Time To Prepare For Torrey Pines

We'll be putting together a pool for the U.S. Open being held at Torrey Pines, San Diego, CA from June 9-15. The scoring system will be slightly different, since the U.S. Open is notorious for extreme rough and high scores. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I know that Sopha has played there - so he'll either have to pay extra or give us all strokes ;-)

Hopefully, I'll be playing there later this year, as I plan to visit some old friends who live in the San Diego area this Summer.

Another hopefully. I hope Spring finally gets here and we all get plenty of golf in this year. If anyone is ever looking for playing partners, I'd hope that you'd check with the guys who played in this pool first. As for me, I'm available almost anytime, provided I have at least 2 hours notice ;-)

All the best,

~ Max

Wind, Sunday Pins & Pressure

The pressure for the final round at The Masters must be intense. Only four golfers managed to shoot in red figures; Jiminez -4, Slocum -3, Appleby and Watney -1. Nobody made a serious charge up the Leader Board, both on the course and in our pool. See the final spreadsheet here.

Scott Steinlauf takes 1st place with a total of 66. Bob, Jim and Jeff also win a little $. I wish it had been more money guys; help me get a larger pool for the U.S. Open.

I know the rules allow for me to play a free entry for running the pool - but with only 12 entries, I can't do that. So the payout will be:

1st - $156.00

2nd - $ 48.00

3rd - $ 24.00

4th - $ 12.00

Thanks for playing. I hope you enjoyed it.

~ Max

Very Little Red

The wind has picked up at Augusta and scoring is becoming very difficult. Right now there are only a handful of golfers in red figures. Tevor Immelman continues to lead Snedeker by 3 shots.

The next post I do will have the final scores for our pool. I'm stepping out for the rest of the afternoon.

Good luck!

~ Max

Immelman and Snedeker Birdie 18

Neither Immelman nor Snedeker showed signs of pressure affecting their rounds. While they each stumbled on a couple of holes, they managed to muster the determination to finish strong. Immelman will try to post a wire-to-wire victory tomorrow.

Scott, Jim, Bob and Jeff are atop our Leader Board, but things could change quickly tomorrow. Nine golfers are tied at 2-under par, one would have to think there will be some low scores from that group. For the final round, each shot under par will garner 4 points. Full spreadsheet is here.

~ Max

Moving Day Update

Tiger made a move today. I think everyone expected it. The question is, will it be enough? Oh, wait...who cares?

Scott is still leading our contest, but Jeff has moved into 2nd place with two of his players, Boo and Zach, each shooting 4-under today.

There are currently 4 of our picks under par still on the course, Immelman, Casey, Cink and Goosen. Everyone else has either finished, or are currently even or over par.

~ Max

Who's Watching Who?

Go ahead and cheer for your favorite player(s) while you are watching The 2008 Masters Tournament today and tomorrow. But if Ogilvy, Goosen, Mickelson or Singh do well, so does most of your competition. You probably want to cheer for the player on your team, that is unique to you (Um, I don't have one of those, so I'll just be cheering for JB Holmes to shoot lights out; and maybe I'll come in 2nd place ;)

Do you have a player on your team that nobody else has (Sopha has two!)? If he shoots well, it'll be good for you, and no one else. There are 8 golfers who are on only one team, so that's who you should be rooting for this weekend.

~ Max

Round 3 Pairings

It looks like the leaders will have some weather to deal with on Saturday. The third round is commonly known as Moving Day, so expect things to tighten up. The guys who tee off early, look to have an advantage because it's projected to get windy and wet in the afternoon.

Here are the pairings and tee times for Round 3.

~ Max

Quiz Challenge

Who was the last eventual champion to be outside the top 10 after 36 holes? Name the player and the year.

The first person to post the correct answer in the comments will win a 2-for-1 entry in the next pool I run. It will most likely be for the U.S. Open, unless something comes up before that.

~ Max

P.S. - I'd really like to hear any feedback on this pool. How am I doing? How can we grow this thing to be 50-100 entries next year?

Hold That Cut Line Steady

The cut line moved from 3-over to 4-over and back to 3-over this afternoon. As I suspected, 3-over would be needed in order to make the cut. Congrats to Scott, Drew and Bob - all three had 7 players make the cut and are ready to score points over the weekend.

On a personal note (and a note that describes the core belief of golf, and what separates golf from nearly every other sport). I really thought I'd have the only Amateur to make the cut. Michael Thompson was riding the cut-line the entire round, and was ready to putt for birdie on 15 (it was about a 5 footer). Just as he grounded his club, his ball moved - it took several replays before the announcers could determine that it did, in fact move. He called a penalty on himself. Obviously a little shaken up, he pushed the putt, and what had originally looked like a birdie turned to bogie. He didn't make the cut. Amateurs playing on the weekend these days are rare; honesty and integrity in the game of golf are common. I love this game!

I've uploaded the latest spreadsheet and the Leader Board is on the left side of this post. The scoring takes into account 3 points for making the cut. Remember that in Round 3, the points double (so if your player shoots 2-under, you get 4 points) and in Round 4, the points quadruple (so if your player shoots 2-under, you get 8 points). It's not over! And, if your player wins, you get an additional 8 points.

