Trip report: The Masters Monday Practice round (long)

[thedarknight]

nice trip report

just an addendum, apparently dan harrington is cousins with padraig. if you remember the ESPN WSOP 2003, dan was talking about it.

[Shajen]

tdk:

Yeah, Joey Harrington (Lions QB) is also related, from what I understand.

[WayAbvPar]

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tdk:

Yeah, Joey Harrington (Lions QB) is also related, from what I understand.

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Yep. Looks like Padraig and Dan got all the talent in the family, although I have never seen Joey play poker [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

Great report. I REALLY REALLY want to do this before I shuffle off this mortal coil. Hopefully I will fall ass backwards into the opportunity sometime soon.

Pics plzkthx.

[ChipWrecked]

Great report, Shajen.

An old ATL buddy of mine is the grandson of a member; neither of us golf but he goes to a practice round every year. He worships the place, and as I say, he doesn't even play golf [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[mmbt0ne]

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Is that Raymer in the pink shirt?!

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Must've been!!
linky

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Rocco Mediate's guru isn't much to look at. Leather sandals. White socks. Khaki shorts. Orange shirt. Straw hat. You don't wear this to Augusta National; you wear it to clean your garage.

But here he was Thursday, standing quietly under the outstretched arms of the famed "big oak tree," which was planted here about 150 years ago and now serves as the Masters week gathering place. (By the way, 150 years is about how often a grown man not in a nursing home should wear sandals and white socks in public.)

Anyway, the guru couldn't have been prouder of Mediate's opening round of 4-under 68, which put him in second place, only one stroke behind Vijay Singh. "What'd he miss, three fairways?" said the guru, who walked all 18 holes. "And he missed those by a combined total of about 6 feet. He hit all these great shots. He made a lot of putts on the back. He hit three putts that almost went in before he made his first birdie. You could take those three putts, move each of them a collective total of about 2 inches and he'd be 7 under instead of 4 under."

This is what the guy in the leather sandals and white socks said. Wise words, especially from an 18-handicapper who is actually Mediate's poker guru, not swing guru. This might have been Greg "Fossilman" Raymer's first-ever visit to Augusta National, but already he understands the essence of this tournament: drive for show, putt for dough. Raymer knows about dough. He won $5 million when he outplayed a field of 2,576 entrants in the 2004 World Series of Poker. He won another $304,680 in last year's WSOP, when he finished 25th out of nearly 6,000 entrants. All of sudden, Mediate having to beat 89 other players to win his first major doesn't sound so hard.

...Crap about actual golf...

What are the odds of Mediate winning this thing? About the same for Raymer making GQ's Best Dressed list. Then again, nobody outside the greater Raymer family had heard of the patent attorney until he cashed that $5 million WSOP check.

Raymer and Mediate met last summer at the WSOP in Vegas. Raymer gave him some Hold 'Em tips; Mediate gave him some complimentary Callaways. This past January, Raymer visited Mediate's home in Naples, Fla., and played online poker with him. One time he even subbed for Mediate during an online sit-and-go tournament.

"I lost though," said Raymer, who now lives in Raleigh.

Mediate wants Raymer to widen his stance -- toes in, heel out. Raymer wants Mediate to bogart every player at the table with aggressive, timely betting. It almost worked at the '05 WSOP. Mediate finished 600th. The top 560 got paid.

"That's like missing the cut by one," said Raymer.

Raymer had to bug out after Thursday's round. He needs to get to Pinehurst for a poker seminar, but he'll be monitoring Mediate via CBS.

"I wish I could be here when he wins the green jacket Sunday," said Raymer.

I looked into his eyes. I don't think he was bluffing.

[Shajen]

UGH.

Too many poker analogies.

[CrazyEyez]

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in the leather sandals and white socks

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Say it ain't so, Greg.

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One time he even subbed for Mediate during an online sit-and-go tournament.


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Uh-ohhhhhhh
<move to NVG and commence controversy>