2018 Masters: Sunday Preview

I miss the green.

For example, I'm already upset. When I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. And when I find my ball in a fried egg Friday egg, the dreaded Friday egg, Frida Egg, Frida egg, fried egg, Frida egg, bride egg Lie, I'm about ready to run off the golf course.

Arnold Palmer is the master of nineteen. He has buddy the last two holes to catch a bug ahead of cat that.

Jory, What are the saying? Is this a race?

Is golf that anybody has ever seen? That?

A place? Yeah? Up the hill?

Did you ever do one like that?

I think got tent of the greatest fundy I've ever seen him Friday night. Maybe yes, sir, there it is and you believe it.

Now?

No, there it is a wins for the ages?

Is it his time?

Now here it comes? Oh my goodness, oh wow.

In your life that you seen anything like that? Hello, friends, I'm jim nantz. Is my great pleasure to welcome you to the Master's Tournament. I've heard it said before. It's a tradition unlike any other. Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome back to another edition of the Frida Egg Podcast I am joined by Will Knights here on Masters Saturday. Just wrapped up watching today's third round. Quite a exhibition there.

Yeah, it was. I think we all went into today expecting some carnage from the weather and instead we got the exact opposite.

Yeah, it seemed like it just kind of softened up the greens. It didn't really rain as expected. There was just that one little flurry of a downpour during when the leaders were off and that kind of mucked things up. But for the most part, it just seemed to make scoring conditions easier and a few guys took advantage. What were your big takeaways from today?

I think the biggest one is that Rory is definitely out for Blood. He's knows reads up at the lead and he wants to definitely get him back for Hazel team there. You're definitely hear in his post round interview that all the he thinks, all the pressure is on Red and he's just ready to go out tomorrow.

Yeah, it's it'll be interesting to watch those guys duke it out. You know. One of the things with Reid's play, I mean, it was unbelievable on that back nine with the two eagles, the chipping I mean on the fifteenth was insane. But what it does is really separates him from pretty much everybody. But you know, six shots is what Faldough came back on Norman from and that's about the biggest margin in recent master's history. So that puts it really to Rom Fowler McElroy as the only legitimate

I think the first few holes will definitely be a good tell. I mean, with two and three being birdie holes, if you can get through those under par, I think that'll be a good test. It'll also be interesting to see if Rory puts pressure on him quickly. I mean, he does have that tough stretch with four through seven, but I think if Reid gets out to a hot start, it'll be tough to catch him.

Yeah, he just seems locked in this week. Obviously, he's always one of the world's best around the greens and on the greens, but since he's added that fade, it's taken his ball striking to a whole new level. And at Augusta it's amazing how how much he trusts it, you know, hitting it on set off seventeen T and eighteen today, eighteen T today and hitting perfect T shots. I think that'll carry over. I think, you know it really will. As you said, come down to that first

Yeah. I mean we saw have Fleet would make that run today on the back, but on the front nine you don't really have a good stretch. It'll be interesting to see if the typical Sunday pins are out there, maybe they want to increase some birdies. But yeah, I think unless McElroy Fowler a Ram put pressure on him early, that's the only people who could really catch him at this point.

Yeah, it's the that front nine stretch with like four or five, six, seven. It's just so hard on those three holes to really make birdies, and it's it'll be really interesting to see how Red handles this pressure because he's never been in this type of moment before. He's had mixed results with holding the lead. I mean his last one came at that Barclays. A couple of years ago and he was a little shaky coming down the stretch there, but obviously he's he's shown that in high

I think definitely we know that he's not wanting to shy away from it. As you said, though this is different, it's the Masters. I think he knows it's different, and it'll be interested to see how he looks on the first tea tomorrow.

So what over the course of this Masters has h have you been surprised by most.

Will Honestly, I'm a little surprised that it's played out kind of how we wanted it to. I mean, we were all building it up as one of the most anticipated Masters, and we've so far we've really gotten it. I mean, DJ Speath, JT, Bubba Stenson, Rom Fowler, McElroy, they're all there, just whether they or not they can make the move on Sunday and see if Reid can hold on here. But I think just getting this leaderboard has kind of been surprising, and that we've gotten everyone we wanted to see.

Yeah, i'd agree a like at one point we were talking there were the leaderboard was just not to At the beginning of the round, there were seven of the top ten guys on the leaderboard were within the top ten in the world rankings. Now it looks like you got Speth Thomas at t ninth and then rom and Fowler and McElroy sou you're down to five. But the other five players or no slouches with like Reid, Stenson, Fleetwood, Bubba Watson, Leishman, all those guys are top twenty five players.