Have a great weekend.

~Max

The Field is Backing Up

Now the projected cut is 4-over par. Phil Mickelson shot a 4-under 68.

Scott Steinlauf is our leader with 28 points so far, but we still have about 22 players on the course. I've updated the complete spreadsheet and posted the Leader Board on the left, this is as of 3:10 Chicago time.

It's shaping up to be an exciting weekend. And, with Tiger struggling, it might truly be "Tigerless".

~ Max

3 Over Par Should Be The Cut

Trevor Immelman fired another 4-under 68 for a two-round score of 136, or 8-under par. In addition to the Top 44 and Ties, there is another provision for making the cut - be within 10 shots of the lead after two rounds (one that I failed to mention yesterday). That won't matter now. Not unless a bunch of them currently at 3-over, par drop a shot. There are currently 18 players under par on the course.

The best round of the day so far was registered by Steve Flesch, a bogie free 5-under 67. But none of us picked him ;-)

I'll post a mid-day Leader Board once a few more groups finish.

~ Max

A Better Way To Wager

If you're like me, you have found yourself watching a sporting event either alone or with buddies and you get the feeling, "you just know what's going to happen next".

No other sportsbook does what Tradesports.com does. At Tradesports, you can wager on a LIVE event - that's right, make a wager on the outcome while the game, round, tournament, match, etc. is actually taking place. What is unique, is that you are actually making wagers (trades) with other people, just like you and me, all around the world through a trading interface.

When you trade on Tradesports.com you are pitting your wits against other members of Tradesports. Tradesports provides the platform whereby members can trade between themselves without paying a sportsbook margin or vig. The winning member will receive the profits, the losing member pays the loss.

With no vig, no juice, no artificial spread, Tradesports charges a small transaction charge per lot traded.

Odds/Prices on Tradesports are usually much better than those available elsewhere, as the prices are established by you and other TradeSports members at prices you want to trade.

TradeSports has long-term offers like "who will win the March Madness tournament" and short term offers like "will the Dow close UP today". All major events are covered.

So, if you now think that Tiger (or Trevor, or Ian) will now win The Masters, you still have time to make that wager at Tradesports.com. Oh, and if you think anyone won't win, you can do that too.

There is a great DEMO on the site, it's worth checking out.

~ Max

How Our Picks Fared

The scoring system awards a performance that is better than par. But if you want to know how your players did in relation to the field (and the upcoming cut) I'll post round by round totals. The cut line for The Masters is Top 44 players and ties. After the first round there are 51 golfers that meet that criteria. I've shaded all of our picks who don't currently "make the cut". They will need to pick up strokes on the field if they hope to play on the weekend.

~ Max

(click the image to enlarge it)

Battling Darkness

The players in the final two groups stumbled as they battled darkness in order to get their rounds in and avoid having to finish the first round tomorrow morning. In hindsight, it might have been better to wait till sunrise to finish.

Jim Dwyer is our leader after Round 1.

Eighteen golfers finished Round 1 under par.

Here are the ones we selected in our pool and the points they earned:

J. Rose - 4 (no relation, btw)

T. Immelman - 4

L. Westwood -3

Z. Johnson - 2

J. Furyk - 2

R. Goosen - 1

P. Mickelson - 1

P. Casey - 1

The final tally for Round 1 has been calculated and the leaderboard is to the left. Tomorrow, I'll be watching and posting for golfers missing / making the cut.

Good luck!

~Max

Rose, Immelman in at 4 Under

We still have several players on the course, 5 of them are currently under par. Remember the scoring system - 1 point for Rounds 1 & 2 for each shot under par in each round and 3 points for each golfer who makes the cut. The Masters cut line is Top 44 and ties.

This is the score for finished golfers as of 5:30.

~ Max

Midway Through Round 1

Click here to get see the spreadsheet with every one's teams.

I'll update this link routinely througout the Masters Tournament so I suggest you save it to your favorites so that you'll be able to find it easily. I'll also post it on the right side of the blog and title it, Click Here For Updates.

Thanks,
~ Max

Not Much Scoring So Far

Here's our Leader Board as of 4:00, Chicago time on Thursday.

Zach Johnson is in the clubhouse at -2. All of the other finished players in our pool are Even or over par.

~ Max

Best Way To Track Your Players

I believe I've found the best online tool for tracking your players. Go to the Masters.org site and click the link for FULL LEADERBOARD, you'll find it on the left hand side of the main page. A new window will open that is about 1/4 the size of a full screen, here you can see the entire leaderboard as well as select your own custom list as I've done here for my team.

Just click the button next to the SELECT VIEW arrow and choose, SETUP / EDIT CUSTOM PLAYER LIST. Now you can just click on each of your players and keep track of your entire team with a quick glance.

Ian Poulter had an Ace on 16 and is in the clubhouse with the lead at -2.

~ Max

12 Teams

Maybe we should have called this the "Ogilvyless" Masters Pool. Out of 12 entries (I know, lame right? - will get a better turn out for the next one hopefully - Thanks to everyone for playing though!) 10 of us picked Geoff Ogilvy.

