The Masters Tournament is coming, and this year the anticipation has ramped up to levels not seen in years. Why? Tiger Woods is back and playing well. Ticket sales are through the roof as they always are at the Masters, but what’s really telling is the ticket prices. I saw that one person was selling two weekly grounds passes for over $20,000! The thing is, they’ll probably get it. That’s what some in the media call the “Tiger Effect.”
I’m especially excited for the Masters this year because not only are some of the young guns like Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson playing well, but Tiger and his old rival Phil Mickelson are also playing well in early 2018. There should be plenty of excitement at Augusta National Golf Club this year.
The Odds
It’s now time to check the odds and see who’s favored to win. I think we all know who the betting favorite is by now, right? Not so fast Tiger Fans…
Golfer
Odds
Dustin Johnson
+800
Tiger Woods
+900
Justin Thomas
+1000
Jordan Spieth
+1100
Phil Mickelson
+1400
Jason Day
+1600
Rory McIlroy
+1600
Jon Rahm
+1800
Justin Rose
+1800
Bubba Watson
+2000
Rickie Fowler
+2000
According to Sports Betting Dime, Tiger Woods may be the fan favorite to win another Green Jacket, but Dustin Johnson has the best odds at +800. Tiger Woods’ odds are at +900 and Justin Thomas is currently at +1000.
Predictions
If you are a frequent visitor to this website, you may recall that not too long ago I predicted Rickie Fowler would win a major this year. I still like Rickie to finally break through, and he’s my personal favorite to put on his first Green Jacket on Sunday evening. If you are the betting type – at +2000 odds one would be getting a pretty good return on investment…
TaylorMade is making waves in the golf equipment market with their “Loft Up” message that relates to the popular SLDR driver. They also recently announced the new line of Tour Preferred irons, which should be very popular. Next up are the new Tour Preferred golf balls! The last two performance golf balls TaylorMade had to offer were good, but not really my cup of tea. The Penta TP5 spun too much and launched too high for my tastes, and the Lethal didn’t really register on the “must try” scale. The new Tour Preferred and Tour Preferred X golf balls however will be on my test list. Below is the official press announcement from TaylorMade:
Softer and more durable cover makes new line-up the best performing
golf balls in company history
CARLSBAD, Calif. (January 30, 2014) – TaylorMade Golf Company, the No. 2 golf ball brand on the PGA TOUR, is proud to announce the release of Tour Preferred and Tour Preferred X: two tour-caliber golf balls that provide complete tee-to-green performance.
After a decade of prototyping and testing with the world’s best players, the company believes the new Tour Preferred franchise is the best performing ball the company has released to date.
“Golf ball innovation doesn’t just happen overnight. Rather, it is a series of ongoing conversation with our Tour players,” said Dean Snell, vice president of golf ball R&D. “These conversations have led to the introduction of breakthrough technologies including low drag aerodynamics for ultimate wind resistance, a five-layer construction for superior control throughout the club set and now our softest and most durable cover.”
Key to the performance of the Tour Preferred and Tour Preferred X golf ball line is TaylorMade’s patented and proven technologies, including:
REACT™ Core for greater ball speed on all shots for increased distance.
Spin Mantle™ designed to deliver precise and consistent spin rates on given shots throughout the bag.
Low-Drag Performance Aerodynamics (LDP™) A 322-dimple pattern designed to minimize distance loss on low spin shots and also maintain a penetrating ball flight into the wind.
A new technology featured in the golf balls is Soft Tech™, TaylorMade’s softest and most durable cover to date. Made of a cast urethane, the new cover provides an even softer feel around the greens than previous TaylorMade offerings. The Soft Tech cover will also provide higher resistance to shearing and will last longer.
Click image to see Sergio test the new Tour Preferred X around the green
What separates Tour Preferred and the Tour Preferred X from each other is spin. The Tour Preferred is designed for players who desire more spin in the mid-to-long iron shots. The additional spin will also promote a higher trajectory on approach shots.
Tour Preferred X maintains the same spin and trajectory into the green as its predecessor Lethal. Unlike Lethal, Tour Preferred X promotes better green side control because of its new Soft Tech cover.
TaylorMade anticipates that more than 80% of its tour players will gravitate to this model as they are seeking controlled iron spin, for a more penetrating ball flight.
Click image to watch Dustin test Tour Preferred X from 150 yards
Since their introduction on Tour earlier this year, tour players have quickly made the switch to both models including Sergio Garcia who has already won twice with the Tour Preferred X (Thailand Golf Championship in December and Qatar Masters in January). Emerging LPGA star Jessica Korda also played the Tour Preferred X in her season-opening win at the Pure Silk Classic.
Tour Preferred and Tour Preferred X will be available at retail on March 1st at $45.99 per dozen. For more information, please visit www.taylormadegolf.com
For everyone that missed the finish of yesterday’s dramatic PGA Championship, it will certainly be remembered for some time, especially when we speak of the “what if” scenarios and epic blunders in major championship golf. The record books will show that Germany’s Martin Kaymer won the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin.
