Monday Morning Coffee & Donuts

Your Monday morning tidbits:

• Zach Johnson won the Masters yesterday afternoon. Great final round 69 and he held off two big names in Goosen and Woods. Tiger just didn't look himself on Sunday. We saw a quick glimpse with the great second shot on 13 but he was just good from there on out paring in. He had his chances with the par 5 on 15 and a ten-footer on 16 but just couldn't close the gap. Great win by Johnson though.
• I guess it's cold outside and it's snowing in April in places it shouldn't be. So there is talk of the Cleveland Indians vs. Orange County Angels game being moved to the Left Coast.
• All Big 12 fans are happy, well except for Kansas fans. It seems like Julian Wright is leaning towards going to the draft. Hello top five pick.
• The college basketball merry-go-round continues to turn. Reports have South Alabama coach John Pelphrey going to Arkansas and Wichita State coach Mark Turgeon meeting with Texas A&M officials this afternoon.
• Lakers lose to the Suns and will probably meet them again for another seven game series dandy in the NBA
  
• Be ready for a lengthy DL report from the MLB today. A lot of cold weather injuries it seems happened this first week in baseball. Most significantly Chris Carpenter's injury seems worse then first thought of by the Cardinals.
• Don Imus apologized in length this morning for the remarks he made last Wednesday towards the Rutgers women's basketball team. I watch and listen to Imus daily and I know that he is a good person. This morning he was talking to all the new listeners and hopefully they got his message that the comment was wrong and stupid but in his heart he is a good person towards all people. The Imus Show blog is here.
  

Finally I would like to just say considering Tiger and the Masters. People say he was just another ordinary golfer on Sunday. Well he still shot a 72 on Sunday. And he still finished in a tie for second. That is no ordinary PGA Tour golfer to me. Yes he was not "Tiger-like" but he had a great tournament despite playing probably a C- game. Tiger is not an ordinary golfer and did not look it on Sunday.

It Must Be Really Hard

What a brutal day at Augusta! No red numbers going into Saturday.

Your final three pairing for tomorrow are Vaughn Taylor (+4) & Zach Johnson (+4), Padraig Harrington (+4) & Justin Rose (+3), and Stuart Appleby (+2) & Tiger Woods (+3).

After watching today I don't know how much worse these guys could play. How many 2-3 footers can these guys miss? I know the greens are difficult but still it is hard to watch. The man that putts the most consistent tomorrow should win this thing. Then you have Appleby on the 17th hitting a straight duck hook off the tee. He is so much better then that. He cleared his head after making triple though and made a nice par on 18.

On to my preview for tomorrow. I still believe Tiger will win this thing. In fact there is some crazy stat that the last person to win outside the final pairing was Nick Faldo in '93. Correct me if I am wrong on this. I think he'll go out there and there may be someone that birdies a couple early to get to +2 or +1 and get ahead of Tiger. They will soon falter along with everyone else as Tiger will probably coast to a two or three stroke victory shooting a 72 and finish +2. However I believe if he goes bogey, bogey on the final two holes again tomorrow he won't win. He has already done it twice and cannot do it again.

It will be a little warmer tomorrow with highs in the low 60's. These guys cannot complain about that. Winds are also suppose to calm down to 10-15 MPH which should make the course more playable, but the men at Augusta can make this course as hard as they want come Sunday with various pin placements and moving the tees far back.

My two sleepers tomorrow are Zach Johnson & Padraig Harrington. Both finished the last three holes at -1, so they have some confidence and momentum going into tomorrow which is most important. But still Tiger will come out on top and be crowned with his 5th, yes a five of those ugly jackets.

Talk to ya kids later and have fun watching that tournament that has some sort of tradition tomorrow.

Masters Round 2 Recap & Preview of the Weekend

After a difficult Thursday and Friday at Augusta three players are under par going into the weekend. Brett Wetterich and Tim Clark go into the weekend -2 and tied for the lead and right behind them is Vaughn Taylor at -1. After that four players are at even par including Vijay Singh.

Easily the most impressive golfer so far of the tourney is South African Tim Clark. He has shot two rounds of 71 with only two bogeys and one double bogey. He has had a modest 53 putts but has hit 85% of the fairways at Augusta. If he can continue that and lets say he shots 71 and 71 on the weekend he will win this major.

