- Jun 12, 2014
- 8,910
- 32,293
Founding Member
Glad it’s being played despite the Cancel Everything Georgia movement that is Woke focus of the moment. Good to see the patrons, even if it is limited. The real tournament starts today with several big names having been culled (DJ, Rory, etc.), due in part to the dry greens in the first round.
So the question is, who ya got? Rose’s first round 65 was impressive given the conditions and his recent return from a brief hiatus.Thomas and Spieth are in a good position and most certainly will be crowd favorites. The Zalatoris kid is impressive, but it’s a big burden to maintain his stellar play when the weight of expectations becomes pitted against a lack of Masters (and professional) experience.
At the risk of summoning the ire of my Gator contemporaries, I’d like to see Brian Harman continue to contend and eventually win. Though he’s a Georgia grad, I had the pleasure of watching him play in high school during a stint as the golf coach at our high school. We played in a tournament in Moultrie and Harman, along with his team from Glynn Academy (St. Simons), wound up winning the event. Harman was the medalist and clearly the best golfer. Even more impressive was that a storm blew through the night before and dumped several inches of rain on the course and play started with high winds and temperatures in the 40’s. Harman shot a 66 and was the only golfer under par. Pretty remarkable. He was also a very gracious victor. I couldn’t help but be impressed and he remains a golfer that I enjoy watching.
A related humorous story was that I was a veteran football coach, but brand new to coaching golf and I really wanted to develop our team beyond a bunch of South Georgia hackers and into a team that could compete with the best. I figured that I needed to get a little advice from some of the better golf coaches and Harman’s coach at Glynn Academy, Terry Tuley, was among the best, having won multiple state championships. I found him by himself at the beginning of the tournament and introduced myself and asked if he had any advice to share. He was very polite, but told me his secret was having a bunch of kids whose parents were super rich and sent them to Texas (Golf Digest’s instructors) to hone their skills. His biggest job, as told to him by the golf booster president when he was hired was to get them to and from the tournaments safely, see that they are fed, and above all, don’t F with their swings! I enjoyed my years coaching golf and used his advice, but never quite enjoyed a similar level of success.
I’m looking forward to these last two rounds and the Masters is by far my favorite tournament, though I really enjoy the Players and have attended several times. Nicklaus, who was my favorite golfer and in my opinion the best there ever was (Tiger’s a close second...don’t want Ox and others to suffer too much butt hurt) won 6 green jackets, so it’ll always be a high water mark for me. I think it’s a course that requires more perseverance and skill to win along with the ability to manage pressure.
So the question is, who ya got? Rose’s first round 65 was impressive given the conditions and his recent return from a brief hiatus.Thomas and Spieth are in a good position and most certainly will be crowd favorites. The Zalatoris kid is impressive, but it’s a big burden to maintain his stellar play when the weight of expectations becomes pitted against a lack of Masters (and professional) experience.
At the risk of summoning the ire of my Gator contemporaries, I’d like to see Brian Harman continue to contend and eventually win. Though he’s a Georgia grad, I had the pleasure of watching him play in high school during a stint as the golf coach at our high school. We played in a tournament in Moultrie and Harman, along with his team from Glynn Academy (St. Simons), wound up winning the event. Harman was the medalist and clearly the best golfer. Even more impressive was that a storm blew through the night before and dumped several inches of rain on the course and play started with high winds and temperatures in the 40’s. Harman shot a 66 and was the only golfer under par. Pretty remarkable. He was also a very gracious victor. I couldn’t help but be impressed and he remains a golfer that I enjoy watching.
A related humorous story was that I was a veteran football coach, but brand new to coaching golf and I really wanted to develop our team beyond a bunch of South Georgia hackers and into a team that could compete with the best. I figured that I needed to get a little advice from some of the better golf coaches and Harman’s coach at Glynn Academy, Terry Tuley, was among the best, having won multiple state championships. I found him by himself at the beginning of the tournament and introduced myself and asked if he had any advice to share. He was very polite, but told me his secret was having a bunch of kids whose parents were super rich and sent them to Texas (Golf Digest’s instructors) to hone their skills. His biggest job, as told to him by the golf booster president when he was hired was to get them to and from the tournaments safely, see that they are fed, and above all, don’t F with their swings! I enjoyed my years coaching golf and used his advice, but never quite enjoyed a similar level of success.
I’m looking forward to these last two rounds and the Masters is by far my favorite tournament, though I really enjoy the Players and have attended several times. Nicklaus, who was my favorite golfer and in my opinion the best there ever was (Tiger’s a close second...don’t want Ox and others to suffer too much butt hurt) won 6 green jackets, so it’ll always be a high water mark for me. I think it’s a course that requires more perseverance and skill to win along with the ability to manage pressure.
