Palmer and Nicklaus Paired Together As Masters Starters

Let's hope they play the whole 18. That would a big treat for the patrons.

Two of modern golf's biggest icons will serve as honorary starters for the next Masters Tournament in Augusta next April, as Jack Nicklaus has agreed to join Arnold Palmer for the ceremonial first tee shot at the year's first major.

"I have had such a long-standing appreciation and love affair with Augusta National and the Masters Tournament, and this honor is a wonderful way for me to say thank you to the many patrons who have supported me over the decades," Nicklaus said in a prepared statement.

"I am honored that Jack Nicklaus has accepted our invitation," National Golf Club and Masters chairman Billy Payne said in his prepared statement. "[H]aving Jack join Arnold on the first tee next April will be a special thrill for his many loyal fans around the world."

And a fitting capstone to two of the greatest careers in golf history. Nicklaus, for winning the most professional majors; Palmer, for ushering golf into the era of television and setting the stage for the growth it saw as a result of the exposure. Both were and still are compelling characters, and seeing them start what is generally the most anticipated golf tournament of the year a great way to remember how much current professionals owe the two men.

One has to wonder how many years it will be until Gary Player joins them on the tee, thus reuniting the entire Big Three of the 1960s. Player was in last season's field for his 52nd Masters Tournament, which was his last, he said.

Previous Honorary starters
Jock Hutchison 1963-73
Fred McLeod 1963-76
Byron Nelson 1981-2001*
Gene Sarazen 1981-99
Ken Venturi 1983
Sam Snead 1984-2002
Arnold Palmer 2007-09
*nonconsecutive

Best Comment on Kenny Perry At The Masters I Have Seen

In my other blogging life, one of my buddies writes about a rival school (UNC) and is a raconteur and gadfly-about-town nonpareil. He also is a reformed golfer who still loves the tournament game, and in his blog made this comment about everyone who said Kenny Perry "choked."

Bob Lee Says: "It Wasn't Dead Solid Perfect, But..."

To ”lose The Masters” on the last few holes is a distinction much rarer than a hole-in-one. Lots of human sideshow freaks have hit holes-in-one. [...] Who knows …. Maybe a Somali pirate has hit a hole-in-one. No Somali pirate has ever been in a position to win The Masters after 70 holes. Ergo ….. neither Kenny nor Chad could be Somali pirates.

Nimrods who know nothing about golf (aka the “it’s not a real sport because _____” crowd) decry it because the little white ball just sits there waiting for you to hit it …. and everybody has to be really really quiet while you do that. Anyone who has actually “played the game with any level of expertise” (less than 8% of all golfers qualify to that level) knows how paralyzing that “waiting to hit it” can be. Kenny Perry squeezed just a smidgen too hard with his right hand on two shots between 6:35 and 7:15 Sunday afternoon. …… and nose-picking palookas from Spokane to Fuquay snort that “he choked.”

Bob's a great guy and he has the right perspective on things, especially the crazy world of college sports. In this town, four Division I programs are crammed within 20 miles of one another and the passion for hoops and football approaches the level of enthusiam I had for Farah Fawcett Majors back in 1977, when I was 15. Bob "gets it" with sports here, and it seems that he gets it where golf is concerned too.

Augusta National Is Alister McKenzie's Second Best Course

"Being a Scotsman," McKenzie said, "I am naturally opposed to water in its undiluted state."

Don't get me wrong, I love Augusta National, and I think that the Masters is probably the best run tournament in the world. I also think that Augusta National is an incredible golf course.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I do have to say that I do tire of the endless hyperbole that comes with the Masters. It seems that every other sentence from the announcers must be a sycophantic kiss to the golf course, its upkeep and naturally, its membership. Most all of it is deserved, of coursebut goodness gracious sakes alive, it really goes over the top by about 3pm on Saturday afternoon. Anyone with a television can tell you how fantastic the National is.

Fantastic, But Perhaps Not The Very Best

In my opinion, Augusta National is not even the best golf course that Alister McKenzie designed. As beautiful as the parklands course of the National is, it is surpassed in almost every phase of the game by Cypress Point in California. That's because Alistair McKenzie was heavily influenced by St. Andrews' Old Course, and like the Old Course, Cyprus Point sits aside the sea. And the sea adds a dimension that simply is not available to Augusta National. To pay homage to the Old Course without the elements of the sea is like asking Van Gogh to paint without using yellow or blue paint.

The sea, they say, is as capricious as any woman, liable to change its mood on a whim and with no notice. And near Monterey Bay, where upwelling ocean currents mix with relatively warmer shallower waters, that romantic description is incredibly accurate. The weather can change from hole to hole on courses located along the bay and its nearby waters. This adds another layer of complexity to Cyprus Point and requires a flexibility and adaptability rarely needed at inland courses.

If you like #12 at the National, and if you love Amen Corner, consider #16 and #17 at Cypress Point. Not only are the holes more dramatic, they also have an additional element the National can never have: seaside winds that can be as gentle as a butterfly kiss or as raw as a hurricane's fury. And that's on the same afternoon. Anyone who has played Cyprus will tell you: any golfer - and that's any golfer - will need every bit of their game to get round and score on those links.