Coming down the stretch on the back nine, Dustin Johnson made a birdie on the Par 3 17th hole to take a one shot lead to the 72nd hole. Previous to that, Bubba Watson made a great par on 18 and Kaymer also drained a great par saving putt on 18 to tie with Watson. With Watson and Kaymer watching, Dustin Johnson blocked his tee shot on 18 way right, into a trampled down sandy area. Thinking nothing of the fact that the area may have been one of the 1200 or so bunkers on the site, he grounded his club on the hard packed sand before playing his second shot. After a great chip shot from left of the green, he missed his par putt, which at the time he thought was to win the PGA Championship. So, thinking he was joining a three way playoff, he was accosted by a rules official from the PGA and informed that there was an issue. In the scoring room, he was informed and shown on video that he grounded his club in what was at one point a bunker and assessed a two stroke penalty under rule 13-4. The penalty strokes changed his score to 73, he obviously missed the playoff, and the rest is history.
In the aftermath of this incident, several questions remain: Should the trampled, sandy area really have been a bunker under the rules of golf? Should Johnson have been allowed to ground his club in it? Should Johnson have known better? Let me give you my thoughts on this controversial matter.
Should the trampled, sandy area really have been a bunker under the rules of golf?
This question is most open to debate. Some people say it should have been a waste area or just dirt, where you are permitted to ground a club. Others say even if it was a bunker it should have played like a waste area because people were standing in and around it and trampled it all to hell. Yet others have argued that the PGA Championship Committee should have marked all bunkers outside "the ropes" to be treated as waste areas. However, the PGA decided that all the maintained sandy areas were specifically designed as bunkers by course architect Pete Dye, and therefor would be treated as bunkers, meaning players were not allowed to ground the club. This included all bunkers, even if fans had trampled and strewn litter all around them. The PGA posted a "Supplementary Rules of Play" sheet in the player's locker room and each player got the same rules sheet before play, and the first thing on the sheet was the rule on the bunkers:
1. Bunkers: All areas of the course that were designed and built as sand bunkers will be played as bunkers (hazards), whether or not they have been raked. This will mean that many bunkers positioned outside of the ropes, as well as some areas of bunkers inside the ropes, close to the rope line, will likely include numerous footprints, heel prints and tire tracks during the play of the Championship. Such irregularities of surface are a part of the game and no free relief will be available from these conditions.Note 1: The sand area in front, left and behind No. 5 green in the later water hazard is NOT a bunker (do not move stones).Note 2: Where necessary, blue dots define the margin of a bunker.
Should Johnson have been allowed to ground his club in it?
This is an easy one, considering the above. No! Obviously under the rules you cannot ground your club in a hazard. There was a local rule in effect that stated pretty clearly that all the sandy areas designed as bunkers would be treated as hazards, so there is no exceptions to this one. Some have suggested the rules official walking with his group should have warned him, but they are not allowed to interject and tell people what they can and can't do. The only way a rules official can get involved is when the players specifically ask for them about rules issues. For example - The official can't speak out and say "Hey Justin, make sure you don't ground your club there, it's a bunker!", but if Justin had called him over and asked if he was in a bunker the official would have quoted the local rules and informed him that he was indeed in a bunker and to proceed under the rules as such.
Should Johnson have known better?
Sadly, I feel Dustin Johnson should have known better than to ground his club in that sand on the 18th hole. Along with most of the television viewers, I hated to see Johnson's major championship hopes end with a rules infraction, and to his credit he handled the whole situation with class and maturity, unlike some other young players who clearly could have learned something from him. However, Johnson should have known better than to ground his club in that sand. Playing tournament golf for years has taught me one thing - When in doubt, don't ground the club. Even so, would I have grounded the club had I been in his place? Probably. It's a damn shame that things had to happen the way they did, but the bottom line is Dustin Johnson had every opportunity to read the local rules sheet and did not. He could have called the official over and did not. He could have decided not to ground his club and did not. He deserves the penalty strokes he got, and he knows it.
You may recall Johnson was leading the US Open at Pebble Beach earlier this summer before clearly caving under the pressure and shooting a round in the 80s on Sunday and fading into the pack. The media wondered if and how he would learn from that bitter disappointment, and he showed us on Sunday. He used his experience at the US Open to play steady golf at the PGA and give himself a putt to win. He's shown that he can overcome disappointments at major championships, and I think he'll win one some day. He'll need to overcome it pretty quick, because the silver lining in this story is that he's guaranteed a spot on Corey Pavin's Ryder Cup squad later this summer.
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The Masters Tournament is coming, and this year the anticipation has ramped up to levels not seen in years. Why? Tiger Woods is back and playing well. Ticket sales are through the roof as they always are at the Masters, but what’s really telling is the ticket prices. I saw that one person was selling two weekly grounds passes for over $20,000! The thing is, they’ll probably get it. That’s what some in the media call the “Tiger Effect.”
