cut at +5.

[rthomas]

Spieth and Bubba in the final pairing on Sunday should be great and fun to watch, but it is wide open for the top 10-12.

Since I have to pick, I'll say Rickie Fowler.

[duketaylor]

Well, it's wide open now. We spent most of our afternoon trying to navigate the way home from DC to Richmond, all of about 100 miles; made it about 30 miles in 3 hours, what fun. I missed the entire live telecast and am just finishing the replay. Won't have that same problem tomorrow, I don't think.

I don't know much about golf, but I like Kuchar or Jimenez tomorrow. Bubba was taking some major gas late, especially putting. He should have a 3-shot lead. The first putt on 13 for eagle was awful, left it way short, as he did putts on 12, 17 and some other holes late. He had a makeable chip on 8 for eagle, when he was already leaking oil, and make par. He did make two good putts on 17 and 18, though. Bubba may have a few tonight and come out fresh tomorrow, and I'll be pulling for him as I make dinner for some friends, but I like the other two above. Which means, somebody else will likely win!!

Always a great tourney to watch and Augusta is just great theatre and they present it so well. Very happy to watch a tourney with no "Go in the hole," every time someone hits a shot. Maybe I like it even more because of no idiots in the gallery (patrons, here) yelling anything.