Some of the other major names around the leader board are as I mentioned before Vijay Singh. He has been all over the place in these first two rounds having eight bogeys and eight birdies. But he has kept damage to a minimum. If he can continue to grind out pars and throw some birdies in on the par 5's unfortunately he could win it. Geoff Ogilvy is at +1 and I think this man can make a major run come Sunday. He already has a major under his belt and is playing fantastic golf right now. If he can continue to strike his irons like he has the first two days and maybe a couple putts will fall I think he can easily take this.

Former Masters Champion Mike Weir is +3 and playing decent golf. I expect him to have a top ten finish this weekend. He is +3 along with Tiger, Paul Casey, and Luke Donald. I think obviously Tiger can but Casey and Donald could also make big runs tomorrow and maybe just win this damn thing. Casey shot a tourney best 68 today and is poised to be in the final group of a major on Sunday considering how consistent he is. Other notables are Philler Up and DL III are +5 and Adam Scott, Fred Couples, and Retief Goosen are all +8 and just made the cut.

Couple notables not to make the cut are Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, hometown kid Charles Howell III, Colin Montgomerie, Darren Clarke, Thomas Bjorn, and no amateurs made the cut.

This all sets up for a great weekend especially if both Phil and Tiger can put some sort of score in the 60's up on Saturday. If both are in the Top Ten come Sunday and within 3-4 strokes of the lead we can expect a typical Augusta Sunday.

Some of the guys I expect to perform well this weekend based on history and how they are playing at the moment in no specific order.

• Tim Clark for the reasons I mentioned above.
• Padraig Harrington because he is a grinder and usually performs well in majors. He also shot a 68 on Friday and is at +1 going to Saturday.
• Geoff Ogilvy for the reasons mentioned above.
• Luke Donald is at +3 but can manage Augusta with the best of them I believe. He is not a long hitter but can putt and has some good short irons in his bag. If his putter gets going this weekend watch out, so far he has 61 putts, which is a lot.
• Tiger Woods.
• Paul Casey. I don't know about another 68, but if he plays like he did Friday he will win this thing.
• Mike Weir. For some reason I like this lefty and I usually like former Master's Champs especially when they make it past the cut.
• Mr. Mickelson. He has got the length but right now he doesn't have the swing. He did putt much better on Friday though and if he can figure out his swing he will be right there with Tiger come Sunday.
• Last but certainly not least, Ian Poulter. He will come out with some great fashion statement this week that will make all the money men in Augusta cringe.

Who I think will win? Well obviously Tiger. But if not Tiger I am high on Casey and Donald both at +3 as well.

Tiger Comes In With a 74, Six Off The Lead

Tiger grinded out a 74 today and is currently tied for 19th at +3. He played a rough round today and at through today and the last two holes on Thursday he has eight bogeys in 20 holes, unheard of for Tiger.

He made a big birdie on the 17th and in fact birdied three holes on the back. Best shot of the day was the slice out of the trees on 18 to get it on the green for a 20 foot birdie putt. He ended up paring the hole.
I fully expect Tiger to come out fired up tomorrow and ready to make a run. He did look to favor his hand today after coming to a sudden stop on his downswing on 11 due to some animal in the trees. He will be fine though I think, but I will listen to his press conference.

I'll update you on all the other golfers after the round today. And by the way USA picks up coverage at 4:00 ET.

Friday Morning Coffee & Donuts

Couple things I learned this morning when waking up and what is on tap for a chilly Friday.

• Billy Gillespie is heading to Kentucky according to ESPN.com's Pat Forde. In my mind this is a great move for both Gillespie and Kentucky. No one wants to coach basketball in A&M because no one cares about basketball. If you think football is big in Gator land it's four times as big in College Station, TX. For Kentucky it is a great move because Gillespie knows how to recruit and coach. I would not be surprised to see Kentucky in a Final Four soon and a Sweet 16 next year. Press conference to be held at 12:45 pm ET today and a pep rally 30 minutes before hand. Are they basketball crazy in Lexington or what.
  
