It's that time of year again! The azaleas are in bloom at Augusta, which means the week of The Masters Tournament is finally here. For many fans, this is the most exciting time of the golf season. However, The 2014 Masters Tournament will be without golf's number one superstar Tiger Woods for the first time in twenty years.
With Tiger out of the field, who do you think is the favorite to slip on the green jacket? Phil Mickelson has already won three green jackets, and after an injury scare a couple of weeks ago, it seems he's ready to fight for number four.
Adam Scott is the defending champ, and he comes in playing some really good golf. After letting a victory get away last month, look for Scott to take advantage of his knowledge of the famous course.
Will a relatively unknown be on the top of the leaderboard come Sunday night? Perhaps a dark horse? Who will be the low amateur? Can Tom Watson make another cut and possibly contend? Will Craig and Kevin Stadler both make the cut?
There are so many different story lines and scenarios, which is what makes The Masters so special.
Leave your predictions below, then head over to Surge's Shop to check out special deals on merchandise this week only! Some of the videos are up to 50% off!
Click here to see Masters Week special pricing!
Keep it vertical!
The Surge
If you can't view the YouTube video above try CLICKING HERE. You must allow popups from this site for the link to work.
Comments
Jason day
Darn it,
Thought Surge might go out on a limb and make a prediction of who might win.
I am sticking with my prediction of Jason Day. It's the year of the Australian with 4 winning so far. He has an awesome high ball flight and he's been close the last couple of years. He is at a real happy spot in his marriage and baby boy. Second choice is Canadian Gramme Delette who had the same surgery Tiger got and is trending well. And my third would be Jimmy Walker. His draw will fit many of the hole off the tee.
Aussies again?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-08/aussies-set-to-give-masters-a-nudge/5371804
Okay, who else is game to take a guess?
Masters Pick
Even though I would like to see Phil Mickelson win another green jacket, my top three picks are Matt Kuchar, Jason Day, and Sergio Garcia. I think Gramme DeLette will get a Top-10 finish and that Jimmy Walker is a dark horse for Augusta National. My dark horse pick would be Rickie Fowler who has been showing some good signs of maturity and may finally have the mental game for the Masters.
When do we start the campaign to get Tiger (and Phil) to switch to the back-saving Peak Performance Golf Swing?
Tiger and Phil to the PPGS
To paraphrase the old saying; when the student is ready the teacher will appear. I suspect Tiger may be leaning toward finding a more body friendly swing. His move to Foley was an attempt to find a swing that was more bio-mechanically friendly.
The Masters
Landed in Atlanta on Monday and currently sharing a house within 4 others and within waking distance of ANGC. Played at Sage Valley in South Carolina yesterday and fellas, this has to be by far the most impressive golf club Iv'e ever seen. The course is magnificent, the facilities and staff were absolutely superb.
Playing at Champions's Retreat to day and looking forward to strolling around
Augusta tomorrow.
Lucky Man
Neil,
Blessed you are. how cool to be there in golf heaven. Take lots of pictures and enjoy every minute. I hear it is much more than can be even anticipated by TV.
Heard Ricky Fowler took Dustin Johnson and Phil M to the cleaners during there practice round having 9 birdies and an eagle!! Still picking Jason Day but would be happy to see Fowler win the Masters. Watching the par 3 show today and then
playing golf this afternoon with my wife and Brother. I was really striking the ball well last week with every club. If I can do the same today and make a few putts may have a good round as it will be 90*F here today in Las Vegas. Spring has sprung. Hopefully my fellow Surgites back east are hitting the links soon.
Masters 2014 finish
1.Day
2.Delaet
3.Walker
4.Fowler
5.Scott
6.Mcllroy
7. Neil of OZ (What??)
Who will win the Masters?
Hmmmm! Who will win the masters? I will say only, 'May the best man win on the day'! For me to choose anyone would be the kiss of death to their chances I am afraid. Hahaha!
My hopes are riding on [guess who?]four of the names in Robert Meades list. Great to see Roberts game is coming right. Neil of Oz will be cheering for....Scott and Day perhaps ; - ) Hope Neil has a never to be forgotten visit to Augusta-it has started well by the sounds of it : - )
Off to watch the par 3 Hope all Surgites enjoy the Masters and May the Best Man Win on the Day.
DH
neal of Oz
Dragonhead, Neal OZ and I played at my home course of Star Fort of Ninety Six of SC today. I don't know who beat who, but we had a blast playing against eath other. The course was not really crowded for a wednesday. He is off to the Masters tomorow.
As a note on interest, Don Trahan is off to Mexico this week to caddy for DJ. He went to Charleston this week to work with DJ before they they took off to Mexico. Hopefully they have worked things out and DJ will make the cut and have a win or a high finish this week.