Here are all the teams. Click Here to see the large image.



I'll upload the complete spreadsheet a little later and you'll be able to download or view it for scoring updates. Unfortunately, it won't be live, but I'll update as often as possible. Check out the links over on the right to stay up-to-date on all things "Masters".

Good Luck!

`Max

Entries Are In

The entries have been submitted and I'll be working on getting the teams posted. They should be posted for your viewing pleasure by noon, Chicago time.

If you are sitting in the office and wish you could be watching The Masters, you can. You can watch live broadcast of Amen Corner right from your internet connected computer.

Today's schedule is:
Amen Corner Live
11:30 am - 6:30 pm ET
15 and 16
12:30 pm - 7:30 pm ET
Masters Extra
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm ET

Friday (4/11):
Amen Corner Live
10:45 am - 6:00 pm ET
15 and 16
11:45 am - 6:00 pm ET
Masters Extra
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm ET

Good luck and thanks for playing.
~ Max

Entries Due By 7:00 AM, Thursday

If you haven't done it yet, get your blank form here (or click the link on the right). Save it to your computer (it's an Excel spreadsheet). Fill it out with the dropdowns, save it again and then email it to me at max_rose@sbcglobal.net You can pay using Paypal, or send a check (scroll down to find the rules and the mailing address).

I'll be at the Beacon in Forest Park later this evening if you want to leave your entry fee there.

Max

What Club?

A golfer took his tee shot and watched the ball sail into the woods. His next shot went into a few trees. He tried again and managed to hit the ball over the fairway and into more trees.
Finally, after several more shots, he ended up in a sand trap.

Throughout his ordeal, he was under the watchful eye of the local golf pro.

“What club should I use on this shot?” he asked the pro.

“I don’t know,” the pro replied. “What game are you playing?”

;-)

Paying With PayPal

A few people have asked if they can pay using PayPal. I have no problem with this, as long as it's from a PayPal checking /debit account - don't use a credit card because then there are fees attached and a person is limited to receiving 5 of those every 12 months (unless you become a merchant with PayPal, which I don't plan on doing).

So, if you want to use PayPal, send the entry fee to max_rose@sbcglobal.net and send me your entry sheet via email.

I'm PayPal Verified


It should be an exciting Masters! The course is soft, so expect a lot of birdies.

~ Max

Entry Form Has Been Sent

If you haven't received an entry form (Excel spreadsheet), just click this link and you can download and save one to your computer. Once you've filled it out, email the completed form back to me at max_rose @ sbcglobal dot net (without the spaces and using an actual dot ".")

*Important Note* You must first save the spreadsheet to your computer before you'll be allowed to make your selections using the dropdowns.

As soon as all of the entries are in, I will post every one's teams here and will keep updating this site with daily scoring changes. If for some reason you can't reach me, either by phone or email, you can leave a comment on this blog and I'll get back to you.

Best of luck.

~ Max

Rules:

Entries must be in by Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 7:00 AM.
Email sheets to Max Rose, handwritten picks will not be accepted, everyone must use this form.
This is the "Tigerless" Masters Tournament Pool, so Tiger Woods' scores will not affect the outcome of our contest.

How To Complete An Entry Form:

Select a team of 8 players from The Masters Field (listed on the left). Your team must be made up of players based upon the following criteria: (Rankings from March 31 were used).
- 2 different players from Group A ( World Ranking 2-10)
- 2 different players from Group B ( World Ranking 11-25)
- 3 different players from Group C ( Rest of the field)
- 1 player from Group D (Amateurs)

Scoring:

For each player on your team the following points are awarded for each stroke under par based on their score for that days round:

Round 1 - 1 Point

Round 2 - 1 Point

Round 3 - 2 Points

Round 4 - 4 Points

3 Bonus Points will be awarded to each player making the cut.

8 Bonus Points will be awarded to the actual winner of the Tournament (if Tiger wins, nobody will be awarded these bonus points).

Ties: Ties will be broken based on the entry with the most players who make the cut; if still tie, the shares effected will be split.

Scoring Updates: I will be posting scoring updates on this blog, http://2008tigerless.blogspot.com/ . Please be sure to include your phone number and e-mail address on your entry form to be updated.

SPECIAL NOTES:
1. Multiple entries are welcome.
2. Your picks are not officially entered into the pool until we receive your entry fee. Entry fee must be received or postmarked by Wednesday, April 9th.
3. Payment can be cash or check. Check must be made out to "CASH". Any checks made out to "The Administrator" will not be accepted and your entry not activated in the pool.
4. Include a copy of your entry sheet with your payment.
5. Entries will be turned off if we do not receive your entry fee in time. Yes even if you are in the money. So send your entry fee to us before the tournament starts.
6. Deadlines are firm!! (If you know me, feel free to call me if you are having a problem, I may let you slide for a day :)
7. The Administrator will play one entry for free.
8. Mailing Address for The Administrator:
Max Rose, 627 Forest Ave., River Forest, IL, 60305
Email Address: max_rose@sbcglobal.net
Void where prohibited.