Consider this: how rousing would it be to watch the pros hit driver on a 3-Par with a major on the line? That's often the case at Cyprus's #16. That, my friends, is goat or glory riding on a single swing and a rub of the green. And don't think that the course is only those holes -- it's an 18 hole roller coaster than makes its brother down the street, Pebble Beach, look easy by comparison.

Also consider this: Cyprus Point is so exclusive a club they feel no need whatsoever to host a tournament and display their embarrassment of golf riches. They used to, back when the Tour was smaller, and Cyprus was part of the rota of courses for the old Crosby. After 1990, however, Cyprus members said, "thanks but no thanks" to diversity requirements by the PGA Tour. This is a threat oft-made by the Men of the Masters, but it is one that has been carried out by the members of Cyprus.

I also find it deeply ironic that Cyprus was created at the behest of a woman, Marion Hollins. Hollins and Mackenzie built Cypress together. Now, in our supposedly enlightened time, the beauty and challenge of Cyprus Point is the exclusive domain of men - on a course founded by a woman. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

(For the record, I think that the 250-odd members of Cyprus Point were wrong to take the tack they did. I personally would never be a member of a club where minorities or women weren't allowed as full and regular members. It's the 21st century, not 1935, and it is time to go up and accept people for what their character is, not their color or sex.)

The 1990 decision was a shame from golf's point of view: now golf fans only know Cyprus through iconic photos, thus missing one of the world's gems. And depending on the conditions, Cyprus gave a pro a chance to shoot in the fifties -- or over 100. Depending, of course, on the weather and on the golfer's skill grappling with Old Man Par on a masterpiece of a golfing test.

I'd love to see a US Open battled at Cyprus. Sure, it would need to be lengthened from its current length of 6,600 yards, and the members will never do it, even if it were possible. Besides, I doubt Cypress's members would ever let the USGA come in an monkey with their course the way they do for any course hosting a US Open. But I can dream.

For that matter, I would love to see The Open at Old Head or the European Club, but that's just me. More about that when the time draws closer.

Weather For Augusta Looks Nearly Perfect

If there's one thing that can change a golf tournament on its ear quickly, its the weather. For example, if there's a lot of wind, a player like Paddy Harrington has a built-in advantage, because he can control his ball better in a gale than most anyone, even Tiger Woods. Rain can also affect the speed and softness of not only the greens, but also the fairways. And so forth and so on.

From the early looks of it, there doesn't appear to be a major threat of weather changing the course of the PGA season's first major, and aide from a stray thunderstorm passing through on Friday, the weather looks to be picture-perfect in Augusta for the Masters. Winds are forecast to be light Thursday and Friday, ranging between 3-10 MPH on Thursday.

Seve Still Swinging Hard In His Fight With Brain Cancer

Even if you "hated" Seve Ballesteros, you had to love him.

Spain's Seve Ballesteros was a guy who could bring conflicted emotions, especially when one was rooting for the US side in a Ryder Cup event. Ballesteros was the killer, a gamesman, the guy who could hit it in the woods, be stymied against a tree and still figure out how to drop the ball within birdie range, and not only that, he'd be inside the approach shot of an opponent laying aside the 100-yard marker out in the middle of the fairway. Coupled with José María Olazábal , he was part the most successful duo in the history of the Ryder Cup with 11 wins and two halved matches out of 15 pairs matches.

At the same time, despite being a diehard partisan for "my" US team, I just loved Seve. It was impossible not to. Seve was a master magician in a trainwreck.

He was a gentleman and an ambassador for golf all around the world, and when he was working his magic, he drew all eyes in his direction. Seve won five majors; The Masters in 1980 and 1983, and The Open Championship in 1979, 1984 and 1988. And he won them all in style. He won on the European Tour fifty times. Not only that, he was a master at match play, he won the World Match Play Championship five times.

In Seve, I saw nearly everything I'd read about Walter Hagen -- no lead was safe when he was in the chase, no lie too bad for him not to advance his ball and put it in a good spot on the green, and like Hagen, Seve was an extroverted character who seemed to be flamboyant in everything he did, either on or off the course.

Recently though, Seve undertook his toughest match and is playing his toughest course: he's fighting brain cancer, and he's going through all of the pain and suffering that goes with fighting that dreaded disease. Still, somehow, he's still Seve, in that his outlook seems to be preternaturally upbeat and hopeful. He is a man who is who he is, and that will serve him well as he works towards regaining his health.

In an interview with Spanish sport daily Marca published Wednesday, Seve said his fight with his cancer was “the most important shot of my life” and said he was “fighting to win my sixth major.” He also outlined plans by saying “my first hope is to get back to normal. After that, a course in Santander. That has been my dream for a long time.”

If I were to walk into a Ladbroke's branch and place a bet on the outcome, I wouldn't bet against him. In fact, I'd plop down a fiver on a new Seve course in Santander being a masterpiece.

Special note: When I say "hate" I mean "sports hate" -- meaning you were a fan of the other side or the other team. Real hate, c'mon, there's too much of that already. I don't really hate the NY Yankees, for example, or their fans. I did rather disliked them beating my Atlanta Braves in the 1996 World Series, however. That's what I mean, just so we are clear.