• Tiger tees off at 10:34 am ET. I guess we won't see him on USA which sucks. We are stuck with the hacks of the PGA Tour this afternoon.
• More great news in Lexington, Ky today, Keeneland opens up it's fall meet today at 1:15 ET. I'll be posting by selections for all races by 11:00 and I got some nice price plays for you. Here are the equibase entries.
• David Carr is heading to Carolina to back up Delhomme. Who cares?
• As you probably all know by now one of the most exciting NBA player Gilbert Arenas will be out 2-3 months and no playoffs. This sucks. The playoffs won't be nearly as good without Zero.

That is all for now. I will be back with Keeneland selections and more on Gillespie to Kentucky later. Peace kids.

Tiger Messes Around as Youngsters Take the Lead

Tiger started off the day playing solid golf making strong par putts. Then he tried to turn it on down the back nine and was at a good -1 heading to the 17th. Then after two wayward drives and one frustrating and missed 10 footer he dropped to +1 and gave a classic post round interview with USA. I can't tell you it verbatim, but I will sure post a YouTube link when it comes up. It was hilarious when he was asked what is the difference in the back nine this year and ten years ago when you won. He shoots back I would have shot a 30 ten years ago. Classic Tiger. He'll come back tomorrow and as Faldo said come around Amen Corner and be in the lead. No surprises.

Justin Rose and Brett Wettrich are both -3 and in the lead. Rose was easily the most impressive golfer of the day having zero bogeys and only 20 putts. If he continues putting like this, which is doubtful, he easily could go wire to wire on the field.

The course looks the same this year but seems to be playing a bit more difficult. It may be a little harder and since it is suppose to be colder this year, temperatures in the high 50's over the weekend, I expect the winner to be around -3. We will see though Faldo said it may be over par.

Well coverage starts at 4:00 PM ET tomorrow. And I'll be sure to be watching.

Oh and by the way "Three Putt" Phil finished +4 and T-44. I expect him to make the cut tomorrow and probably shoot a good round of about -3. He had 30 putts today and will need to improve on that obviously.

Live Dice K & Tiger Update

Wow does he look good. He has pitched three innings and had some trouble in the first with a hit and a walk. But has now pitched two perfect innings in a row. His line is 3 IP, 2 K's, 0 ER, 1 BB. Pretty damn good even if it is against a weak KC Royals team. And hitters just look confused up there against him. We will see how long he can go.

As for the best in the world. He is even through five holes with five pars. Playing a very solid round so far compared to some other big names like "Three Putt" Phil and "I'm Done With Golf" Ernie. They look bad, real bad. Tiger is just playing out the course right now as he waits for Friday and Saturday to make his major move. And by the way he is wearing a pink golf shirt with black Nike vest and black Nike hat. He looks sharp despite the pink.

Masters Preview

Who other to start with then Tiger Woods? Is there any question he is going to win this? No. He is 3/2 at most betting sites and it’d be tough to bet against him. Think you are making 1.5 times your money. That is highway robbery with Tiger at the Masters. And the fact that the only other golfer playing well at Augusta as of late is Phil “Blow-up” Mickelson, I’m thinking Tiger could route this field by five plus strokes. And it's the tenth anniversary of his first Masters route. I expect greatness.

Back to Mr. Blow-Up himself. Now he may not blow-up this year I see nothing from him. Whenever Tiger is at his best Phil is no where to be found. I would like to see a Phil vs. Tiger Easter Sunday Showdown though, but not because I work with CBS or anything. And no I do not rob banks in Augusta either like some CBS workers. This would be a killer match up. I can just imagine Sunday the 8^th right now. Couch + HD + Tiger + Flustered Phil + Easter = Immaculate Sunday.

Some of my sleepers who also appear on my Top Ten List on the side of the blog are Aaron Bads, Tim Clark, and Sergio Garcia. Aaron Baddley has performed very well this year and SI Golf Plus picked him as a strong contender for this year Masters. I decided to jump on the bandwagon and join them. Sergio may be at his best in some time this year and may have all those hitches out of his set up in time for Thursday. If he does I expect a strong top ten performance from someone who has never quite performed to lofty expectations. And Tim Clark is the perfect grinder for this tough Augusta course. He may just sit -2 all week and sneak into the top ten.

That is my small, short preview. I really expect nothing less then a Tiger route this week. And this will all lead up to yet another chance at another Tiger Slam if he wins the US Open. Greatest golfer in history, check. Greatest athlete ever, he’s coming close.