Capelle On Golf

2008 Masters Coverage - thru 4/15

Getting a favorable tee time for Thursday’s opening round might not make much difference, but it could. The luck of the draw certainly made itself felt at this year’s Northern Trust Open. On Thursday 26 players in the morning half broke par, but only three did in the afternoon pairings.

Even is weather isn’t a big factor in the scoring over the first two days, there are a host of reasons why a player would prefer to go out early on Thursday.

• After prepping themselves for days for a major, the players are anxious to play.
• There are fewer spike marks on the greens, so this helps in getting off to a good start.
• They have about 5-6 more hours to rest up for the second round.
• They have the afternoon and a long time on Friday to work out any flaws.
• Starting in the morning the first day helps a player to then get settled into a routine of playing the last three days in the afternoon, assuming they are a contender.
• And, should some player light up the course in the first half of the draw, they can put immediate pressure on the followers.

Now for this year’s pairings. Among the top 10 in the WGR, only Tiger Woods, Geoff Ogilvy, and Justin Rose got the favorable early draw. Rose, the latest starter of the three, will tee off two hours and 23 minutes before Adam Scott, the first player in the afternoon. In sum, seven of the top 10 will tee off in the afternoon.

So what’s up with these pairing? It looks like the TV people influenced the Masters committee to overload Thursday afternoon with top 10 players to draw an audience since Tiger will be done when ESPN’s telecast comes on. Perhaps they gave Tiger the favorable spot on Thursday because they know he can carry the telecast on Friday afternoon pretty much by himself.

I’d wager it’s no accident that the #2, 3, and 4 ranked players in the world are all playing on Thursday afternoon in an effort to maximize a Tiger-less telecast. If so, shame on TV for affecting the competitive balance of this year’s Masters.

Thursday Morning – Friday Afternoon
1 Tiger Woods
5 Geoff Ogilvy
9 Justin Rose

Friday Afternoon – Thursday Morning
2 Phil Mickelson
3 Ernie Els
4 Steve Stricker
6 K.J. Choi
7 Jim Furyk
8 Adam Scott
10 Vijay Singh