Golf Central Live From the Masters Notable Quotes
Friday, April 8 (7:30-9:30 p.m. ET)
Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Ga.
On Friday’s second round at the Masters, where only four players shot under par (1-under-par 71s)
Frank Nobilo – “I don’t think it was golf, it was more like the Tour de France. This is stage two. We are going to get three mountain stages. Jordan Spieth climbed it yesterday. The field started to get on his heels today.”
Brandel Chamblee – “It was a very challenging day. Some eye-raising storylines atop the leaderboard. No matter what your flavor is around the globe, as the game has become more global, so too has this leaderboard.”
David Duval – “We’ve talked all week that the weather conditions were going to leave this field wide open. We didn’t really know what was going to happen. With the forecast conditions tomorrow, it is absolutely wide open.”
Colin Montgomerie – “I will tell you who the winner is in the second round, it is Augusta National with a knockout.”
Montgomerie – “This is golf and this is what it’s all about. It is a mental battle. It was a mental battle today, and the winner that came out on top, Augusta.”
Nobilo – “With three straight days of wind, it will be a Sunday shootout, because that is the best weather day of the week, providing it holds true to the forecast. As long as somehow you can stay in position, it will be a sprint come Sunday.
On Jordan Spieth, leader at 4-under par (2-over par 74 on Friday) and his post-round comments about playing with McIlroy – “I’d rather be playing with someone less threatening…”
Duval – “I think it is a spectacular comment. I think it’s an example of Jordan Spieth acknowledging the greatness of other players right now.”
Chamblee – “And I bet you wherever Rory McIlroy is he wishes he was playing with somebody less accomplished than a 22 year-old Jordan Spieth.”
Nobilo – “He does the right thing, he gets in front of the story.”
On Rory McIlroy, 2nd place at 3-under par (1-under par 71 on Friday)
Nobilo – “The par-5s have saved his bacon this week.”
Tripp Isenhour – “Rory McIlroy finished this Masters last year red hot, and he has continued it so far.”
Chamblee – “He looks to be up to the task around and on the greens.”
On Saturday’s final pairing of Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy
Rich Lerner – “It is a Saturday blockbuster, no doubt about it.”
Montgomerie – “Rory and Jordan should not be playing each other. This should not become a match play event. If I was a psychologist – which believe me, I’m not – I would tell either of them to play their own ball and the golf course and not each other. If they play each other, the likes of Jason Day or Dustin Johnson are going to go right past them.”
Chamblee – “There is, again, the potential for the greatest rivalry in the history of golf, given that they are both so young and have accomplished so much and heading in such an obvious direction. But the game of golf doesn’t always cooperate.”
Nobilo – “They both have tasted victories at the expense of others, which is exactly what a rivalry is.”
On Bryson DeChambeau, T8 at even par (even par 72 on Friday that included a triple bogey on 18)
Lerner – “Most amateurs come in here hoping to win the Silver Cup as low amateur. Bryson is looking for the Green Jacket.”
Lerner – “It is not often that someone comes along and challenges the conventional ideas that we have about the swing and the game of golf. He has done that and is backing it up as well.”
Montgomerie – “He has one great future ahead of him.”
Montgomerie – “Great attitude when he finished with a seven and he walked off as if he birdied it. That was the most impressive thing today.”
Duval – “It is not a fluke what he has done so far. It’s real.”
On Bernhard Langer, T15 at 1-over par (1-over par 73 on Friday)
Montgomerie – “He was won 100 golf tournaments in his life and he plays as he hasn’t won one, as if he is playing for his first win.”
-NBC Sports Group-