No, yeah, I definitely agree. I mean, the only way this leaderboard was going to be better is if Tiger Phil actually showed up. But I mean, once you get over that fact, I think we're left with just about as good a leaderboard as we can expect. Will definitely be interested to see that final pairing tomorrow. Patrick Reid's going to show up in his Sunday Red and he's gonna be ready to go.

So you think he's going to ditch the scripting for the pink that Nike laid out for him.

I think his wife wore the hot pink pants after the round today, so I think all the Nike pinks men used this week.

It's we got a pair of a pair of Nike guys going at it, and we do we do any blake going out?

Oh? I uh, you know, I think Mike will respect the Sunday at Augusta. They might not have during the practice round. I think we all saw Tiger wearing his blade collar against Phil's button down. But I uh, I think it's Sunday at the Masters, they'll they'll put some collars on their guys.

Ricky and Rom played it shot sixty five, so I guess Roy shot sixty five to today. But one of the things with Ricky's round was that, you know the thirteenth hole where he went for it. Obviously it's hindsight twenty twenty. He doesn't make it, and you think, hey, the you know he should he shouldn't have done this, But it was a questionable call to go for it, and you think here, it's like, you know, one more shot could be the difference. And that's the with major championships.

Difference, right, Yeah, exactly. I mean essentially his up and down for Parr would have been the up and down he would have had for Birdie. I mean, it would been the exact same shot. So making that mistake just kind of really cost him. I mean, who knows it might have cost him the final group. Honestly, Rory would have known that he needed to make that birdie to

Yeah, so tomorrow, weather conditions are They're saying it's going to be sixty three, so it'll be a lot cooler, moderate winds. I think the one thing that will happen is with the rain. It will be it actually will be tough conditions because they'll crank those subairrors and the greens are going to be really firm. But then there are the rounds of the greens will be really soft,

Right, Yeah, I completely agree. I mean, as we saw today, Rory's just hitting it past everyone. I mean he was consistently forty fifty yards past Stenson. I mean, I don't see that not continuing. I just do remember read at the US Open last year he was chipping pretty well off those tight lines. I mean, if he's missing greens with a little bit of pressure, we'll see how his short gam holds up. But he has shown in the past that he's been able to get it up and down from those areas.

That's what's impressed me the most about Rory this week is how he's gotten kept the momentum going. It seems to me like in recent years with major championships, he just has always missed that five foot or for par and this week he's making all those. You know, we saw two really clutch up and downs from him on the par threes on the back nine. And that's the key for Rory is always that momentum. I feel like he just really feeds off momentum more than almost any other player in golf.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean I think once he got up and down on thirteen there, it was very similar to what Sergio did last year, kind of saved his whole tournament. And then Rory just down the stretch was just firing a pins, knowing he needed to make a few more birdies and put some pressure on I mean, he's been here before, He's been in the final groups of Majors.

Yeah. Then he had the meltdown in fifteen in the final group Saturday, so it'll be Sunday is completely different beasts than Saturday. The pins get tougher, and especially today with the soft condition that it'll be a whole different ballgame tomorrow, soft and calm. What do you make of the thumb?

The thumb, Yeah, put on a show today for us. Yeah, quite the charge on the front nine there and then continued it on the back. I thought he was going to be the only non Jeff Knox player to make birdie on eleven, but I mean, he's right there. I wouldn't put it past him to make a charge early tomorrow. We know he has the firepower to get to two and with that pin, eagles are definitely in play, so we'll see if he's able to make a couple early birdies or eagles.

Yeah, he was so under the radar coming in. Nobody was talking about him because he, you know, compared to what his usual standards are with you know, essentially he was a top ten, top five machine, and he had a kind of string of top thirties which got everybody off him. But he is he is built for this

Yeah, I mean, so this is his second year at Augusta now, so, I mean it didn't he didn't look great on Thursday opening I think he was seventy five, But I mean ever since then, he's just been nails coming down the stretch today, especially through a dart in there on sixteen and then seventeen made that birdie as well. I mean, we all know he wants to prove that he is one of the best, if not the best, in the world, so he needs majors to prove it.

Anybuddy, you were disappointed with today that you kind of expected to see jump up?

