If you can't make it to Augusta, Ga., for the Masters, the next best thing is watching the coverage in HD. Settle in with a snack (Chex Mix) and an Arnold Palmer (lemonade & iced tea mixed) for coverage carried this year on ESPN (Round 2 from 3-6:30 p.m. with a replay at 7 p.m.
NOTES FROM ROUND ONE
What are the chances? What kind of odds do you think you could have gotten if you called that Chad Campbell would be off to the BEST START IN THE HISTORY OF THE MASTERS. That's correct, in all of it's 73 editions, no one, not Bobby Jones, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Jimmy Demaret, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus or even Tiger Woods has ever began a Masters with five, count 'em five, straight birdies to open the tournament. Chad Campbell, enjoy the moment.
Leaderboard: Campbell finished the day atop the leaderboard at 7-under par 65 by tossing in nine birdies against two bogeys. The round could have been even better as the birdie runs were on holes 1-5 and then 12-15, but the round ended with consectutive bogeys on Nos. 17 and 18.
Mike Check: Mike Tirico comes on the ESPN broadcast and is the only voice you hear for the first 12 minutes. He does the open, the welcome, the highlights, some play-by-play calls, it's all Mike all the time, at least for the first 12 minutes.
When Tirico finally gives way (maybe he needed to take a breath or a sip of water) he introduced the CBS cast that will be involved in the daily broadcast and threw it to David Feherty, who immediately cold shanked it.
Feherty calls an Aaron Baddeley shot, except that he identifies Baddeley as Adam Scott, then snorts and corrects himself.
Tailor Made? How could the powers that be at Nike, his hot Swedish bikini model wife, his children, dogs and caddie Stevie "George Best" Williams let Tiger on to the range, much less the first tee, in an outfit that can only be charitibly called "Ugly"?
Wood wore a Black shirt with what appears to be a thin purple stripe running horizontially through it every four inches or so and powder blue sleeve caps. All this with a pair of black pants that aren't in the same hue (ain't HD wonderful?).
Doug Sanders, in this get up, he is not.
Early surprises: Larry Mize, who is 50, shot a 5-under par 67 that left him tied for fourth at the end of day one. The 1987 Masters winner had 6 birdies and a bogey while hitting 12 of 14 fairways, 11 of 18 greens and only 24 putts.
More surprises: Greg Norman finished the day tied for 20th after a first round 2-under par 70 that could have easily been much, much better. Norman had a tough day early trying to figure out the greens and couldn't get much to drop until a birdie 2 on the par-3 sixth hole. The Great White Shark posted three birdies and a bogey to get off to a solid if not spectacular first round.
Tradition: One of the things that makes the Masters unique (same venue year after year, Pimento Cheese sandwiches, "patrons" instead of "fans", etc.) is that the powers that be recognize the importance of traditon.
Arnold Palmer strode to the first tee in the early morning light to open up the season's first major with a ceremonial drive. The charasmatic Palmer, with his four career Masters victories, is and will always be a crowd favorite.
After driving it down the first fairway, Palmer gave it a little punch in the air for emphasis and the first tee let out the first of many roars that would be heard throughout the day at Augusta National.
Speaking of... What's with Harry Connick, Jr., of all people waxing poetic about The Masters in a narration piece. It's not that I don't like Connick, I thought he was fine as Debra Messing's husband on "Will & Grace," where he was neither Will nor Grace.
And the text of the piece was fine, but with all the history and tradition that the season's first major has to offer in its 73rd incarnation, why not have a collection of former winners handle the narration.
I personally would rather hear the words about how wonderful the event is from the champions that made this event what it is. Next: Hunter Mahan and Jim Furyk are tied for second with each posting 6-under par 66s. Mahan had it going early with birdies on Nos. 2, 6, 7, 8 & 10 before a double bogey at No. 11 temporarily derailed the momentum. Mahan then went on another birdie binge with red numbers at 13, 14, 15, and 16 before polishing off the round with a bogey at 18. Furyk's scorecard was clean with a 6 birdie no bogey performance. Furyk hit all 18 greens in regulation but took 30 putts on the day.
There are 38 players under par after round one and 50 players at even or better.
3 Par: Tim Clark, winner of the Par 3 contest on Wednesday, is T-6 after a 4-under par 68. As noted historically, since the Par 3 contest was instituted in 1960 no player has won the Par 3 contest and the Tournament Proper in the same year.
ID's, please: Other names of note on the leaderboard. Padraig Harrington's quest for the Paddy Slam began with a 3-under par 69. The winner of the last two majors sits in a tie for 14th heading into round two. Tiger Woods is in a large group tied for 20th after round one. Woods posted a two-under par 70 which was marred by an indifferent putter. There were several rolls of the flatstick that could have easily gone down and given the Striped One his first sub-60 first round EVER at Augusta National. Also in at 2-under par 70, Greg Norman, Lee Westwood, Nick Watney, Zach Johnson, Prayad Marksaeng, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Lee Westwood.
Cheesehead: Steve Stricker shot an even par 72 and is tied for 39th. Strick had three birdies a bogey and a double in round one.
Back to the 80s: Michael Campbell was the only player in the field to post an 80 on the day. Campbell who has been battling back and shoulder injuries all season didn't card a birdie in his eight bogey round.
On a day ripe for scoring (light winds, accessible hole locations, warm temps) some of the more surprising names over par included: Phil Mickelson at 1-over par 73. The world's number two ranked player carded two birdies and three bogeys in round one. Also at 1-over 73, Camillo Villegas whose scorecard featured just five pars to go along with six birdies and seven bogeys.
Wow! Sergio Garcia was also at +1 with three birdies and four bogeys on his card for the day. Fred Couples had five birdies and six bogeys in his 1-over par 73. Japanese teen sensation Ryo Ishikawa also had five birdies and six bogeys in his +1 73. New Zealand amateur Danny Lee double No. 9, bogeyed No. 10 and birdied No. 17 in his round of +2 74. Justin Leonard's +3 75 featured two bogeys, a double and a birdie. Retief Goosen's +3 75 included two birdies and five bogeys. Ernie Els had two birdies and five bogeys in his +3 75 after one round.
So with round one in the books, Tiger, though not at the top of the leaderboard is still in play and while he piped his driver on a number of occasions, his putter let him down most of the day.
* At 7:00 a.m. Central time on Tee #1, Larry Mize, John Merrick and Drew Kittleson will get day number two of The Masters underway.
* Steve Stricker goes off at 8:28 a.m. Central time with Ben Crenshaw and Paul Casey.
* Round One Leader Chad Campbell goes off at 8:17 a.m. with Andres Romero and Boo Weekley.
* Tiger Woods goes off at 9:45 a.m. Central time with Stewart Cink and Jeev Milka Singh.
This reminder, "Garbedian on Golf" comes to you LIVE from Milwaukee and Augusta National as we'll be joined by Gary D'Amato of the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, Mike Buteau from Bloomberg News, Gary Van Sickle from Sports Illustrated and Jaime Diaz from Golf Digest. "Garbedian on Golf" from 7-9 a.m. every Sunday morning on 540 AM ESPN Wisconsin and www.espnwisconsin.com
