It’s not as if he will have any significant pull on who wins the 82nd Masters, but newly minted chairman Fred Ridley was an alternate on the 1973 Florida Gators’ golf national champion and remains a proud Gator.
He was enjoying his first few days of Masters week, good-naturedly engaging in banter about a Gator replacing the former UGA Bulldog Billy Payne as Masters leader.
The full-fledged interview with the media will come, as usual, on Wednesday and it remains to be seen what he may have in mind for the next evolution of Augusta National Golf Club, which has upgraded facilities substantially under Payne’s guidance.
At the end of this month, Ridley will introduce Payne when the University of Georgia places Payne’s name on the new practice facility in Athens in his honor (the William Porter Payne Indoor Athletic Facility).
But just in case: The only former Gator in the field this week is Billy Horschel, the 2014 Tour Championship winner.
Stat of the day
Several players have come to realize that no winner of the previous Masters shot all four rounds in the 60s. The closest include some of the most memorable Masters in history. Those who came closest and won:
Tiger Woods, 2001 (70-66-68-68)
Tiger Woods, 1997 (70-66-65-69)
Ben Crenshaw, 1995 (70-67-69-68)
Fred Couples, 1992 (69-67-69-70)
Arnold Palmer, 1964 (69-68-69-70)
Ben Hogan, 1953 (70-69-66-69)
Odds for now
As of Monday, the newest odds to win are, in order, a Who’s Who of the PGA Tour with Woods moving to fifth on the list:
Rory McIlroy
Bubba Watson
Dustin Johnson
Justin Thomas
Tiger Woods
Jordan Spieth
Phil Mickelson
Rickie Fowler
Justin Rose
He said it
“My life's in a great spot. Golf sometimes makes it in a bad spot, but I'm just in a right frame of mind and I understand what I want to do with my life and where I want to go in my life.” -- Bubba Watson, two-time Masters champ (2012, ’14) and two-time PGA Tour winner this season (Genesis Open, WGC Match Play).
Forecast
Tuesday: High of 86, mostly sunny, 10 percent chance of rain, wind 12 mph.
