Our Masters' reporter, Paul Mac!

He was there and we had him give us his thoughts on the weekend.
A tradition unlike any other...Paul Mac blogging...

I was there, the course was very fair for a championship major golf course. Everyone roughly had the same opportunities and the field was very close together. The problem was they started too late in the day obviously for TV. The early players from Friday to Sunday had it easier because the greens were damp and slower and there was far less wind. You can't do anything about the wind.
There is no rough. It's certainly not 3 inch US open rough, you can almost get backspin from the second cut. As far as accuracy is concerned by the time you're a
pro... take off the diapers and hit it strait, it's far form being unfair the long hitters hit it long and strait and just goofed their second shots or pulled putts. Tiger over read almost every putt in the weekend he took to long and he pressed he made all kinds of amazing shots from the fairway and off and just nutted up when he took the putter out. Most of those he'll tell you were unforgivable. Brand Snedeker chipped and putted at times unbelievably from all kinds of distance.
Blame the players... not the course for the poor play. Last year it was frigid and not conducive to scoring which is not the fault of the course design, this year it was windy at times but that doesn't forgive having to chip to the 10th fairway or the 9th fairway on 18 because you couldn't hit it strait or you miss hit it. The course was not unfair. It's a major and it's difficult and it should be. The emphasis at that course has always been shot making, you aren't so much
penalized for hitting in the second cut or even the pine straw which is far nicer than most of the countries fairways. Immelman double bogeyed 16 because he put it in the water mainly because he had a brain fart and hit it left with the wind coming down the hill that way.
The major difficulties at Augusta National to the pro player besides elevation change; natural undulations and weather are the greens. People whine about pin placement but largely these guys have seen this course forever... They know where to play if they want to stay up and what's out of bounds, it's classic risk reward and it adds to the drama when players are playing well (tigers chip on 16)
By far all week the best shot maker and the player who put himself in consistent positions for success won the tournament. That's the way it's supposed to be in a major, they can blame the wind if they want, surely it was a factor... but you have to earn it in a Major

Tiger had his opportunities as did Snedeker and others... they just didn't make the putts they needed when they had the opportunities. There were plenty of roars all over the course this weekend they just didn't follow it up consistently... well except for Immelman who was brilliant. The shots he made on the 13 green were unreal. He also got a little luck from the weather, without the rain dampening the course and the wind dying that shot on 15 would easily have been in the water.
I said 66 or 67 for tiger on Saturday and he shot 68. Had he shot 69
on Sunday... (3 measley 4ft putts) we go to sudden death. By all rights,
his iron play put him in position both days to shoot 67 or 68 easily and his putter let him down.

Yeah he missed everything, he couldn't find the hole from 4 ft with a shotgun. It was really disapointing. I don't mind Immelman winning it, just give me a show dang it. We were of course on 15 when he nearly spun it off. The weather was damn near perfect Friday and much of Saturday after the rain, Sunday was really nice too just windy. The course was really fair and really beautiful, a lot of guys simply hit
poor shots or misread putts. Disapointing definitely but the best man won. Tiger, needs to go back to the drawing board putting, he was killing drives Sunday though 359 I think was the longest he could have been that far too as well.

I thought snedeker was going to do it when he sunk the really long Eagle on 2. Nice to hear the huge roars across the course again. That was fun. As always... I hated to leave.