• The KillerFrogs

The Masters: predictions

Wexahu

Full Member
honestly though - when was the last time someone at greater than 50:1 won?

I have no idea but it seems to me that if you can get into the Masters - it has the smallest number of real possibilities to win it.

Even after you remove the PGA professionals from the PGA Championship - there are still 70 guys that could put together 4 rounds and surprise us all (Brooksie for example)

Daly won the Open Championship at St Andrews of all places. and of course Jean Van de Velde.

Andy North won the US Open twice.....

Who is the biggest nobody to win the Masters in the last 40 years? maybe Willett? and before him I think you have to back to Goalby in 1968 to find anyone who was not in the top 30 contenders unless you consider Sergio's win out of nowhere.

The Masters is surprisingly hard to get into, relative to the other majors. There are some household names every year that don't even get in.

Sergio was the 11th ranked player in the world when he won. And now that I look, Willett was #12 when he won. Willett's time at the top was so short lived though, just seemed like a strange winner, and moreso now since he has been a complete non-factor in golf since.
 

JogginFrog

Active Member
498387_poster_l.jpg

Reminds me of a Get Fuzzy comic about how to stop a global cat takeover:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a7/b6/ce/a7b6ce2832bc32cf296ce02bb1be9e7f.jpg
 

bc puckett

Active Member
Mize won 10 times on tour and Weir won 8. Those are pretty darn good careers.

Actually other than the Masters Mize only won 3 other events on the PGA Tour (and yes I know the Masters technically is not part of the PGA tour) He won in Memphis in 1983, in Tucson in 1993 and Michigan (Buick Open) again in 1993
He did win 3 times in Japan, once on the Champions tour along with 2 other unoffical events.
 

flyfishingfrog

Active Member
I predict the number of golfers who heed the call to boycott The Masters because of Georgia’s voting law will be zero
I bet the number of golfers that are even aware of that call is about the same...

is this like the year NOW wanted all the sponsors boycotted so Augusta told them all its cool - we can pay our own way and don't need your money this year so don't get in trouble for us?
 
Yep. Just look at the way they swing now compared to then. No way the legs and back can hold up for 20+ years swinging like that, except in rare cases. I think it's going to increasingly be a young man's game.
Other than Bryson, the swings aren't nearly as "violent" as you may think. First, I think the injuries are a little over-reported. We have better medicine today (meaning the overall state of the industry), and the players make so much money that they can afford to take time off to heal or have surgery. I would venture a guess that players used to just play through a lot things we hear about sidelining players today and got healed up from October through December every year. Now, the season is 12 months, so there's no real off season.

Secondly, the more modern golf swing has a big emphasis on correcting key stress points (mostly the back and neck). You never see the "reverse C" any more with legs and knees running wild ahead of the arms/hands (think Johnny Miller and a young Jack Nicklaus). Lots of emphasis now on rotating the spine on a constant angle by using the core rotation from just below the hips to the shoulders. Nearly all the modern players have benefited from this to some degree, with a few exceptions like Joaquin Neimann who are kind of throwbacks to previous generations.

In contrast, as a whole, these guys practice more than previous generations. So there is the possibility that there is more wear and tear due to that. Even with better technique and conditioning, the golf swing is a very un-natural movement for a human.

Yes, Koepka has had his share of his injuries, and that may just be a result of his particular swing. Koepka does a lot of "unconventional" things in his swing and he hits "against" parts of his body, particularly his hips and knees. There's a lot of active resistance in his swing, especially against his left leg and knee. Don't get me wrong...his swing is fantastic. It just may not be built to last.

These guys are creating outrageous swing speeds for a number of reasons: (1) better swing mechanics; (2) longer/lighter/better shafts; (3) better physical strength and conditioning that is tailored to specifically increase swing speed; (4) many of these guys are simply bigger/better athletes. It's a young man's game because distance rules right now, and young guys are always going to hit it farther than older guys. For better or worse, that's how the game has evolved.

My long two cents...
 
I guess Fuzzy Zoeller should have been considered a "sleeper" win in 79, playing in his first Masters. He didn't win his first tour event until earlier in that year (January) and wasn't even qualified for the Masters until he won that tournament in January.
 
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