Brennan's Blog - The Masters

It's great to be back at Augusta for our tenth anniversary!  For us, the Masters, has lots of great memories and has a feel like no other golf tournament, not only because Mike won but also because the place has a special feel with all the history.  Mike has always rented two houses here in Augusta and invites a bunch of good friends to stay for the week. It is the only time all year where he gets two houses and a bunch of us all get together.  Steve Bennett and Jim Vaglasky cook every night, so the food is always great.

We got the week started off on Sunday where Mike played 9 holes with his brother Jim. Past champions have the opportunity to bring out a guest on Sunday to play, so that was a lot of fun.  Seeing Jim play the course for the first time was pretty funny, a great day for Jim I am sure.  The story for the rest of the week so far, has got to be the weather.  On Monday a cold front came through and the wind started to blow. With the chilly temperature it has limited the amount of practice the guys have had.

On Monday we played 9 holes with Rory McIlroy and Oliver Wilson. I found it interesting that Oliver Wilson went to school at Augusta State University which is located right here in town. Oliver, is an English player, who isn't that well known here but had a great run last year in Europe and had some success here on the PGA tour. I was very impressed with the young 19 year old Mcilroy, what a great kid. He is a very respectful and a great young player, I look for many good things from here in the future.

After the nine holes on Monday, Mike did practice a bit but with the wind blowing like it has, there really isn't a lot of sense in hitting many balls or putting.  Tuesday we played nine holes with Dudley Hart and Briny Baird and that was a treat. Dudley is one of the best guys to play with as he is funny and talking non stop. It also helps that's he is a Sabres fan so there is a lot of talk about that!

Wednesday is the big spectator day here at the Masters as everyone wants to see the par 3, it is a tradition like no other. Players get whoever they want to caddy and they head over to the short par three course for some fun. This year Todd Lynch is going to caddy for Mike, which will be quite a treat for him.

There is going to be a special guest down from London this year, Taylor Tisdall, who is will be here with his parents to see Mike play in the par 3.  Taylor is a Sunshine Dreams for Kids child and has always been his dream to watch Mike play here. Mike supplied the family with four tickets today to make Taylor's dream come true. I am sure he will get the full experience as we will do our best to take great care of him and make it a great day.

Last night I stopped over to the RCGA house for Canada Night, a gathering for all Canadians involved in golf, from players to media. It was a nice barbeque hosted by the RCGA, who is really on track to do some good things with golf in Canada.   I have to say I cannot believe how many Canadians are down here in Augusta.  They must issue half the tickets to Canadians because every year it amazes me how many Canadian there are.

I have to congratulate the London Knights for their sweep of the Saginaw Spirit! The Knights seem to be really peaking at the proper time. I would love to see Plymouth knock off Windsor even though a Knights-Spitfire series would be a great one.  It was also great to see the Jays get off to a good start!  I think the Jays are due for a good year, hopefully like Tampa did last year.

The week has gone very well so far, I think Mike's attitude has been great and he has a great game plan. Now it is time to get the week started and play some golf!

As always, thanks for reading and enjoy The Masters!