Phil: "There's no fire in the golf course right now"

Phil Mickelson, coming off a strong finish to get him to -6 and eight back of Jordan Spieth, summed up the odd state of affairs at Augusta National right now: no fire.

In no way taking away from Spieth's record setting 36-hole pace, Mickelson touched upon why it'll be tough for the pack to catch Spieth: the lush golf course.

From Alex Myers' GolfDigest.com report:

"Certainly, the firm conditions make angles important, past knowledge important, but there's no fire in the golf course right now," Mickelson said.

Jim Furyk made similar comments in his round, as I explained in a Golf World item.

While you'll hear over and over how the club will just turn on the Sub-Air units beneath the greens, they won't work. Besides being overrated in their ability to dry out the greens, there's a bigger issue in getting Augusta National to play with a little more "fire." 

It's too green.

Whether because the club is in love with deep green turf or simply the perfect rye grass growing conditions, the grass is just too healthy, too well fed and growing too fast between the 7 am mowing by the time afternoon play is going strong. Throw in the longish fairway cut designed to slow down the ball and mix it with the robust second cut, and the course looks downright fuzzy by the early evening.

Expect more of the same good scoring no matter what you hear. And considering that the best player has been identified so far, that's not all bad.

Update on Saturday, April 11, 2015 at 06:30 AM by Geoff

**Tiger's remarks include a new verb for something that is more myth than reality...SubAiring. From Karen Crouse's game story, courtesy of reader Tim.

“If they want to make this golf course a little drier, I was telling the guys earlier, it’s quiet out there, there’s no SubAirs going,” Woods said, referring to the system’s name. “If they turn the SubAirs on, they can suck the moisture out of this thing and get them firm, or they can live with it like it is and we can go out there and make a bunch of birdies.”

Asked if he was lobbying for firmer greens, Woods said: “It is what it is. You have to make the adjustments. You’ve got to go get it or you’ve got to play a little more passive.”

Comments

[GW]

The analysts like to talk about it a lot, but the only player I heard mention the need to turn on the sub-air system repeatedly was the same guy who earlier in the season tried to convice us his poor play was due to him getting stuck between patterns and his glutes deactivating so I didn't put too much stock in his comments. Either way it's good to know some insight on the efficacy of the system from someone who knows a thing or two about course maintenance/set up.

Look, -18 is in reach, partly because of how great the scoring conditions are. This may bother the current 72 hole course-record leader, but Augusta National shouldn't worry about protecting a number tomorrow. Leave the traditional hole locations and normal green speeds/moisture level, which are tough but fair, and let the record fall if Spieth is good enough to get it.

[Center Cut]

Woods commented on ''how you could hear the sub-airs going'' yesterday, but how the humidity just won't let it shift enough. Also, the greens are slow, slow, slow and have been for two days. Nice to see a course so manufactured kowtow to nature.

Spieth may have had the breaks, but he's crushed the course - similar to what he did at Royal Sydney in the last round which was playing as tough as old boots.

Wow, I'm agreeing with Geoff...

[Pas]

Royal Sydney????????
You mean The Australian and what a round that was.
Hope he kicks on.

[Center Cut]

Aah me bad, was thinking about Rose Bay!!

Meanwhile, in California...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-10/californias-historic-drought-about-get-even-worse-snowpack-melts-early-across-west

[Smitty]

In my opinion, the main issue with the good scoring is how receptive the greens are. On weather.com, it seems that it has been a very warm and dry spring since the beginning of March for Augusta. The temperatures have averaged about ten degrees warmer than normal with little rain. There have only been two days of rain over a half inch since the beginning of March. I believe the club has had to water the hell out of the place to keep/save the greens. It was 90 degrees on Thursday, and 85 yesterday. It will be around 80 this weekend. At least ten degrees warmer than normal. I think the greens will stay soft and slow.

[John Taggart]

Turn the sub airs on ... don't pull a Mike Davis 2011 Us Open and gift a course to a hot young player.

[DC]

Don't turn them on. The player with the most talent and discipline should prevail. This week, its Jordan Speith. Other times it was Rory, Martin, and Tiger. Let's see real talent come to the forefront.

[Chico]

@GW- let the record fall if Spieth is good enough. Couldn't agree more! It's the same course for everybody

[Media Driven]

There seems to be an aura of mystery about the subair system and whether they are being used or not. I assume they are but balls seems to be stopping, not rolling out, after approaches. I'd love to read more about how the subair works, are there different levels of power or suckage they can employ? And what level do they typically employ? Ideally, they should make the information public.