Yeah, I mean definitely with the soft conditions. I think earlier we were thinking JT was going to make a run, especially, I mean he birdied too, but then just kind of fell flat the rest of the round. I mean, when everyone else is out there shooting sixty six and for him to only shoot seventies kind of disappointing. We saw Rory take advantage of his length on the course, but JG just couldn't take advantage.

Yeah, I was a little disappointed with Leishman. I kind of thought he'd hang around a little bit more, but it it just expected more than seventy three out of him, especially with how soft it was. I thought he was going to be a guy in the mix tomorrow, but now he's a eight shots back. That just seems like too much to me.

Yeah, he just burned a couple edges early there and never got any momentum going, and once Patrick Reed just started pulling away. I think you can kind of see he just had a couple of flat tires and just couldn't keep it going.

Who's your prediction for the back door special tomorrow?

Back Door Special? You know, I think Rose had a ton of pressure on himself coming in to this tournament, and now that he's just out on the outside looking in, he's definitely just gonna I think he's gonna go low tomorrow. I mean, as we've seen, Speeth has not done anything either. I think he could back to our top five here as well.

Yeah, it's crazy. I mean after round one, I was worried that we were going to see twenty fifteen like all over again, where it was essentially over on Saturday or on Friday. But he that Putter, he just hasn't been the same this year over especially short putts.

Right, Yeah, I mean we saw well Thursday. Yeah, he goes out hot and then just completely gives it all back early Friday and just never found it again. I mean with him and DJ today, I thought they were gonna kind of put some pressure on each other to play well, and they both really just fell flat.

Yes, it almost worked in the opposite way where they both didn't do anything and it was probably just like watching everybody running and you're stuck in quicksand.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, I think when you're in a good pairing that you guys can kind of feed off each other and make birdies. That definitely helps, and with both of them just being unable to get going, that just hurt him both.

All right, keep this thing tight. What's your prediction for tomorrow?

I think, honestly, I think Patrick Reid pulls it out. I know Rory's coming for him, but I think he's just he wants it, and he's gonna go out there ready to go. He's gonna be able to hold off Rory early, and I think he wins by two.

Oh man, I.

You think Rory gets it done.

I don't know. I I don't I don't want hands on my head, in my heart, my head, says Reid. He's just been nails all week. But I I just don't want to see and every master's till he's like sixty five or seventy.

Yeah. I think definitely some of those guys in the Champions locker room or rooting against him, but yeah, I just think it's his time. I will see if anyone can put pressure on him, but I think unfortunately we're going to see Patrick Reed draped in green tomorrow.

Yeah, it is a it's from his hard work too. You have to give props where it is. He's identified what he couldn't do and what was holding him back, and he's he's gotten remarkably better. And that's what this game. You know, that's why it's so important not to judge guys when they're twenty five twenty six, because they still have so much time. And reads a perfect example of that. Just vast improvement and you know, learning how to hit a shot and then pulling it off under pressure.

Definitely, Yeah, I think. I mean, ever since his top five comments, I think he's really come a long way. Definitely matured. I don't I still think he rubs a lot of people the wrong way, but he's addressed the weaknesses in his game and obviously it's paid off for him.

Yeah, so that's it.

Well.

Overrated, Underrated Patrick Reeds apparel.

Now that he's Nike, I mean, he's kind of dressed the same as everyone, but he's definitely overrated. This swosh does not really fit Patrick Reed's body type.

Overrated, Underrated, the term patrons.

The term Patrons is highly overrated, but patrons in general definitely underrated. There's no yelling, no tom foolery. They just go out and watch golf and cheer. It's a good time for them.

It's the way the Masters runs their whole thing is.

It's a it's a tight ship out there.

You know. Everybody's kind of their toes. They don't want to get thrown out. They've heard of the you know, the Pinkerton running around there kicking people out. You know, I think there's certain things. If you say certain things, you're out immediately. And just in general, the way Augusta just strong arms everybody, whether it's CBS, whether.

It's for sure it's their partners, it's their way or the highway, and you walk in there, you better be on your best behavior.

Yeah, and then in turn they deliver the best sporting event, definitely the best golf event and arguably the greatest sporting event out there. So absolutely you gotta give them props for just running their thing the way they want to run it.

Yeah. I mean, we all know coming in it's going to be immaculate on the course and broadcast is what it is. We got to live with it. But I mean it delivers every year, like this tournament just doesn't get any better.

All right, well we will, Uh they'll wrap and uh hope everyone enjoys a great Master Sunday. You've been listening to the Fried Egg podcast.

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