Rory Masters the Slam

A great Masters Sunday. Rory lost his 2 shot lead, fell behind but then regained the lead, pushed it to 3 shots (right?), then had Rose climb back to tie. Then Rory birdied to retake the lead before just missing the winning putt on 18. Some notes:

Career grand slams:

Total

07 US=2 Open=1 PGA=3 Masters=1 Gene Sarazen

10 US=5 Open=1 PGA=2 Masters=2 Ben Hogan   

09 US=1 Open=3 PGA=2 Masters=3 Gary Player

18 US=4 Open=3 PGA=5 Masters=6 Jack Nicklaus

15 US=3 Open=3 PGA=4 Masters=5 Tiger Woods

05 US=1 Open=1 PGA=2 Masters=1 Rory McIlroy

13 Bobby Jones retired from golf at the age of 28, shortly after completing the grand slam in 1930. US=4 Open=3 US Am=5 British Am=1

So Jack won the career grand slam three times over. Tiger also won the career grand slam 3 times. Woods first completed the career grand slam at the age of 24, the youngest to do so.

Rory double bogeyed the first hole. Connors missed a one foot putt on the first hole. Rory in the fairway bunker on the first two holes. I ate leftover spaghetti and meatballs when we got home after church. Aberg, Conners, Rory, and Bryson all wearing navy shirts and white pants. Korean golfer (M E Lee?) was playing so slow that he was in the 15th fairway after hitting out of the trees, while the group ahead of him had already teed off on 17. So the 16th hole was completely empty.

Not the traditional Sunday hole location on 16. Instead the pin was placed up on the far elevated section, where it was 50 years ago when Nicklaus birdied a 40 footer to help him win his unprecedented 5th Masters. Bubba Watson birdied 16. Bryson bogeyed three and Rory birdied it, giving him the lead back.

I had a headache all day Sunday. Not sure if it was the pollen or what. Finally when Rory & Bryson were hitting their approach shots into the 8th green I took Ceil's car for gas and a RaceTrac drink. As I pulled out of the driveway I checked to see if my friend Denise was working at GreatClips. She answered the phone, so I went for a haircut. Then to the BP across the street. Since I'd been gone for so long I just went across the other street to Kroger for soft drinks and other stuff. Was late in the afternoon but still drank two 12 ounce cans of diet Mtn Dew.

Got home at 530. Ceil went to the prayer service at JFBC. I pressed record on the Masters, and had it all qued up for when she got home. I texted Will and C's friends to tell them to not spill the beans on who won, but when Rory bogeyed 18 to force a playoff with Rose, Ceil said "I don't want to watch if Rose wins" – so I basically had to tell her that Rory won. She watched anyway.

Rose was all class in defeat. And after Rory bearhugged Shane Lowry, Rose's wife was there to congratulate McIlroy with an extended hug.

I thought the 10+10 competition might be close. Reid had a couple of guys that I didn't, like Rose. I can see me picking 10+10's for the rest of my life. How I picked this year's 10+10: someone showed how the last ten or so Masters champs had led the field in strokes gained, and listed the top 10-14 coming into the Masters. Then some other stat that had the top four of those guys. This expert picked Shane Lowry to win, and it sounded good to me. Bryson wasn't in that top 14, but I added him and several other top golfers. Conners wasn't either. Got my 20 then did a little rearranging. Not a fan of Brooks K so I left him out, along with DJ.

Murphy      2842

Whitaker    2844

10+10 oftentimes I will just go by the rankings. Many say that none of the LIV players did well. Reed holed his approach on 17 for eagle, which gave him a third place finish after Aberg and Bryson faltered down the stretch. Pretty apparent that the Augusta National didn't want the LIV golfers to be featured – or was it CBS? Bryson was fortunate that Rory and Rose made for the exciting finish, so Bryson's poor play got lost in the shuffle.

The Masters' new marker is Michael McDermott, who plays when an odd number of golfers make the cut so a player doesn't have to play alone. Former marker Jefferson Knox famously scored lower than both Rory and Sergio.

Bryson DeChambeau visited a home in Augusta for late-night Masters practice.

Article: caddy Stevie Williams commented on how efforts to Tiger Proof the Augusta National course actually helped Woods win multiple Masters.

MINNIE MINOSO [SABR Bio] is the most recent 50-year-old to get a hit in a regular-season major league game. On 12-Sep-1976(1), playing for the White Sox, he singled off the Angels Sid Monge in the second inning of Chicago's 2-1 win. Minoso was either born in 1922 or 1925. Baseball-Reference uses 1925, pegging it at age 89 at the time of his passing. He led the American League in being hit-by-pitch for ten of his first eleven full seasons there, from 1951—1954 and 1956—1961.