Golf Central

On this day in 1893, a small but tough man who would become one of golf's toughest administrators and one of the founders of Augusta National, Clifford Roberts, was born in Morning Sun, Iowa.

Roberts grew into a wizard on Wall Street and having made his fortunes in finance before the Great Depression, helped the golf legend Bobby Jones select the property which is now Augusta. Along with Jones, who served as "the good cop" to Roberts' "bad cop", they built the great golf club into what it is now, and personally handled the invitations for their landmark event: the annual Masters tournament ...

Talk about a scorched-earth policy ...: Yes, it's difficult to really burn it up when the course is so wet, but that's exactly what Nick Dougherty did.
How good was it, then?: Unbelievable, really. They were using preferred lies because of the conditions, but a 62 is still strafing anyway. Our Nick had his best round of his European Tour career, with 10 birdies in his first 13 holes. Seven of those birdies were in a row.
He must have been thinking about 59 ...: He sure was. Three birdies in the last five holes wouldn't have been a big ask, but Nick came away with five closing pars. Still, he'll be happy with the score and the lead.
It would have been the only 59 in European Tour history ...: Yep. It would have counted as a competitive record, but unfortunately Nick won't get the official course record because of the preferred lies.
I imagine he'll take a victory if he can get it though ...: Absolutely. Nick's keen to live up to his reputation as Europe's best and brightest, and the best way to get hot before his first Masters would be to win his third pro title.
What are the odds of that?: History is not a guide. Arjun Atwal posted the lowest 18-hole, 36-hole, 54-hole and total scores when he won this event at 24-under in 2003, but Dougherty's not Arjun Atwal. He's said he prefers chasing to defending a big lead.
Who's he going to try to hold off?: His best mate, fellow Englishman and Asia veteran Simon Dyson, fired 8-under to sit two shots back of Nick along with Aussie Marcus Fraser, and four guys are at 7-under including Argentina's Daniel Vancsik and Denmark's Søren Kjeldsen. But they're gonna have to stay hot to catch our Scouser ...
Speaking of hot, have you tried that "Evil Jungle Prince" curry yet?: That's about the only thing hotter around here than Nick Dougherty ...

We've been waiting, and waiting and waiting ... for Tiger Woods to take a stand on something. So, the Big Cat has tackled slow play. Hip-hip-hooray! But will it make a difference? Well, Y.E. Yang and Ben Hogan are different stories ... and so are Taichiro Kiyota, Mark Calcavecchia and Ernie Els. Why, you ask? ... Read on, our faithful legions of "Rusties", for we shall learn together for yet another week ...