Saturday, April 12, 2008

Sunday at the Masters

The first three rounds are complete in Augusta, Georgia, but if it wasn't for the white coveralls or pink azaleas, you might think you were watching a tournament from Augusta, Montana (population 284). Trevor Immelman is your leader heading into the final round, and playing with him in the final pairing will be Brandt Snedeker. Immelman has made as many cuts as he has missed this year (4 made, 4 missed) He is currently 126th on the money-list and his lone PGA Tour victory came in 2006 at the Cialis Western Open. In 2006, Snedeker was playing on the Nationwide Tour. He also has just 1 PGA Tour win, the 2007 Wyndham Championship. Quick, raise your hand if you can tell me what time zone the Wyndham Championship is played in (it's played in Greensboro, North Carolina).

Oh yea, there is some guy named Tiger 6 back, but should have been a lot closer. He missed a few opportunities to get birdies but had to settle for par.


But give credit where credit is due. The South African Immelman is the only player at Augusta to post 3 rounds in the 60's (68, 68, 69). He only has 2 bogeys all week to go along with 13 birdies.

And Snedeker, after bogeying the 11th, 12th, AND 13th, came right back to birdie 14, 15, and 18.


So, who will be fitted for the most comfortable trophy in sports on Sunday? The leader is at -11. There are 5 players at -4 or better. Of those, only Tiger Woods has won the Masters before. Hell, Tiger is the only one who has won a major before. In fact, Tiger has won twice as many MAJORS (13) as the 4 players in front of him have PGA Tour victories COMBINED (6). So, this is the time when you have to pick Tiger to finally win a major when not leading after the 3rd round, right? Not so fast, my friend! (sorry, watching College GameDay in April got to me.) Immelman is playing with the confidence of a champion. All week, he has been accurate off the tee (90% fairways hit) and putting better than anyone else in the field.

But keep in mind, this isn't the Truck and Tire Classic. This is the Masters, and there is pressure these players haven't felt since going in for their first kiss. Tiger is a comfortable 6 shots back, but that also means he'll be on the course first. If he posts a couple of early birides, and Trevor and Brandt get to first tee and see Tiger just 2 slots down on the leaderboard, things could get interseting very quickly.

Just for fun; Immelman -15
Woods - 12
Snedeker -10
Casey -10
Flesch -9

1 comment:

ASponge said...

I'm going out on a limb and saying Tiger pulls this thing out (which isn't going out on a limb at all).

It will require a great Woods performance combined with a little choking...but that's happened before.