Anyone excited for the NEW season of THE BIG BREAK:MESQUITE? I have my money on Hiroshi. I would say Matt Every but I have never seen a season of the Big Break where the "Best" player won.

Saw the first episode today. Not bad, but not great. Some real players this go around. I always wonder how far I could go in the show as a 2 handicap, seeing how the eliminations are single shot type things, and not rounds of golf...

Leap and bounds better than any of the other BB's....has some promise!

I just wish they'd show the actual swings every time instead of some ridiculous close up. Show the swing, show the ballflight.....show the stuff that matters.

I was amazed at how few people managed to score points on the second challenge. Great strategy going to the front location though!

yeah, it really worked out for those guys who ran to the back to stake their claim on yardages closer to 200 than to 130.

I agree, much better then previous seasons thus far. I like the challenges, but I wish they would throw some rounds of golf in there, even a couple holes. I hate watching a shot, waiting 10 minutes for all the TV hoop-la to pass, and then watching the next persons shot.


It looks like the "under dog" is gone already...

The underdog is the golf course manager of the range I usually go to. It was interesting to hear he was from Long Island.

Am I the only one that thinks Benoit and his little g'hey hat needs to go? ...and probably will on the next show.

Tool....there's a few of 'em this time.

My money is on Every.

-mini

Nobody is really standing out as the great one, but I will tell you that one person has already stood out as the "village idiot" or "whiner" shall we call him. Who the heck makes a big deal about a lie, and then doesn't use it?

Not everybody can wear a fedora....but Benoit wears it pretty well imo.

Nobody even mentioned the fact that Vince was gone. Forget the golf, the new guy just doesn't cut it for me. Is Vince done with Big Break and/or TGC?

I have 1 HUGE issue with this show. How can it be considered a "Big Break" to have a single exemption into a PGA event on the smaller side when contestants have already played in the US Open? Also, Matt E. doesn't need a break, he has game as shown by his NCAA career and Walker Cup performance. What about the guys who didn't play college golf/ higher amateur golf, but got better at the game later in life?

Vince left TGC in July when they couldn't come to a contract agreement.

That's nothing new. Quite a few guys from previous shows had either played in the US Open or qualified for PGA Tour(or European Tour) events, some have even had PGA Tour cards. Justin Peters(BB1), Garrett Garland(BB1) and Dave Gunas(BB2) both qualified for one event, Kip Henley(BB2) for 3, and Paul Holtby(BB4) has qualified for 6.

In terms of Majors, Garret Garland played in 3 US Opens and a US Senior Open. Albert Crews(bb6) played in a US Senior Open. Sid Corliss(BB6) played in 1 US Senior Open and 4 Senior British Opens. Denny Hepler(BB6) played in 4 US Opens, 4 PGA Championships, and 1 British Open. Gary Ostrega(BB6) played in a US Senior Open. Jeff Mitchell(BB6) played in multiple majors, including having the first round lead at the 1980 Masters. Even Warren Blandon from BB4 played in the Masters as an amateur because he won the British Am.

In terms of tour cards, Hepler had his for 2 years. Charlie GIbson(BB6) had his for 4. Gary Ostrega for 3. Rocky Rockett for 1. Jeff Mitchell had a card for 9 years, and won the 1980 Phoenix Open.

The Break of the exemption is really that you don't have to go through the normal qualifier. You don't have to go from city to city each week paying your own way trying to shoot a low score each Monday. The exemption allows you to plan and practice for that one week, which you wouldn't normally get to do. Trying to Monday qualify takes a toll on guys even if they have the game to do it, the grind of it is just very hard. With the exemption you don't have to worry about that and you can focus on just letting your game come through for that one week.



They've tried that on nearly every show up to this one, and it hasn't gone well. Those guys generally don't last very long. The guys with the college/amateur experience, or the guys with mini-tour/PGA experience do much better.

they should throw good ol DD into the mix at some of the show again, just for kicks lol

The show looks good but the prize is well rather lame, 1 exemption isn't much. I think 3-4 exemptions would have been alot more meaningful and the player may actually be able get some experience. The players all look pretty good, and the "cut-line" thing is interesting.

I am sure they'll play more "golf" after they get down a few players.

The new host could use a personality though.

I think the same thing. How the heck is one exemption a big deal. It is so hard to do anything with only one. The pressure will be enormous knowing you have one tournament and that's it. they will have to do something similar to jay williamson.


also Vince was a big part of the show, new hosts well he sucks so far

No interest in this season's show?

I kinda liked last nights show. The cut-line and the points gambling going on(not just that one shot they bet on but the choosing which putt to try and which zone to hit their shot to) were pretty interesting.

A couple of these guys make me wonder how they got on the show while others definitely have game.

Personally, I don't want to see any of the BB alums in this current series. I'm just tired of them. Let the new guys duke it out.

ahh c'mon..whats a BB w/o the ol DD

(picking up from the VTO and JL thread!)

Too bad about Matt Every. I wanted to see more of his game.

