Well, we should know who wins this year in about 8 hours. I'm in favor of Chris DeMarco holding on to win if Phil can't win it. As much as I like the way Tiger is playing since the second round, I have to root for Chris. He's a great player and a win will do him a world of good in the future. What do you think of Vijay complaining about Phil's golf shoes? With 1/3 of the players wearing metal spikes, why would Singh complain about Mickleson? Sounds a lot like sour grapes to me. Not sure the pros on tour should be allowed to use metal spikes when the rest of us poor slobs have to use soft spikes, but that's a different issue. I heard Phil had his shoes checked and they were fine. Nothing out of the norm. Maybe Singh just likes it better when people don't like him. He didn't make a lot of friends with his comments about Annika playing on the mens tour last year, and his attack on one of the most liked players on tour won't make him any friends this year. Wasn't he kicked off the tour in Asia or Australia for cheating or something? I wonder if he has any green lifesavers in his bag?

Look at the "Green Lifesaver" incident. That guy cheated for a couple bucks! Vijay's out there playing for MILLIONS! Why do the pros NEED metal spikes? The fastest swinger on Tour (Mr. Woods) uses soft spikes. If he can stay planted, I think Phil can! Phil has the benfit of lots of extra weight around the middle to stay planted too! I don't, however, know how Vijay could blame just Phil for this with 1/3 the field using them. Phil seems to have as many enemies out on tour as Vijay, perhaps more. I think its just getting to the point their egos are all so big they can't even be on the same golf course simultaneously!

Hi Mr_Divots; I never played golf in the old days of metal spikes, so I don't know, but, I would think they might work better in rainy weather? You and I can quit if it's raining, but sometimes on tour, they have no choice but to play in the rain when the grass might be rather slippery. What do you remember about metal spikes under those conditions? I'm assuming that you had metal spikes when you were younger and they were all there was. I read somewhere that one of the hardest things for a rookie to get used to on tour, was spike marks on the green. Local courses don't allow metal spikes, so the rookies get to see spike marks for the first time when they get on tour.
If Tiger isn't one of the luckest players on tour after #16 yesterday, I don't know who is. That was a great shot, but the slope of the green and the hole placement did most of the work in my opinion. As great of a shot as it was, I bet Tiger would admit he couldn't do it again given a 100 chances. That should have been a two shot swing the other way. I feel sorry for DiMarco.

I no what you mean Don but how many other players would have landed the ball in that spot like tiger with the kind of spin tiger had on it. Heck there probably wasnt another player in the field that would have tried the shot. And when you say that should of been a two shot swing didnt dimarco miss the puttmor am i mistaking. And maybe tiger was lucky to make that but he was just as unlucky on one the first day when his ball hits the pin near the bottom goes in the bunker and he makes bogey when he could of just as easily of made eagle and boom theres a three sot swing and tiger isnt even worryiung about making that chip on 16. Just my 2 cents worth

Yes, Dimarco did miss the putt, but Tiger was looking at bogey, not a birdie. That's two right there. And if you remember, there were a lot of balls that landed in the same area that all ran back down the chute to end up real close to the hole. It was almost like playing PUTT-PUTT. Get the ball close and it will run to the cup. There will always be close shots that could have gone either way, just like DiMarco's chip on 18 that lipped out, that could have gone in. No matter what you think of the outcome, it was one interesting finish. Right down to the last stroke.

I remember the days of metal spikes. Wasn't long ago I took the game up and inherited my Dad's old metal-spiked shoes. The greens were always a mess, even on private courses. Decks were a goner at the clubhouse. I used to play in regular old sneakers. In many ways it kept me swinging within myself. I think 3 years ago was my first pair of new soft-spiked golf shoes. Metal spikes aren't that bad, but if you forget to lift your feet while walking, that green is toast! I have never had my feet slip out with soft-spiked shoes personally, even in the rain on a hill. I am glad to see metal spikes gone on public courses. The pros can do what they want. Spike marks are probably one of the things that keeps them from routinely getting into the 50's!

I too have never had a problem in soft spikes, and i also played in tennis shoes when i started. if i slipped at all, i knew i was overswinging.

only time i wish i had conventional spikes is on wet slippery tee boxes, and thats a rarity.

as for the masters, what an amazing finish it was.
tigers chip in was maybe the best shot ive ever seen.
i think it was alot harder than it looked considering there were three breaks to deal with.

also, i thought it was interesting to see tiger try to give it away on 17 and 18 only to come out strong in the playoff.
anyone notice how HARD he tried to swing the first time on 18 as compared to the second?

first time he came out of his shoes and missed badly.
second time he made a nice smooth swing...