Hal
Neil of Oz and Hal
Great that you had a blast on the course and enjoyed the company of a fellow Surgite. Keep up the good work. Thanks for the heads up on DJ and Don heading to Mexico. DJ will prosper and the sooner the better. Keep on hitting them CONSISTENTLY longer and straighter in South Carolina. Have a great week and thanks again.
DH
Longer and straighter
DH,
It is time to re-calibrate (or recalculate) my current distances with my irons. Playing golf with my brother yesterday my brother Craig said he wondered how at 56 I was hitting the ball longer than I ever have (even 30 years ago). Of course one of the reasons is that with our warmer weather the ball flies further. But I also have just been finding the center of the sweet spot more often. Yesterday was crazy. For several years now I have counted on my gap wedge for the 100-105 yard wedge shot. I've had to go with my sand wedge now. Gap now a 105-120 club. The Lob (58*) will now be my 65-95 yard club. Formerly my 8 iron was good for 140 yards. After hitting it over 155 twice my 9 has become the 135-140 choice. PW good for 120-125 (instead of 9i). 7i 155-165, 6i 165-175,5i 175-185,4i 185-195. Those are likely not long for many of you but great numbers for me. The other cool thing is that I am hitting the ball really high with all the irons. I'm thinking less about swing mechanics lately and mostly about posture and alignment head to toe. working like a charm. Now if i can make a few more putts. Hope everyone's else is starting to get out and hit balls again now that things are thawing out.
BTW LIVE on Master.com is up and running.
http://www.masters.com/en_US/live/index.html
Longer and Straighter
Robert,
Good that you are getting more distance out of your irons. The round before last on one hole after hitting my hybrid way down the fairway I dropped a ball and took out my 9iron, nice easy swing and off it went high and straight.Hmm! Dropped a second ball and took out the 8iron and repeated the process. [Note: this was early morning and there was no one within 3 holes of us at that point]. Measured the shots with my Garmin S1 watch and was very surprised,just like you to find that the 9iron had travelled 130yds and the 8iron 150yds! As you say not far by some folks standards but farther than I have hit those two clubs since leaving China. This on a lush early morning fairway. That immediately put me on notice and like you I found myself taking up to a couple of clubs less on some shots with excellent results.
I had a 'lightbulb' going on moment on the round after that when about half way around the course. A minor adjustment and 'Bingo' much more consistent ball striking with better results. I too had realized that my posture and set up was causing me grief. On getting home and cleaning my clubs etc I had a swing session and confirmed my minor 'tweak' was the 'bees knees'. In my set up I had fallen out of using the slight inward turn of my right [rear] elbow so that the crease was parallel to the toe line facing upwards. Such a tiny change, but what a difference.
The tip garnered from a fellow Surgite recently-Hands along the toe line in the BUS has been the 'bees knees' for me big time.
Our weather is not the best at the moment so housebound for a while. Not as bad as our Aussie mates in north Queensland battening down the hatches with the impending Cyclone Ita heading their way with winds expected of 225-285kph and torrential rain : - ( Imagine hitting a high shot with that wind!!!
Swing mechanics? etc. Now concentrating on a slightly slower BUS which has allowed me to co-ordinate all the parts including the bump and whip the clubhead through the ball at speed and remain balanced at the finish. So looking foreward to our next outing on the hallowed turf. Officially the start of Autumn here after the wettest Summer I can remember in over 22years! A drier Winter would be nice. Being able to play year round here is a blessing.
Keep on hitting them CONSISTENTLY longer and straighter in Las Vegas. Will update progress as and when.
DH and DL in NZ
PS. Enjoying the Masters after having watched rd 1, interesting.
knees bees
Quiet knees/quiet body equals solid contact.
Agree with your thoughts on the knees DH.
Again I am always surprised and pleased how far the ball flies with solid contact:)
Glad to hear you're striking the ball so well.
Hope there is minimal damage to your mates in Queensland.
Play on:)
knees bees
Some surprising names heading home early from Augusta! Enjoying watching it and looking forward to 'moving day' on the morrow : - ) Not even a swing here today-each time I prepared to go out the next rain shower came through-naughty, naughty rain gods!
That aside a reasonably good day. Knees are indeed the bees Robert.
Here in NZ the Cyclone has been 'down graded' and only expecting winds of up to 85kmh now, a breeze really ; - ) Hopefully that will apply to the laddies and lassies in Queensland too. We have Prince William and Kate visiting with young George their son. Yesterday on the Waitemata Harbour William and Kate raced one another on seperate 'Americas Cup' super yatchts-Kate beat William 2-Nil! "Yes Dear", "No Dear" hahaha!