I think they like to have the players guessing.

[ol Harv]

"This may bother the current 72 hole course-record leader, but Augusta National shouldn't worry about protecting a number tomorrow. Leave the traditional hole locations and normal green speeds/moisture level, which are tough but fair, and let the record fall if Spieth is good enough to get it "

Exactly, spot on GW. In the words of the great philosopher whose name escapes me right now, "It is, what it is". Weather plays a huge part in golf course conditions, it always has throughout history.

[Bogey]

The Sub Airs were running Tuesday during the practice round.

[Pro from Dover]

Chico -- "It's the same course for everybody." Bingo

Sort of sounds like Phil M. realizes he has been outplayed by Speith under the course's current playing conditions, and he wants to change the conditions to benefit whom?

Interesting, don't hear Hoffman, Rose, DJ, Paul Casey, or some of the others higher up the scoreboard - or McIlroy even for that matter, "complaining" about the course conditions or green speeds like TW and Mickelson seem to be.

Let' em play. "it is not nice to fool Mother Nature"........

And good on Speith for his stellar play thus far. Hope he can get the other arm in the jacket by Sunday.

[Kevin J]

Geez... It's April. In Georgia. Stuff grows here, usually.

If there's "no fire" then why isn't everybody at double-digit red numbers?

Play it as it lies, as they say.

[Boyer]

Anyone else uncomfortable with a club's ability to manipulate scoring conditions once the competition is underway? Seems open to abuse to me.

I know in cricket no water may be added to the pitch after a test match commences. Should be the same in golf with pin positions chosen ahead of time. ANGC could set up a shootout with easy pins Saturday in order to tighten the field up for Sunday. Ideally the guy influencing all this shouldn't even be aware of the leaderboard and certainly not taking direction from TV or the club.

[gentle Ben]

Dover,

You are wrong. Paul Casey did say he preferred the firm conditions when the greens get purpleish in color

[Press Agent]

The course is where it is because that is where they wanted it. Augusta has been trying a number of things over the years, mowing the fairways towards the tees, increasing the height of cut slightly, and changing the speed / firmness of the greens as the week goes on. There is nothing in the rules that says a golf course has to play consistent through a week, that is a myth put out by spoiled and pampered tour players. It's tiring. They complain when it's too fast and firm, they complain when they can't keep the balls on the greens when chipping from behind a missed green etc.. etc. And of course, they complain when a young player shows them all up. Tiger is lucky the course conditions allowed him to make the cut. And don't forget, this is a guy who complains when he goes to a tournament and says the grass is a different type than what he's used to practicing on, or it's a sandy base, or bumpy greens, or sticky blades...on and on. No shortage of whine.
Shut up, Play the course, everyone has to play the same one.
Spieth has one of the very best short games in the world, so chances are, if he's firing on all cylinders, he's out front in any course conditions.

[ol Harv]

Why doesn't Phil just pick the Ryder Cup team, run the Fed-Ex Cup, pick the major championship sites, and set up the golf courses as well?

[Pro from Dover]

gentle Ben, thank you, I did hear Casey say he was not going to complain but enjoy the Masters this year.

He did say he "preferred" hard, firm conditions. But he didn't sound like to me he was complaining that they should change the conditions.

Ol' Harv, that' funny.

[KLG]

Harv FTW.

[Pro from Dover]

They have thrown down the gauntlet....birdies being made in abundance in round #3!

Looks like the course remains soft, Fowler is -5 for the day through #11! Bubba tripled the first hole, then made 3 biridies (#2, #3, & #4).....!

Rory makes eagle at #2 to go to -4!

Gonna be a shootout today!

[Joe Duffer]

Speith's Saturday post-round press conference was pure gold.

Speith was able to capitalize on easy course conditions in the first two days. It has been said that these conditions are designed to produce better scores to attract a bigger tv audience and media buzz. Maybe Spieth has turned the traditional Masters paradigm of conservative, steady play in the first day on its head. While other players were trying to "get off to a good start" and avoid "shooting themselves out of the tournament", Jordan Spieth was "making hay". When conditions turned tougher on Saturday, Spieth had a score cushion to rely on while he was outplayed by a few top players.