The Bacon Mailbag: The best old Masters, the right preparation and the worst outfit ever during the green jacket ceremony
Each week for the remainder of the golf season we will be rolling out a mailbag, with any and all questions invited from readers and fans around the world. Have a good question you want answered? Hit me up on Twitter at @shanebacon and we will try to get to it in the coming weeks. Here we go ...
Bacon: A great question to start out, and one that makes a lot more sense since we are just about to the dinner choice of Adam Scott.
I've said since I was a kid that if I ever won the Masters (goodbye, dream!) that I would get Herby K's, a dive in Shreveport, Louisiana to cater the dinner. It's a small seafood place I've been going to since I was a kid and they serve raw oysters on the half shell, incredible Étouffée and something called a Shrimp Buster that isn't even worth me describing because it won't do it justice.
As for food at Augusta, I hate to be cliche, but I could eat 15 pimento cheese sandwiches and still be happy. As for my digestive system, that's another story.
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Bacon: I'm going to take your question and assume you only mean people playing, and not the invitees that have declined the invite (like Jack and Arnie).
So, the three players to fill out my foursome would be Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson and Tom Watson. That was easier than I thought it would be. I was thinking of a young guy (I'd probably pick Billy Horschel) but I hang with enough 30-year-olds in my everyday life, so why not have something different?
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Bacon: My thoughts on Phil are very similar to how I see Steve Stricker these days. Granted, Phil is more talented, but the guy has other things in his life that tickle his fancy that aren't exactly golf. He will forever get up for the majors, especially the Masters, but as he gets older I can see him caring way more about his family and other ventures over his golf game.
That said, I think he wins two more. I think he will win another Masters at some point just because he loves and understands this golf course, and I really, really think he will eventually get that U.S. Open, if not this year at Pinehurst, some point in the next two or three years.
Now, if Phil wins the U.S. Open this year, I might change my tune, because if he gets that career Grand Slam I think his interest dips a bit in everything golf related. Again, he will get himself up for Augusta each year until he's 50, but I think the Grand Slam is the thing on his mind and when he gets that, he might mentally check out after an incredible career of competitive golf.
That said, I was also the guy that said Mickelson would never, ever win a British Open, so take that for what it's worth.
Bacon: This is a great question, and one I have two answers to, for completely different reasons.
The first one that comes to mind is the 1965 Masters. I think watching Jack Nicklaus dominate Augusta like Tiger Woods did in 1997 would have been absolutely amazing, and he did it with Arnold Palmer and Gary Player finishing second. We watch those guys at their current age hit a single tee shot to start the tournament and freak out. To see all three of those guys competing in their prime with Nicklaus playing at that level? Sign me up.
The other is the '62 Masters. I would have loved to watch that 18-hole playoff with Arnie, Player and the long lost trivia answer, Dow Finsterwald.
Seeing Palmer play golf in his prime is something of a unachievable bucket list item, but man, what a playoff that would have been to watch.
Bacon: I actually just had this conversation with my sister a couple of days ago, because she wondered why Mickelson was playing the week before the Masters.
Personally, I go the Mickelson/McIlroy route over the Tiger/Day way. When I used to play competitively I would get exhausted if I played too many practice rounds before a big tournament. I would replay the bad shots I hit off certain tees, or some of the tougher holes that I knew were approaching (I was obviously not a mental giant, as you can tell).
I think that every person is different, but for me, being at Augusta for nearly two weeks seems like it might get you a little stagnant in your golf game, but whatever process works for you is the one you must stick with.
Bacon: Ahh, nothing like a mailbag question that forces me to spend about two hours looking at outfits. Thank you for that, by the way. I feel like me and Getty Images need to now be in a Facebook relationship.
Okay, so Tiger and Phil are both out, because they wear basically the same thing on Sunday and there is nothing wrong with it. Adam Scott dresses better than Ralph Lauren, so he's out. I actually liked the all-white Travis Mathew outfit Bubba Watson wore when he won, so that's gone.
You actually have go to back a ways to get into the days of the horrible golf outfits (you know, the stuff Happy Gilmore made fun of). Vijay Singh's pleated pants were really, really bad. Fred Couples' outfit in '92 was epically bad, but those were what people used to rock in those days, so I let it slide.
My answer? Nick Faldo in 1990.
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That sweater looks like something you'd wear to an Ugly Golf Sweater Party or one of those golf bar crawl things. Actually, I think I would wear that to either of those, and now I want to find out where I can get it. Nick, you mind letting me borrow that bad boy at some point? No way it matches those CBS blazers.
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