...and hit his 3 wood WELL past dimarco's driver.

amazing that he still tries to swing too hard so often.
im of the belief that when he puts it all together (and i think he's close), he may be almost as dominant as he was before DESPITE the rest of the field being alot stronger.

quite simply, his new swing is built for longevity.
this morning on the way to work i heard a GOLF analyst (name excapes me) saying he didnt know what changes tiger had made. that they were difficult to see.

i was jaw dropped. frankly, i think its EASY to see the difference. his stance is wider, he doesnt take the club to or past parallel very often, and he's alot more compact.
better suited for consistency, and he still hits it a mile. scary.

jake

If many people landed it in the same spot and the ball funneled down to the hole then why would be expected for tiger to make a bogey and not get it close by landing it in the same place that other players did and they got it close. Yes i do agree that there are always shots that could of went in in every round but most of them cost you one shot not two or possibly even three. That is the difference between tigers close miss and dimarcos. Tigers close miss cost him at least 2 strokes if not three and dimarcos cost him one shot and thats it.

And yes if you cant tell i am a huge tiger fan. One of the things that I really like about tiger is that he has the most unbelievable imagination in the short game that i have ever seen other than maybe phil, but i would argue that tiger is much more consistent around the greens than phil is. I mean who would you rather want to make a clutch putt other than tiger woods, and no you cant pick Jack because he isnt playing anymore, and it would even be a tough choice between those two. Another thing that the anouncers brought up this week is tigers cut streak. I believe it is at something like 145 and the person behind him has 19. That is simply amazing stat and it just goes to show how consistently good tigers game is. It also show that tigers bad game is way better than anyone elses bad game. I know that there are a number of guys that can compete with tiger on any given week but i dont think that there is anyone who can compete with tiger week in and week out.

And they just had another stat on espn about the so called slump that tiger was in before this win. It said there had been 51 tournaments since tigers last major. In those events he has only won 10 events and had 35 top tens. Gosh now thats a slump that most any player would love to have.

Hi. I'm new to the forum here...I'd like to start on the spikes issue: Who really cares about the spikes Phil is wearing? As long as they are legal and don't obstruct others from playing, they are fine by me....maybe they are his lucky pair or something. V-Jay has more important things to worry about than Phil's spikes, I'm sure!

As for Tiger's lucky birdie shot on 16: I'd be willing to bet my paycheck that if he had 100 more tries from that same exact position, he would make it at least 5 more times! I give him alot of credit....taking all the recent heat from the media, coming back from way behind to win, all the high expectations...give credit where it is due and well deserved.

I don't feel so sorry for DiMarco: He hung in there quite well with the best golfer in the world and did the best that he could do! He is nowhere near the best golfer, but he does an awful lot of fist pumping when he hits a good shot....I like his enthusiasm and all, but I think he is a little cocky in my opinion.

Hey fish, welcome aboard!
I have heard the same sentiment from others that they think Dimarco is cocky. I think all these guys have huge egos. The difference I've seen with Chris is he seems to get fed up with the media more easily than some of the others. Good for him! He probably just wants to play golf, and reporters keep asking these guys stupid question after stupid question. He looks like he wants to get away from the cameras as fast as he can. I think I would too! They're all living life in a media vacuum. I know I'd say some dumb or "cocky" things if I had a microphone in my face all the time. Now metal spikes, they can go the way of the persimmon driver. They hack up everything in sight. Did you used to play in the days of metal spikes? It sucked. Glad local courses don't allow them anymore.

Hello All,

I started a new job Monday so I haven't had time to weigh in on The Masters. My comments:

On the Vijay/Phil spike thing, yes Vijay was suspended from the Asian Tour years ago. He is still well known as a 'gamesman' on tour. He'll do the early, the velcro rip, that sort of sophomoric stuff. However, it is my understanding that he observed the marks in an area in which Phil had just putted on more than one hole. In my opinion, he was right to ask the spikes to be checked. He should not wait until the end of the round because the damage would then have been done to the entire course. I am assuming here that tournament officials checked the marks he was refering to and proceeded based on that and not just Vijay's word.

On Tiger's shot on 16, it was one of the most exciting shot in Masters history - no question about that. With that in mind, there is a classic saying about The Masters. "The tournament doesn't start until the back nine on Sunday." Guess what, folks? The Committee has been setting the pins on the back to promote risk/reward scenarios since before most of us were born. The 16th is one of the most obvious. If a player can land his tee ball about 30 feet right of the pin, it will almost always feed to the hole. That's the tee shot - what Tiger did was so significant because he was backed up against the cut and hitting into an angle of the slope that could just as easily have shot the ball into the pond. He put an enormous amount of s**t on what looked like a 60 deg wedge hit very low. That's enough about that shot.

What I really wanted to see was DiMarco win for no reason other than to see how the "All Tiger, All the Time" Golf Channel would have handled it. Specifically, I'd have loved to see them talk around the 'C' word if Tiger's bogeys on 17 and 18 had let Chris take the jacket.

JW