Round 1 at The Masters | Wanna Be A Baller | Local Ice Pond Talk | The Good I’ll We’ll Do
Round 1 at The Masters
Top 12 Thus Far
The only American tied for the top of the leaderboard is Brooks Koepka at -7. Koepka’s first and only blemish on his scorecard came at the Azalea (Hole 13). Otherwise, Koepka was outstanding, birdying 8 times, including his final 2 holes of the day. Jason Day’s week was off to a nice journey in the 1st Round was clean and bogey-free. Shane Lowry represented all the Paddys out there well. When he went into the clubhouse at -4, he was in 2nd place on the leaderboard.
Scottie Scheffler got off to a hot start at Pink Dogwood (Hole 2) where he had a tap in eagle you see GIF’d above.
Noted Names
Jordan Speith (-3)
Jordan Speith was somehow able to compose himself enough to be tied for 13th place and only 4 shots down after he plunked 2 balls into the water within 3 holes of each other.
JT Thomas (-2)
JT Thomas was one under par on the front 9 with 2 birdies and a bogey. JT Thomas was one under par in the back 9 with 2 birdies and a bogey. This was only the 2nd time in 8 tries that JT Thomas was under in Round 1 of the Masters. The other time that JT Thomas was under after Round 1, JT Thomas finished in 4th place.
Cam Smith (-2)
Last week, Cam Smith of the LIV Golf said, “I think for us, internally, there’s a lot of chatter going around about 'these guys don’t play real golf anymore.' And I think it’s B.S. to be honest. And we just want to show people that."
Phil Mickelson (-1)
Nothing to see here, just the lefty swinger with a flipped club swinging right-handed.
Rory McIlroy (Even Par)
Rory McIlroy conducted an interview with the commentary team and discussed his approach as he walked the course on Thursday. That has never been done before in Masters history. Golf takes a toll mentally, but if more golfers were willing to do this, it could be some amazing television.
Tiger Woods (+2)
Tiger nearly eagled Yellow Jasmine (Hole 8). He birdied both Firethorn (Hole 15) and Redbud (Hole 16) back to back. Having previously never missed the cut as a professional, Woods entered the week riding 22 straight made cuts at Augusta National. He now aims to tie the longest streak ever (23) held by Bernhard Langer and Woods' good friend Fred Couples. In order to accomplish that goal, he will need to put an end to a current four-round over-par streak dating back to ‘22. (Source: CBS Golf)
Wanna Be A Baller
The New York Knicks have clinched the #5 seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs and will face off against the Cleveland Cavaliers next weekend. The Brooklyn Nets are just a win or Miami Heat loss away from clinching the #6 seed in the East and in the process avoiding the play-in games between seeds #7-10. With the #6 seed, the Nets would be set to play 76ers in Round 1.
Manhattan’s Mitchell Robinson
Mitchell Robinson III threw a block party earlier this week when he had 7 block shots in 1 game. He also had 14 points, 16 rebounds, and 2 steals. This was the 25-year-old 7-footer’s 3rd most amount of blocks in a single game. In his Rookie Season, Robinson once had 9 blocks in only 22 minutes of play in ‘18. The Knicks’ record for most blocks in a single game is tied between Dikembe Mutombo (‘04) and Joe Meriweather (1979), who each had 10 blocks. In terms of his Knicks career, Mitchell Robinson ranks 2nd all-time in the Knicks’ history in career blocked shots with 560. The Knick with the most blocks ever is Patrick Ewing, who compiled 2,758 blocks as a Knickerbocker.
Brooklyn’s Joe Harris
Joe Harris came out shooting his shot in the 1st Quarter of the game in Detroit earlier this week. He made 6 3s in the 1st. This ties Harris for 16th all-time for 3s in a quarter and ties him at 3rd all-time with 3s in the opening quarter. Joe Harris is no stranger to shooting from beyond the arc, he is a career 43.8% from deep and even shot an incredible 47.4% from 3 in ‘18-19.
Local Ice Pond Talk
Since New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers have a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the only thing left to settle is who they’ll be playing in the first round. The Hurricanes are only up 1 point over the Devils for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division. If the Hurricane can hold off NJ, we’ll get the Devils vs. Rangers First Round matchup. The Islanders have a one-point lead of their own over the Penguins. At the moment they have a 40% shot at the #1 Wild Card, a 34% shot at the #2 Wild Card, and a 27% chance of not making the playoffs. (Source: Playoff Status)
NJ’s Jack Hughes
Sitting at 95 points this season, Jack Hughes is only 1 goal or assist away from breaking Patrick Elias’ ‘00-01 record for most points in a season for a Devil. Hughes was quoted “I want to break that bad boy!” Patrick Elias is also the Devils' all-time leader in points, as he had 1025 throughout his career in New Jersey. Hughes may still have a ways to go for Elias’ other record with the team, but this year’s could be a start.