The wee Prince George has taken the front seat on the trip and they are all mobbed by fans everywhere they go.
Keep on hitting them longer, straighter and more consistently in Vegas and stop stealing my mates cattle ; - )
DH and DL in NZ
Mates cattle?
Mates cattle/ You lost me on that one. Any how glad to hear the storm was not as bad as thought there. Shot a nice little 39 for 9 with Cindy Friday afternoon.
Really happy with my whole game at the moment. Masters has been a hoot so far. I'm done predicting though. As Steve said, I'm jinxing the Aussies:) Fun mix of old and young playing well there and we'll be watching close to see who prevails.
Down the middle long and straight in NZ for you and DL.
Robert and Cindy in the warm, dry desert of Las Vegas. 88F:)
Mates cattle?
Hi Robert,
Read in the UK press that officials near you were confiscating some guys' cattle. He was grazing on land which was in his family before the government agency was even in existence. They obviously want him shifted [the last one to do so], so they can exploit the land themselves!
Sounds almost as bad as China ; - )
Agree the Masters has been an eye opener for lots of the big names who missed the cut. The vicious pin placements make even the elite players look like we hackers hahaha! Looking forward to the final face off-May the Best Golfer Win on the Day! [Wonder if that last word put the hex on Jason ; - ]
A good 39for you, may there be many more. It may be a while before we play-Easter fast approaching and 'family' will be descending on us, so no golf boohoo! Will keep the swing going all the same. Have a great week. DH and DL in NZ
Mates Cattle update : - )
Robert, Further to my answer above-The BLM have backed down in Bunkerville 80miles north-east of Las Vegas on the cattle grazing issue. Some say that the Chinese are involved and Dirty Harry Reid has a deal with them to open a solar farm in the area! Rightly or wrongly it is good to see good folk standing up for their rights agains 'big government' End of Story.
Had a swing session and it went according to plan. Smiles all around. Now roll on the final round of the Masters ; - ) DH
PS your comments on coverage struck a nerve too. Also love the apparent manipulation of names on the leaderboard showing US players higher up the board in Tied positions. Perhaps I am wrong hahaha! Elemenatary my dear Watson ; - )
Leaderboard
They are supposed to list ties in the order that they finished their rounds.
I don't have a clue if that's what they did or not...Wasn't paying any attention to it.
The Masters
Well, it's the last day at the masters and any one can win it from here. Last night at the dinner table we all put some money into a pot and chose a winner, mine was Bubba, this guy has so much natural talent and when he's on a high, no one can touch him. I watched a young guy called Oliver Goss yesterday, remember playing with him when he was 10years old at our club, both of us on a 22HC, had a tear in my eye when I saw him hit balls out of site.
Met up with Hal Lovett, a fellow Surgite and played with him this week at his club and he invited me back home for a meal after but I had to get the loan car back that night, sorry mate I really wanted to come and get to know you better, maybe another day, eh.
Weather's been fantastic, got plenty of stuff to take home and can't say enough about the hospitality of our American cousins.
American cousins
Neil,
Thanks for sharing your experiences at the Masters. Please give us more insite when you have time. Hal is also a dear friend of mine and loyal student of Surges. Glad you got to know him a bit too. I watch these kids hit the ball at the PGA tourny here in Las Vegas every year. Is amazing isn't it? We will all be watching today to see who walks away with the green jacket. Looking forward to hearing more about your journey and experiences at the Masters and in America.
Neal of Oz
Neal, I really enjoyed meeting and playing with you this week. I hope that we can meet up again someday, or at one of Surge's touneys or schools. Had Surge not been in Mexico caddying for DJ he would have came down and played with us. Hope your Masters trip was worth it. Have a good trip home.
Hal
Masters
Masters. Great result, my comment didn't put a hex on him after all.
'Elementary my dear Watson'.
Great trip for Neil of Oz and having the winner in the pot too-brilliant.
I have always found the hospitality and politeness of Americans to be EXEMPLARY! Too many folk pass judgement on them without knowing any of them. There is no cure for stupidity heh! heh! heh!
Enjoyed todays video on 'Clubbing up' and Surge's comments on an interview by Patrick Reed. Patricks comment on 'Why' he clubs up was the most enlightening and succinct reason for doing so I have ever heard in all the years I have played. Many pros say 'take one extra club', but never really said in words of one syllable why.
Hope that our American cousins are girding their loins for the approaching better weather as we slip into Autumn here.
Well done Bubba Watson [what the heck does 'Bubba' stand for???] on your second green jacket. DH & DL who enjoyed the tussle.