I almost forgot to post this. These are comments from CBS’ Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo discussing The Masters.
CBS SPORTS BROADCASTS MASTERS® FOR 54th CONSECUTIVE YEAR APRIL 9-12 FROM AUGUSTA NATIONAL GOLF CLUB
FOLLOWING ARE EXCERPTS FROM CBS SPORTS’ MASTERS PRESS CALL (4/6/09) with Jim Nantz, Masters anchor and host; lead analyst and three-time Masters champion Nick Faldo; Sean McManus, President, CBS News and Sports; Harold Bryant, Vice President, Production, CBS Sports; and Lance Barrow, Coordinating Producer, CBS Golf.
(On “dark horses” for this year’s Masters)
FALDO: I think this year especially with the way the guys, the leading players have been playing, I think, of course Tiger is back, his first major, and he will probably be setting the pace. It’s how everyone else responds. I think it will come from a name player this year.
NANTZ: You are going to say, ‘You call that a dark horse?’ Well how about Sergio Garcia. [He has] never won a major before. I know he shot an 81 yesterday (Sunday), in high winds in Houston. I’m not going to put a whole lot of stock into that. I’m going to look back at how he played in 2008. He has made some huge strides. Now when I add that to the fact that Seve Ballesteros, who in so many ways is the father of either European Golf or certainly golf in Spain, is battling brain cancer, and he is going to be very much missed by everyone this week in Augusta from the Champions Dinner right on down to the tournament competition. If Sergio somehow can tap in and channel his thoughts about trying to win a Green Jacket for Seve Ballesteros, I think he has a good chance of winning this tournament. My other dark horse is Greg Norman. [I] do not want to put too much pressure on Greg. He’s 54-years-old. He almost won the Open Championship last summer. He’s always had the great ability to play Augusta well. I heard him interviewed yesterday (Sunday) saying that his ability to hit it long would make it difficult for him to win here. But I don’t think he’d have to hit it as long as Greg was saying to win. Some of the recent winners, Zach Johnson, Trevor Immelman were not regarded as long ball hitters. If Greg comes in here sharp, who knows? Wouldn’t that be exciting?
(On Tiger Woods’ dramatic win at Bay Hill adding to excitement of Masters)
FALDO: I can imagine every single day since the U.S. Open, since the operation, that this was his number one goal – get fully prepared for AugustaTiger and have a chance. I’m sure he’s been in one way fortunate enough to be able to take that amount of time out and really heal it absolutely 100%, rather than some guys who get caught trying to come out too early for whatever reasons. But prepared it completely, re-built his game and his swing is slightly different. I should think that the win is what every player wants to know that he can still perform on a Sunday afternoon when it’s really needed. I should think that he feels everything is slotted into place ready for this Masters.
NANTZ: I think it was the ultimate reminder to every other player in the world that he’s back. It only took three tournaments to do it. I don’t know how Tiger, and Jack Nicklaus before him, had the uncanny ability to hole the big putt on the 72nd green, but did anyone in the world really think he was going to miss that putt when he stood over it at Bay Hill? It will be for Tiger, if he can get the bookends on winning the last major before the surgery and the first one out of it, it will be just another remarkable story to tell about Tiger Woods.
FALDO: Tiger’s pressed himself. That was the first real pressure putt he’s had where, like old Tiger, when he would make it and to think he could still carry on doing it that’s the amazing thing. Eight months off, most guys go a little soft and need a bit of time to get back into it, maybe lose an odd tournament here or there, but not Tiger. He just comes right back in and the situation was there and he took it.
(On what advice he would give to golfers making their Masters debut)
FALDO: Try to take it all in. It’s so easy to be completely in
awe of Augusta National. It’s an amazing place. In hindsight the best advice is to come in early the very first time and spend a bit of quiet time, get yourself acclimatized…get yourself comfortable. It’s a beautiful club. I love the rhythm around the clubhouse – how you walk out the clubhouse, across to the range, then across Magnolia Lane, then you do your chipping round the back onto the putting green, then off you go. So that’s what the golfer is really concerned about, then off they go and just play the golf course. Just getting acclimatized to the golf course. I guess that’s the big and short version of it. The best advice is just to spend time there, get acclimatized, take it all in, and breathe while you’re doing it.
(On Greg Norman at Augusta)
FALDO: Greg’s career has been well documented and obviously what happened here at Augusta has been well documented. A lot of people would say he proved he had the game to maybe win at Augusta, but the Gods, the golfing Gods, were against him here.
You can hope to get your long game into good shape, but it’s the short game at Augusta that is so premium. You have got to be at it every single day like the Tour players are. You have got to have amazing touch, amazing nerve here. It really does test your nerve on your chip shots and bunker shots, to pull the shots off. You need tournament sharpness as well. The short game could be the part that could bite him.
(On what it takes to play with Tiger and stare him down to beat him on a Sunday)
FALDO: A good pair of eyes. This is the whole point. Tiger has been and plays in Tiger’s world, Tiger’s circus literally every single day he steps onto the golf course. And for players to come in to his arena and have to perform against him, it’s a bit like Palmer would have that effect. Nicklaus had that effect as well. I’m sure Hogan had that effect on players. But Tiger definitely has that effect on players. They are unable to really be themselves. You are so conscious of what he is doing or what he is not doing and the media is around you. Suddenly there are 50 cameras following you rather than two or three…You’d like to get in there to feel it because if you want to beat Tiger, you’ve got to be comfortable getting into his world and then staring him down.
(On what he would’ve done in his prime playing against Tiger)
FALDO: I had a wonderful quality of being able to just put my blinkers on and become completely engrossed in what I was doing…I had the ability to get completely engrossed and do my own thing and be able to control my own emotions. So, I would have liked to have had a go at him in my era. Bring him back to my era please with a persimmon driver and a wound, liquid-center golf ball. Then we could find out. It might be slightly different.
(On his chances playing in his prime against Tiger)
FALDO: Certain courses, again we can’t compare because we are almost 15 years apart. Equipment has made a massive difference. But you know, look at my 18-under at St. Andrews, which he had to hole a six-footer to beat me to get to 19-under. That shows you that 10 years there has been a massive difference in the equipment. I think on a links course, horses for courses, I would have fancied my chances here and there.
The Masters is already streaming online at CBSSports.com and Masters.com.
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