Manhattan’s Patrick Kane
Patrick Kane will be out for a few days, he has a lower body. Head coach Gerard Gallant downplayed the significance of sitting the latter as “maintenance. It’s nothing. I think next week if it was this time, he’d be playing. We’re being smart with him.” This hip injury of his was a concern for the Rangers prior to when they traded for him. In 16 games in NY, Kane has put up 10 points with 5 goals and 5 assists. This sounds cautionary.
Out East’s Kyle Palmieri
Kyle Palmieri is originally from Out East in Smithtown, NY. His laser goal last night against the Lightning put the Islanders up 3-0 and essentially put the game away in the 2nd Period as the Islanders won a much-needed laugher to keep ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Speaking of the Penguins, their fans will be in a weird scenario where they are rooting for the Washington Capitals this week. The Florida Panthers (the current #1 Wild Card and tied for Isles in the standings) visit Washington tomorrow and before the Islanders travel to the Nation’s capital on Monday. Being that the Islanders have control of their own Stanley Cup Playoff destiny, Islander fans won’t have to scoreboard-watch other teams.
@YouTheReader ready for me to do some serenading via Zach Bryan annotations? Nah, I’m kidding that shrimp would be weird AF. It’s Good Friday so I figure “The Good I’ll Do” fits.
“I would say true love of anything is supposed to rip your heart out and put it back together all in the same go-round,” said Bryan on the meaning of the album in a statement. “This album to me is all the trials we face day in and day out and I wrote all the stories on it hoping someone, somewhere might relate or some kid might pick up an instrument and replicate it in an effort to be an artist.” - Zach Bryan… Well, I can’t speak for @YouTheReaders but listening to music by him as well as all the other artists and musicians on a given week certainly inspires me to use a Pen as an instrument.
Follows the strong opening with a very creative way of describing witnessing Fireworks presumably on a summer night. The girl he is spending the night with doesn’t care that he’s callused or rough around the edges.
ZB is admiring how alcohol affects the girl he’s with. When he drinks, it may make him a bit calloused at times, but she’s the opposite in that she is just always fun to be around. The sleeping on the floor part, I’m presuming, is that he doesn't want to take advantage of that. You could even make the case that he’s just using the wine as a way to contrast his rough around the edges ways with her always fun-to-be-around attitude, which has nothing to do with alcohol.
This is the 3rd Zach Bryan song on Week to Week Notes. I still have Something In The Orange in my Back Pocket, the song introduced me to his music that I first heard on someone else’s playlist. The Good I’ll Do is for sure one of his more wholesome songs.
Look the harsh reality with the internet is that we all (myself certainly included) fall victim to negative clickbait. I feel like we’re all conditioned to take a peek at the car crash on the highway, nobody pays any mind to the guy or girl driving the speed limit in the right lane. I might have to drink a gazillion Guinness Pints (albeit responsibly) but it’s never been about the Pints, it’s all for the Pen&Paper. I’m proud to say I actually haven’t had an undocumented drink all of ‘23. My goal will always strive to be the Goodest Bad Boy in Sports Media. (I’m sorry I thought of that line a while ago and had to get it Noted at some point… Ahhh I need a coffee.)
If you can’t tell by now, I thoroughly enjoy attempting to make clever clickbaity Cover Story&Reels. (For instance, including the last sentence in this verse). This is rather obvious but hey @RapGenius didn’t bother annotating it so I will. ZB says when you’re with somebody you love, it doesn’t matter where you are or what others say.
From writing Week to Week Notes for @YouTheReader I do feel a bit new. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still the same in so many ways, and that’ll never change, but I do feel like I’ve learned a lot from all this. I’m also still learning more every day and I hope it’s making me an improved better work in progress version of myself. I’m fortunate to have grown up with a lot of good people and because of Week to Week Notes, I get to meet more good people every day. A huge part of what gets me up every morning to write or stay up late at night is that I’ve stumbled into something that I love doing. Creating a platform that can bring some good while I enjoy doing it has selfishly always been the goal with Week to Week Notes. That said, it’ll be the good we’ll do, Someday, Sooner Than Later.