FOLIO
by TOM WEPPEL
masters…
They’re playing the 76th Masters this weekend, as you know. All the heavyweights are on hand to participate, including the defending champion Charl Schwartzel.
Of course, the headliner as always remains Eldrick ‘Tiger’ Woods, who has won this event four time already at the age of 35. But has had a dry spell in the last few seasons, up until two weeks ago, when he won Arnold Palmer’s Tournament down near Orlando.
And all the debate and discussion has centered around whether Tiger was having various certain problems, or perhaps it was simply all just because of his family issues (marriage) from a few years back. But after this one win recently, all that discussion had pretty much dried up.
So, the potential is certainly, absolutely there for Tiger to produce great rounds of golf, leading in to tournament championships, including the Majors, of course.
And just realize this…you look at Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus in their Masters wins, and you’ll see that Player had thirteen years between his first and second Masters victories, while Nicklaus had eleven between his fifth and sixth!
Considering that Tiger last won the Masters in 2005, it has now been seven years since then, which is NOT really that long ago!
It’ll be interesting to see how the weather affects play for any of these four rounds, since T-storms are indeed scheduled at various times. Rain could indeed slow the course down, including both the greens AND the fairways. That could of course change a player’s strategy, especially one that has some experience in playing Augusta.
Should be fun, no matter the case…we’ll see…
mlb…
A record fourteen guys have a salary amounting to more than $20M! I can only imagine what the pay checks for those gents look like throughout the season. Those names include two pitchers for the Phillies (Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay), and Ryan Howard ($20M), Twins C Joe Mauer ($23M), and, as you might imagine, three guys with the Yankees (Sabathia/$23M, A-Rod/$30M, Teixeira/$23M+).
You can also assume that plenty of speculation, attention, and controversy will come along with those huge contracts! Those players certainly have to know that, and be prepared to handle whatever shots will come their way! It certainly changes the whole atmosphere of playing baseball…and considering nothing more than a fun game you played in your back yard as a kid!
At the beginning of every season, there always is speculation and prediction as to who will be good, who will survive, who will make the playoffs, etc….and win the World Series! The bottom line is there are all sorts of possibilities and movement…both on and off the field…that can and indeed will have a lot to do with how things go from now thru September.
And so we’ll see how the season evolves, and watch and see how is playing well after the first few weeks, who needs to make immediate changes, and whatnot.
As always, should be fun.
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