Day 1 of the Masters is in the books, and we have a two horse race on our hands. Fox rides the wave of the Korean Tsunami to a 5 stroke lead in Round 1. Jack, not surprisingly, rode a Caucasian wave led by Ricky Barnes, gary Woodland and co-leader Rory McIlroy to a very strong second place finish. Our last money spot is third, and third thru sixth is very tight. But it was a LLLOOONNNGGG drop to 7th, and Ikey was nice enough to score one stroke higher than Gabes to keep his sorry butt out of last. ********************* Gabes is sporting a big Woodie. As in Tiger Woodie!!! Tiger was sloshing along... 1 over on today's round over 7... another mediorce performance, a non-factor as the Euros and Asians ran away with Americas tourney. But Tiger popped some Viagra, birdied 7 of the last 11, finished w/ a 66, and Gabes was growing a pup tent in Kenosha. That low round of the day almost helped Gabes tie for second for Day 2.... Al most. Your humble host finished second, riding solid rounds from Ogilvy and Laird of 69, and no top 5 score worse than Phil's 72. But it was Hans who rode to top honors on Day 2, with Westwood and Furyk leading the way w/ 67/68. Bastards. The scores on Day 2 were amazingly tight.... Low of 349, high of 356. Fox was one of the 356's... but still good enough to tie Jack for top of the list thru 2 days. Hans third... Sobo and I tied for fourth. The cut is +1. With that, only Jack, Fox and Al have 5 players on the weekend. Hans, Sobo and Andy have 4. ********************** It was there for the taking for most of the day... but in the end, McIlroy re-established himself as the man to beat and walked off w/ a 4 stroke lead heading into the final round. He dusted his young competitor, Jason Day. Will be interesting to see how he does head to head against a seasoned crsuty winner like Angel Cabrera. My prediction: McIlroy strolls home a winner. More importantly.... Our pool! The Dimpled Balls had a strong moving day. Led by Scott's 67 and Laird's 69, my Balls were an 8 under 280 for the day and took Rd 3 honors by 3 strokes. Andy's team rode the coattails of Bubba's 67 and Donald's 69 to finish second for the day, three strokes ahead of Fox. Overall, Fox takes the lead by 3 strokes over me, with Jack just one more back. Hans and Andy will need the most of their 4 remaining players to make up the distance to break into top 3... but as Andy's team showed today, it is possible. ********************** Very exciting final round! Looked like Tiger would finally win a big comeback major w/ a 31 on the front and McIlroy fading... and then he blew that short putt on 12 for bogey, did not birdie 13, and missed a 4 footer for eagle on 15. 36 on the back was weak... McIlroy meltdown was tough to watch... and after the 7 on 10 and 4 putt on 12, we didn't have to watch it. CBS treated him like a disease until he putted out for an 80. He'll be back and be a big winner... but he ate some humble pie today. Of all the folks to win, Charl Schwartzel was not my fave. But he wasn't in our pool, so we have a double major going in the US Open, right, Gabes? My man was Adam Scott... but his inability to birdie 13/15 on the back proved to be a deadly. However, his 67, along w/ fellow Aussie geoff Ogily, was enough to get me Day 4 honors and an overall win. Jack, despite the McIlroy implosion, had a solid final day with the balance of his 4 golfers. Fox had Casey w/ 71 as his low man, w/ Choi fading down the stretch costing him second place. Gabes: Welcome Ikey back to the pool. Without him, your sorry ass would be in last. But you did beat me on the Woods-Mickelson sidebet, so I will direct Sobo accordingly. ----------------- Al - what have you been drinking today? OK, I understand the Charl is not your fave - he's not your player. And yes, Fox is right, I do have him playing this weekend - so the first Masters Skin has been claimed - and you didnt win - which is very unusual this week. I was a little suprised to see my daily score so high, considering Charl shot 6 under par 66. So i looked closer at the spreadsheet, and what do you know. My team had no 66 for Charl, and instead had a 79 for Graeme McDowell. What???? Drop the 79 and put in the 66 and double check the daily score. You did not win that either. As for the tournament totals, I didnt double check any one else's team - but it does appear that my 1277 is good for 4th place - out of the money. So, please fix the results and resend. As for the tournament -this was maybe the most exciting Masters in memory - given the number of players who had a chance on the back 9. For example, what an amazing run by Geoff Ogilvy who birdied 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 to come from no where to 10 under and tie, for a moment, the lead. Tiger was amazing on the front nine. I fully expected him to continue the charge on the back 9 - and was suprised to see him miss so many putts. Felt real bad for Rory Mac - or Wee Mac as mentioned on line. His 7 on 10 was painful to watch - then missed putt after missed putt was sad. At the age of 21, he'll be back. He has a beautiful swing and will be a force for a long time to come. This was Swartzel's exceptional finish that deserves the props. Biriding 15, 16, 17 and 18 shows considerable focus under unbelievable pressure. How much pressure? just ask Kenny Perry who 2 years ago blew a big lead to Angel Cabrera - who played great today in the final group. Just not good enough to win. CBS had Tiger in the hunt, and 7 or 8 sooo close. This was an exceptional day of golf. Congratulations to Charl Swartzel. One hell of a win. Hans ---------------- Yes, I was drinking. I was putting in all scores as they were finishing, but somehow left out Schwartzel. I had alreadt guessed at 79 being high score for the day (turned out to be 80 but doesn't matter, really). A "sum" will not compute unless you have 4 scores entered AND the top player's score input (in your case, McDowell). So w/ him having his 70, and 3 other golfers getting their final scores, it created a sum for you... albeit 13 strokes higher than the correct sum. So I didn't notice my mostake. Yes, Hans wins final day, with my team taking second. Top three overall do not change. Final sheet w/ $$$$ coming behind this note. ----------------- OK, Hans beats me by a stroke on Sun... just as he did on Friday. Interesting that he had two Daily wins and did not finish Top 3. While Jack finished second overall with only one daily second place. Gabes, I gave you credit for your $10 win on our Phil-Tiger sidebet. Sobo: The $10 was deducted from what would have been $100.80 overall win for me. These are all gross winnings, everyone is in for $35 entry fee. See you at US Open. Ranked by Score 1 Albert 359 350 280 281 1270 2 Jack 349 351 290 283 1273 3 Fox 344 356 286 288 1274 4 Hans 358 349 290 280 1277 5 Andy 360 356 283 293 1292 6 Sobo 356 353 297 290 1296 7 Gabes 369 351 299 293 1312 8 Ikey 370 356 297 303 1326 Winners Fox Jack Hans Al Andy Gabes Day 1 19.60 8.40 Day 2 19.60 8.40 Day 3 19.60 8.40 Day 4 19.60 8.40 Final 25.20 42.00 90.80 10.00 Total 44.80 50.40 39.20 127.20 8.40 10.00 #1 Daily Fox Jack #2 Daily Hans Al # 3 Daily Al Andy # 4 Daily Hans Al