The Masters doesn’t begin until April 11, but NBC golf analysts Brandel Chamblee and Johnny Miller offered a few golfers who might do well during a teleconference on Tuesday.
Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson were the rote picks, but Chamblee said former Georgia Tech standout Matt Kuchar is another golfer who seems ready to challenge for the Green Jacket. Kuchar finished third last year.
“He is making huge strides at Augusta National,” Chamblee said. “He needs that brilliant week with the wedge that (former champs) Zach Johnson and Mike Weir had and he needs the golf course to play hard, because when it plays hard, shorter hitters have a chance.”
Miller wondered if Woods’ putter will allow him to navigate the difficult greens at Augusta National.
“The thing about Tiger ... you'll notice the last several Masters that he just is not making those putts like he used to,” Miller said. “A lot of over-the-edges and misreads, they are slight misses, and that's kept him from winning the Masters. You hate to think that recently the putter would cause Tiger to lose any tournament, but at Augusta it seems like he has not made as many putts as he does almost everywhere else.”
Those were a few of the topics, including belly putters and the status of Woods’ game, covered in a lengthy question-and-answer session, which has been condensed:
Q: Do you support this potential schism that may be developing regarding the possible belly-putter ban and the PGA Tour's players?
JM: I think it should be legal. I think it's just give me a break. You want to start helping the game out, just take all the spring effect out of every club. There's no more spring effect, okay.
BC: I don't it's allowed at the professional level, but I would rather see it allowed at the amateur level. If they are going to stick with one set of rules, then I would rather see it allowed at the amateur level and allowed at the professional level than disallowed at the amateur level and disallowed at the professional.
I've got too many friends; I know too many people in this game, and it allows them to just have fun. There's nothing worse than having the yips in golf, nothing, nothing worse, that is it. And this allows those guys to go out and play golf, and the USGA and the R&A are proposing to get rid of that and just doesn't sit well.
Q: How does Woods’ victory at Torrey Pines set up the season for him?
BC: For the first 54 holes, I was blown away. It was Tiger as good as I think I've ever seen him or as good as I've ever seen him. He was building a substantial, he was driving the ball well, and still on the way down, the golf swing looked a little sideways to me and he was saving it and bombing it. When he gets an iron or 3 wood in his hand, he's as good as he ever was.
I think since Tiger Woods came back in 2010, none of us have a handle on him. If you start to look forward to this week, you start to say, which Tiger is going to show up, the guy that had the 54 hole lead at Torrey Pines or the guy who played in a limp in the last 18 holes at Torrey Pines.
It's clear he's nowhere near the golfer that he used to be, but it's also clear that he still is one of the top one or two best players on the planet by miles.
Q: What do you make of Woods saying slow play affected his final round (He shot par, but was 4-over on the final five holes)?
BC: I think Tiger is playing under more stress than he's ever played under in his life. There's tremendous stress on him from sponsors to be the player that he used to be. I think there's tremendous stress on himself to show the world that he's the player that he used to be; that the scandal is not going to be the thing that keeps him from breaking Jack's record. I think there's further stress on Tiger to play the way he used to to sort of shut everybody up, because Tiger really wants to do that.
I think all of that makes Tiger a different man on the weekend than he is on Thursday and Friday.
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