so much easier said than done Timm.

The tour is full of 1 and 2 time "FLUKE" major winners.

No doubt...we could chalk it up to 'right place,right time'...I'm just saying that when it was time for him to fade this week..Zach didn't. Hopefully he's moving into that maturity of his game where he'll be able to challenge the leaders more often and post some wins.

My 2 cents

This weekend, many players went out and played Augusta. The player versus the course. Today, Zach beat the course better then any other player over the course of 4 days and has earned his green jacket. He did not beat Tiger Woods, or any other golfer but rather put up a better number.

Golf, in my eyes, is not about who you are playing against in tourney situations like this (of course other tourneys have different scoring scenarios, see The Ryder Cup, etc). It is about the man versus the course.

Those players that let others scores affect their play will not be successful in my opinion.

Once again, props Zach. You are not a fluke in this mans eyes. Top 40 in the money since you turned pro, 1 tour win already previous this Major, and many more victories quite possibly in the horizon. Lets hope that you and yours enjoy the moment and not get caught up in the "hype" that people will throw your way trying to play the "one and done" game.

My cousin won a major, then came back and has scored some nice checks after his win. He surely is not a "one and done" and for those that think that way I challenge their opinion. Zach surely has earned his place as a Major champion and is due all the credit in the world today.

After all, YOU withstood the pressure and made the shots that counted on Sunday at Augusta.

Congrats to Zach! He lives a couple of miles from me. :cool:

Well it was back to the Masters we all love today....Kev you were right on the money saying they would water the bejesus out of it and it would be a different course. I couldn't figure out what Tiger was doing on 15 either...that was a normal fade shot, get it on the green and leave with a birdie. Now he came up huge with the save but I still don't know why he would try that big of a shot. I was really pulling for Appleby. The only thing I see Johnson doing in the future is playing a $10 Nassau with Curtis, Micheel, and let's see....Paul Lawrie maybe.....I would say Beem, but he would probably stand them up.

So he is now saying that she ran and came back lame....on her way to Rood and Riddle to see Larry Bramledge as we speak....if that's the case I also now have zero respect for the Matz camp as well.

I looked back at the list of past Masters (just this major) winners and the only flukes I see are Larry Mize and Sandy Lyle (sorry to offend if these players are considered deserving). Everyone else on the list had or has had very good careers in my estimation. I hope it continues with this young man as he seems very deserving from a personal point of view. I wont put a view out on Weir because he is still in service. This seems like a hell of a good group. Better than the other majors I would venture.

2007 - Zach Johnson
2006 - Phil Mickelson
2005 - Tiger Woods
2004 - Phil Mickelson
2003 - Mike Weir
2002 - Tiger Woods
2001 - Tiger Woods
2000 - Vijay Singh
1999 - Jose Maria Olazabal
1998 - Mark O'Meara
1997 - Tiger Woods
1996 - Nick Faldo
1995 - Ben Crenshaw
1994 - Jose Maria Olazabal
1993 - Bernhard Langer
1992 - Fred Couples
1991 - Ian Woosnam
1990 - Nick Faldo
1989 - Nick Faldo
1988 - Sandy Lyle
1987 - Larry Mize
1986 - Jack Nicklaus
1985 - Bernhard Langer
1984 - Ben Crenshaw
1983 - Seve Ballesteros
1982 - Craig Stadler
1981 - Tom Watson
1980 - Seve Ballesteros
1979 - Fuzzy Zoeller
1978 - Gary Player
1977 - Tom Watson
1976 - Ray Floyd
1975 - Jack Nicklaus
1974 - Gary Player

Larry Mize - yes - nice for the local boy. Probably did it in for Norman.

Lyle - NO!

Pat....very few "fluke" winners at Augusta. IMO...Sandy Lyle's win was far from a fluke. He was one of the best players in the world in the mid-late 80's. I really hope that Zachs win turns out NOT to be a fluke....but only he can control that. I sincerely hope he uses this as a stepping stone to a very promising career.

Crenshaw's 1995 win was flukish, he had a little help from above (Harvey Penick).

On another note, did you happen to catch, on one of Tiger's tee shots, some dope screamed out "You da Man", and one of the announcers responded "We Don't Do That Here!" Nothing like the forced reverence of the Masters.

You never know which way Zach Johnson will go from here...

Minnesotans have seen a fluke major winner first-hand when Rich Beem won the PGA Championship at Hazeltene. At the time though, it seemed like he was on his way to stringing together a lot of wins for years to come. It actually turns out that he hit a brick wall (probably bought into his own hype after that...which Johnson needs to be careful of). Going into the PGA, he was playing really well. He had won a tourney and had another Top-5 going into it, or maybe it was even 2 tour wins going into it. And he capped that hot streak with a major win... and disappeared afterwards.

So hopefully Zack Johnson will have a better run than Rich Beem, Ben Crane, David Duval (yes... David Duval), Shaun Micheel, Paul Lawrie, etc etc etc

None of the guys on the list may be a fluke, but looking back at their careers I would put Lyle below the rest of the Euros. Maybe I did not watch enough international tournaments. What foreign player on that list would you put below Lyle career wise? What US player would you put below Lyle career wise? Stadler?

Stadler....Mize...Fuzzy to name 3.

Kev, this has been bothering me for a long time, when Fuzzy made his infamous remarks regarding Tiger, I noticed he had a drink in his hand, and it probably wasn't a diet Coke... No one has ever mentioned the possibility that he was "impaired" when he made those statements..

Fuzzy never met a highball he didn't like...

Here's another thing that bothers me, and is the reason why I end up taking a nap most of the time when watching golf on TV, is there anything less interesting than watching someone prepare to putt (reading the green, etc...). I love golf as much as anyone, but this I can't take.

filling time more than anything. I hate it soley for the reason that every hack that cant play a lick sees these guys on TV do it....so they think they have to do it when they are out playing. When in reality....Helen Keller could read greens better than most golfers...:D

THAT is somehow comforting to me......

Hence the main reason for 5+ hour rounds at every golf course around the world.

If I had $5 for every guy that comes in my store and tells me he is hitting it 310 yards of the tee....I would be a rich man. And what is REAL FUN is when I put them on the Launch Moniter in my fitting room....and proceed to tell them after hitting 10 balls that their average carry distance with the driver is 228 yards.


"That machined has to be off..."


yeah...sure it is buddy.

"Drive for show...Putt for Dough"......I couldn't line-up a putt with Klieg lights!

Golfers don't lie;)

only when their mouth is moving....

Funny as hell when I tell people I am a 14 or so handicap. What? Man, I have been a 5 handicap for 2 decades. Then, said 5 handicap golfer hits a 100 yard slice into a tree on the first tee, slams his club into the ground and blames some noise.

I love it. Love the game so much man, really do. Oh yeah Kev, if I had a dollar for every time someone told me they hit their drives 300 yards plus every time I would own many Grade 1 T-Breds.

I miss the good old days of 54 holes a day. Now its tough to get in 36.

Last year, I played Blackthorn Golf Club in South Bend, and we're moving good. Back 9, it slows down a little, then bang log jam on 16. None of us can see it from 15, because the 16th is a short Par 3 with multiple tee boxes hidden in the woods. Culprit a ND GOLFER that was recorded to be working on his 6th hour ahead. When told by Marshalls to speed up his play, the kid answered with 'it will mess up my game.'

<smack> <smack> <smack>

.....and these guys boasting are still hitting off the white tees!