Cink Sinks one In
Tiger Makes Cut
By Mark Hakpern
Well, the 2022 PGA Masters has two rounds down and two rounds to go the herd has significantly been thinned, and many big-time players missed the cut. Augusta is known for its weather, and on days 1&2, Mother Nature showed her slip a little by producing rainy and windy weather.
The first round went by quickly, even though the average round took over 28 minutes longer than it should. There was no absolute dominator in this round as most of the field played very safe. The par 3 fourth hole gave the most trouble first round, causing several players to take bogey or even worse on this straightforward par 3. Joaquin Neiman had the shot of the first round with his eagle on the 9th hole. I have seen balls land on the green and spin forward, backward, bounce, and stick, but his role was unreal. The ball landed about 5 yards past the pin, and when it landed, it had such a backspin that it rolled up the slope and curved it in for a beautiful eagle. Tiger had a nice round but was a shell of himself but did finish -1 on the day.
However, the player of the day was Sun Jay Im as he played a great back 9 to finish at an event leading -5. At this point, Ross and I figured the cut would be around +3 for the next day.
Round 2 was quite entertaining, with the winds gusting between 25-30mph. The field of players would be thinned due to the cut, but some players didn’t make the cut that they should have. This is a select list because I can’t name them all, but Xander Schauffele, Zach Johnson, Cameron Young (one of my top 5 to break top 20, too), Jordan Speith, and Justin Rose all missed the cut at +4. Every player on the course was taking blows. Tiger was at a horrible +4 but fought back, and his experience is what helped him get there. He knows this course and has played in worse weather. An interesting fact is that Tiger beat 12 of the top 20 players in the world in just two rounds. It just shows you how the weather can ruin the day.
Now one player who didn’t make the cut was Stuart Cink, but he sank the shot of the day. On the 16th hole, Stuart was already closing in on not making the cut, but he didn’t let that get to him. The 16th hole is a short par three, but if you’re right of the slope on the green, you can run right off onto the fringe. So Cink hit a beauty to the left side of the green and landed it just a the point where the green slopes. The ball had enough momentum to slowly roll down the slope and then picked up some speed and found its way home. Cink was thrilled but not as much as his caddy, who happened to be his son. Cink didn’t care that he wasn’t making the cut cause now he was a pure part of Masters history.
The wind made it hard for everyone, but one golfer Scottie Scheffler didn’t care about the weather. He had a look in his eyes that he would take risks and go for it as he knew what Saturday would bring. Scheffler sits at the top of the leaderboard at -8, a good 5 strokes ahead of the next person. However, this means nothing because the weather is changing and it is going to be a beautiful day. Scheffler will have to play near-perfect cause on a day like this Tiger, Im, Johnson, and even Matsuyama will have great chances playing in near-perfect weather.
I expect an exhilarating round 3 today as we will see the best-played round of the tournament today.
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