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The Polar Vortex induced ice storms gave way to warm sunny days, with the Azaleas in full bloom, adorning Augusta National with nature's priceless jewels. McIlroy got a real close view of the Azaleas when his second shot to the thirteenth green bounced off a sprinkler head and landed among them. Pros need to hit their 200+ yard second shots to the thirteenth and fifteenth greens high so that they land softly on the green and expects to stop. Alternatively, laying up involves 30 to 50 yard pitches over water which, while being an amateur's worst nightmare, is not particularly a sweet dream for the pros either. Even Mickelson, the greatest short game exponent in the world, popped one into the creek.
From the start it looked as though the scoring would be extremely low today. Gary Woodland catapulted out of the starting gate to be -7 for the day by the tenth hole with the easy birdiable thirteenth and fifteenth just ahead. It looked as though he would shoot a 63 and be in contention until Amen Corner knocked the wind out of his sails, with little "Jezebel" (the par three twelfth) catching him by the left leg and throwing him down the stairs. His concentration shattered, he gave up half his gains with no chance of winning.
The second is a business that is hugely successful but is run completely contrary to established marketing management and business practices taught in the best business schools. This is the merchandizing and selling of Masters branded products. There is no sales literature on the products, no website offerings, no internet buying and selling, no promotion in any way except in the display, no retail outlets anywhere in the world other than the ones during the Masters at the Augusta National Club, no deliveries other than at the counters, the retail counters are kept open for a total of 10 days in a year and are not available to anybody other than the spectators for the Masters each year. The incredibly well- trained and disciplined sales assistants are not allowed to push any product. Beverages and products made by world famous companies have to be purveyed in Masters branded containers only, much to their chagrin; there is no store-in-store and no branding other than Masters is allowed on the premises.
Reportedly, the sales run into tens of millions of dollars with a 50 per cent profit margin. Now, how does this square with modern management business practices?
The whole experience of this tournament, including the above, is wrapped in the warmth of exceptional southern courtesy and the entire town, including police and traffic authorities, are party to it.
So the day ended with first timer Jordan Spieth in the final pairing with Bubba Watson. Bubba dropped two shots and Jordan gained two. The Aussies are clearly out of it as Senden slipped to -1 and the pressure is likely to be too much for him, while the favoured Adam Scott and Jason Day are paired together and are too far back; the promising Leishman unfortunately missed the cut after being momentarily in the lead at -5 on Day 1. Kuchar is looking extremely strong but any of the players in the red numbers could run away with it; somebody has to go up while others are coming down for this to happen. While betting on Jordan, one would be happy to see Freddy Couples win.
To wind up the day, one headed to the seedy International Sports Bar which serves the most outstanding hot dogs and burgers in the world and has the additional virtue of having a girlie joint on either side as a neighbour, with a Bible centre next door. Thus, one may conveniently gorge oneself, sin and repent within four adjacent store fronts.
The author is chairman of Mawana Sugars Ltd and co-chairman of Usha International Ltd
