On a Friday at Augusta, it’s about making the cut or not. In the narrow demographic of Grey Goatee Nation, it’s about the old guys. Couples, are you kidding me? Lovely golf, at 57. Mesmerizing. Just go win, Freddie.
Phil Mickelson, at 46, knows this course better than anyone in the field and it doesn’t seem, right now, like he’ll yo-yo through the weekend, like a lot of these guys will. But for a cluster of makeable missed putts, he could be leading the tournament.
It’s about the old and the young.
Larry Mize, the 1987 champion, made the cut on the number in his 34th Masters, and afterward had a firm handshake and encouraging words for 25-year-old playing partner Stewart Hagestad, who’ll be low amateur heading to the weekend at plus-3. Hagestad is the first U.S. Mid-Amateur champion to make the cut in the Masters. You think he might be having fun?
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Hard to pick a most beautiful hole at Augusta, but if you’re asking a guy who’s never seen Augusta except on his television set, have to go with No. 12, a par-3 playing today at 155 yards. They call it Golden Bell, after a flower like all the holes are named, and there’s trouble left, trouble front and trouble right. Just begging us all to take dead aim.
As soon as I wrote it, the TV telecasters ran a a little blip asking players where they’d sit if they were in the gallery. “Hands down, 12th,” Jason Day said. “If you want to see catastrophes,” Henrik Stenson said, “I’d say 12.”
So it might not have been the most original thought, but I dare you to argue with me. And remember: it’s not real.
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Martin Kaymer always contends for Champion Dresser in any tournament he’s in, and today he was rockin’ a snappy pastel-blue polo and matching cap, by Hugo Boss, as usual. He’ll have the weekend to compete with Rickie Fowler for this year’s prize, as judged by the savvy sartorial veterans of the Grey Goatee Fashion Committee. Fowler has earned debits from the judges in past years for trying too hard, but this year looks at ease in well-cut primary colors by Puma.
A contender could emerge on the weekend, and if so, you’ll read it here first.
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