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I love the Masters! Augusta is an absolutely beautiful course. As a weekend hacker, my dream to play there someday lives on. I hope everyone enjoys the golf as well :)
My pick for the week is Phil Mickelson. Look out for the young guns. They are starting to make there mark.
What happened to Freddy last week?

Thanks for all the detals Paul, looking forward to the coverage as ever.

Ah the Masters, even though Sky and Setanta Sports has great golf coverage, ´óÏó´«Ã½ cover the Masters like no other.

my tips: both each way, Retief Goosen and dont look to far away from Justin Leanord, who is playing steady and has the short game for Augusta National

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That annoys me is that it doesnt seem that those american lot are giving us enough coverage, annoys me when we give them truck loads of the Open and we get the pittance of the coverage of the US Masters!
I wish that the Beeb had more control over coverage...having amen corner is good but you dont seem much...but well as you said....its what the american host broadcaster gives you.
I hope Gary as ever keep up his splendid coverage of Golf and congratulations to Hazel and her husband on their new baby...hope Hazel will be back for the Open and back on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sport soon!

@WebbyFoxes - the Masters has always restricted the amount of coverage taht the TV crews show. It's not the US TV Networks, but the management of the event, who want to keep it special by not allowing full 4-day all-day coverage.

It's questionable what they achieve by that though.

Are the ´óÏó´«Ã½ one feed down on the US. You mention Amen corner, but it looks like DirecTV also have cover of Holes 15/16 too in addition to the main network feed.

The "Mystique" of Augusta National is very real and purposely kept that way by the membership and tournament commitee. It took "teeth-pulling" for them to allow ANY type of tournament coverage ( TV or computer ) for the 1st and 2nd round. People tend to forget that Thurs - Fri coverage is less than 7 yrs old except for 15 min late night highlights. Augusta National members have always felt that their INVITATIONAL was the premier golf event of each and every year and wanted to people to yearn for more....they succeeded. IT IS A GEM!! No corporate advertising on site, no merchandise centers, no golf manufacturers trucks for club repair, superb pricing at concession tents, limited TV advertising during show, et al.....the course is the star and ..oh yeah, the golf is pretty good. May I add, I had the distinct pleasure of playing the course 4 years ago as a guest of Hootie Johnson (former chairman of the club). I was his guest following a couple of hospitalizations..and I was one of his care givers.

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watching bbc at moment, peter allis commentating on dustin johnson hitting a great approach to set up an eagle at the 15th. the cameras zoom in as johnson appraises his 6 foot putt only to see him spitting on the hallowed turf. what is that all about. tiger has been captured on screen in the act also. cannot believe the players following johnson might be putting out from his spit mark.

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Yesterday Harrington had the misfortune to be penalised for an act of nature but that is a hazard of the game. During the numerous re-runs of the event this was the approximate comment from the commentators.
" He had addressed the ball but I can't see whether or not he had grounded his club"
My comment is:- "He hasn't addressed his ball UNTIL he has grounded his club!" (for confirmation see the definitions of 'Address' in the ROG.)
If he had not grounded his club there would have been no penalty and is the very reason that Nicklaus NEVER grounded his putter EVER during his career.
A point the seasoned golfing panel failed to grasp.

Re: coverage. I notice on the official site there is "Masters Extra", an extra hour of coverage before the official transmission times. Are the ´óÏó´«Ã½ not allowed to show this via the red button?

What is it about Sam Torrance that he always refers to the British Open.Does he not know it is The Open as the first and longest running one. Get a grip Sam

Excellent coverage at the weekend by the ´óÏó´«Ã½ as ever both on television and radio.

I think Gary Lineker has really settled well into the golf host's role.

It's a shame though that this year there will be less golf than ever on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ with the new European Tour contract kicking in meaning no liver coverage of the first two rounds from the Scottish Open, PGA Championships and British Masters and no tournament to replace the World Matchplay.

The only plus it that highlights will be handy for those at work to catch up on the day's action.

The Masters coverage this year was good, but sadly not great.
The reasons - Shane O'Donoghue's stupid questions - bring back Dougie Donnelly please, and worst, Gary Lineker. Who thought he would be an adequate replacement for Steve Rider? Well, they were wrong. Find someone else. Hey, how about Dougie Donnelly. or Hazel. or Eleanor Oldroyd. or Ken Brown. Even bring Jake Humphrey in - he's doing a good job on the F1.
An issue with this comment from the main blog: "I've blogged before about how we show every frame that our American hosts permit"
Wrong. Amen Corner live was great (and I watched it a lot in early rounds), but 15 and 16 live was available to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ (they used it after Amen Corner finished), but they did not put it on the red button - nor Masters Extra (or the coverage included in it). Therefore, you did not show every frame.
However, Alliss and co were fabulous as usual. (I still miss Dave Marr.) Ken on the Course was amusing at times too!
Finally, nice one Hazel. We missed ya!

I agree with that - I was watching the Melrose Sevens at the weekend on ´óÏó´«Ã½i and wondering why Dougie Donnelly was there instead of Augusta.

P.S. Might I add my congratulations to Hazel as well thanks.

I thought this years Masters was a tremendous stride forward as a golfing spectacle with the players given the opportunity to attack the course scoring well with great shots but getting seriously punished for errant swings.This certainly made for a charged atmosphere which came across through ´óÏó´«Ã½ coverage of the event.
The one issue which really got my goat however was the coverage, regularly repeated by the ´óÏó´«Ã½ because of the regularity of its occurrence, of footage of players like Chad Campbell and Tiger Woods spitting. This unnecessary and objectionable show of bad manners is hardly a positive image for a sport which, like few others still retains high moral and ethical standards and damages the ambassadorial image these stars should have in the sport.
They should be reminded that, as stars, they have a responsibility to act as role models to the younger generation in behaviour as well as in sporting prowess.