The Masters

[Matt Dillon]

DeChambeau and Koepka are tied at the end of one. A host of players shot under par.

[surveyor]

Tiger was at -3 14 thru 16, then bogied 17 and finished -2. Putting won't allow him to win, much less continue to stay close.

[Matt Dillon]

Molinari, Day, Koepka, Scott and Oosthuizen all tied for the lead at seven under. Tiger is one back.

[Matt Dillon]

Molinari takes a two stroke lead over Tony Finau and Tiger going into tomorrow's final round.

[Blue Heaven]

I am not a big golf fan but that was awesome! I love redemption stories. Tiger looked like a cool customer out there and I am glad he won.

[KCKUKFan]

My all-time favorite athlete completes what might be the all-time greatest comeback story.

THE GOAT.

[Joneslab]

Has to be one of the greatest sports moments of recent years.

Amazingly, Tiger still has a chance to surpass Nicklaus's major win total. I had to Google this but it looks like Nicklaus was 46 when he won his last major. Tiger is obviously a freakazoid athletically compared to anybody who came before him, so he could theoretically go until 50 unless his health troubles catch up to him again.

So it's not outside the realm of possibility. You know the PGA would love to see it. Tiger draws viewers like no athlete who's ever stepped on a playing field.

[Matt Dillon]

I like Tiger. He's my third favorite golfer behind Phil and Rickie Fowler, and what he did, yesterday, is nothing short of amazing. Having said that, I'm not ready to anoint him as the GOAT. There have been some amazing golfers who have accomplished some amazing things down through the history of golf. As I've said, before, with bb and fb or any sport, I don't put much stock in the GOAT thing. Records are the yardstick used to determine an athlete or a team's greatness and there are factors, that affect those records, which seem to receive little if any attention. For example, when Roger Maris broke Ruth's home run record, he did it in a season which was longer than Ruth's. Golf clubs, and balls, are so much improved over the ones used by past greats such as Hogan, Snead and Palmer it makes one wonder how they would of done if they had been using today's equipment.

[Joneslab]

I don't know a lot about golf and never watched it before Tiger, but it did look like Tiger was going to be the greatest by a large margin...

...and then the scandals hit. And the injuries.

So now it's a lot more murky. Without the lead in all-time majors I'm not sure how you can call him the GOAT. You have to start putting "If only he hadn't" type phrases in your argument.

He is definitely the most unique athlete to ever compete in any sport IMO.

[Dwight Schrute]

Yesterday was amazing. Around the 8th or 9th I thought he was probably going to come up short again - Molinari wasn't playing great but he was doing enough to save par and just not moving off -13.

Then he hit it in the water at Amen Corner and it all went to pot. Just definitely one of the best final rounds of golf that I've ever seen. There were so many good players on that leaderboard on the back 9...I don't know how you can ask for any thing better. The Masters is my favorite sporting event out of the college championship events. Augusta looks like my paradise.

[surveyor]

That was without a doubt the best Masters' moment ever. Tiger struggled a bit with putts but stayed ahead of the field after Molinari put it in the water.

There's a few tin-foil hat comments on Golf Digest's FB page that are convinced Molinari's and others' wayward shots on 12 were purposeful so Tiger could win.

I thought Koepka might sneak in there and take it, but he didn't. Kudos to Tiger. Huge moment for him and his family.

On a related note, it was interesting to hear Tiger's answer when Nance asked him what it was like to have his mother and kids there while Reed is sitting next to him and the drama surrounding his estrangement from his own parents, who live just up the road.

[Dwight Schrute]

Golf clubs, and balls, are so much improved over the ones used by past greats such as Hogan, Snead and Palmer it makes one wonder how they would of done if they had been using today's equipment.

This is true, but course design is much different too. The courses have been reconfigured in the last 20 years to account for these differences.

[Dwight Schrute]

That was without a doubt the best Masters' moment ever. Tiger struggled a bit with putts but stayed ahead of the field after Molinari put it in the water.

There's a few tin-foil hat comments on Golf Digest's FB page that are convinced Molinari's and others' wayward shots on 12 were purposeful so Tiger could win.

I thought Koepka might sneak in there and take it, but he didn't. Kudos to Tiger. Huge moment for him and his family.

On a related note, it was interesting to hear Tiger's answer when Nance asked him what it was like to have his mother and kids there while Reed is sitting next to him and the drama surrounding his estrangement from his own parents, who live just up the road.

Koepka was playing great.

if nothing else, the biggest impact Tiger has had on the game is the physical shape these guys are in. Before Tiger came along, you'd be forgiven for confusing car salesmen with a pro golfer. Now, all the best players are physical specimens, and nobody embodies that more than Koepka.

[surveyor]

Yup. Very few took conditioning seriously. Gary Player was the exception to the rule with diet and exercise. Greg Norman was another who took great care of himself.

[KCKUKFan]

The competition in golf today is much better than its ever been; not only are these dudes on the tour today fantastic golfers with the best equipment, they're almost all physical specimens. Certainly more than the field even when Tiger first broke out.

The fact that Tiger can step on the course in his forties and still beat the rest of these prodigies (and after all the injuries/scandals) says all that needs to be said. And if he topples Jack's majors records, then I don't see how there's any debate on the GOAT status.