I am enjoying this season more than any of the previous ones. Personally, I could care less who the "host" is, as Vince bugged me something awful. The elimination on this most recent show was pretty damn dramatic...involving actual golf shots as opposed to the mickey-mouse junk dominating previous seasons. Despite Every's pedigree, I think he clearly was off his game, hitting a bunch of just plain awful shots. I liked Matt V's explanation that maybe Every was the kind of guy that got out of the gate early, stayed on top, and just finished...as opposed to a clutch cardiac kid type.

Overall, I was really impressed by the newbie Josh. He clearly is not a polished player, but his mentality (through his narration) seemed fairly poised for a relatively inexperienced guy. He may not have all the tools to win the overall contest, but I think he's going to go a few shows deeper. The Kevin character is just way too shaky to stay around much longer...funny guy, but waaay shaky.

Cheers,
Tim

I'd like to see DD on a BB like this one where he's not the "best player" just to see how he reacts or if he's as cocky...

Matt Vick is a friend mine and I hope he wins. He has alot of game and he is great guy. His brother Scott is a pretty good, he plays a UT Chattanooga. Matt V is rocking a black FGP SeeMore putter, he's also good friends with Larry Bland at SeeMore.

Mark Farrell is an assistant pro at our club in Conn., so obviously, I'd like to see him win. He made a couple of bad shots but is still in it. He's a better player than he's shown so far......I think nerves have a lot to do with the whole concept.

As far as BB goes, I've always enjoyed watching the program for entertainment value, and the inter-actions between the competitors. I doubt that most of the winners would have any significant success on the various tours, but I still follow them and root for them.

I'm wondering if they will have a "play back in" show like they have the last two seasons. If so, look for Matt Every to take advantage of it. It was a surprise to see him go so early.

Same here, I graduated with and took just about every finance class I had with Matt V. Super cool guy. Was never arrogant or cocky like you would think an All American would be. Just really laid back. I hope he gets his shot.

in all seriousness, thats what I would have liked to see too and was alluding to. Like if he toned it down etc or if he got things going and turned up the cockyness and got under a few guys skin etc.

seeing how they react would be interesting

would be a neat twist to the DD legacy lol

Id like to see matt vick do well. He has a good swing and seems to be a pretty good guy. Too bad for Matt Every though, i would have liked to have seen him go deep into the series. Hirosh looks flat out solid.

Watch out for Brian Kontak...solid player. I worked for his Dad at Arrowhead CC in Peoria, AZ when I was in college and I have seen him play. He played on the Canadian Tour for a number of years and he shot 58 at Coldwater Golf Course in Avondale during a qualifier (he had 12 birdies in a row on that round), he should be a great contender

Did Red win tonight?

My DVR recording cut out but it cut off at the beginning of the credits. Playoff on the upcoming episode?

Playoff will be next week. Did anybody notice Anthony's putter? Looks to me like a custom Edel. Anybody else catch that?

Didn't notice but allow me to say that Hiroshi's putt was awesome!

gotta wait another week!!!!!!
hate it when they cut in the middle of something!!:WTF:

One thing I noticed tonight was when the big guy (forget his name) hit his tee shot in the rocks right on the par 5, I swore I saw red stakes marking the hazard line, yet they showed him pulling weeds out of the way before he hacked it out.

I thought they were red with green caps--enviormentally sensitve areas.

it is official...i can not stand A-God any longer.

how do you drive away from your partner in alternate ball without saying a word when he just made a pretty damn good shot from your sh*t 1st shot?

i felt very bad rooting againt the blue team just to see that turd in an elimination...but with my luck one of the good guys will get knocked out instead.

No doubt, television is not kind to Anthony Rodriguez. Just a pr!ck in every scenario. Entertaining, but wow what a jerkwad. I was openly rooting against him on that final putt, which is a shame cause his partners are classy, each of them. I'm sure that the Golf Channel is absolutely loving him though...reality shows thrive on the clueless selfish jerk.

Overall, I think that was a very good show. Actual golf. Some pretty good golf, also. I recall on many previous BBs you had a few holes where folks were winning with bogey on simple holes. In this case, there was at most 2 bogeys in any of the formats. Birdies winning, what a concept for a show about golf.

Cheers,
Tim

its television....they are making out agod to be a jerk....agod bad guy...roush good guy .....talk about leaving us hanging....I say agod teams win.....just a guess...

In that case, why was he even allowed to step inside the margin of the hazard? Every course I play that has this type of stake makes it plainly obvious that you MUST not enter the are to even look for your ball, let alone play your ball, and surely not pull brush out of the way to play the ball. I'm not a rules aficionado (sp?) so if I'm way off, please, someone explain to me how this is allowed. I don't care so much for the Big Break itself because he lost the hole anyway, but more for my own knowledge.

In tournament play, it is very rare for a course's "environmental area" to be observed in the same manner you describe. What I've seen as common for courses with these environmental areas is for the tournament committees to simply ignore them, play them as Ground Under Repair, or in rare instances, set them up as a lateral hazard, but that usually is the case for such things as wetlands. In the case of the Big Break, it appeared that this environmental area was being ignored, which I've seen to be fairly common in tournaments for larger areas. Most courses have local rules for these areas that are intended to keep sensitive plants and grasses alive during general play and to speed up play. However, I understand that most rules committees are not fond of the proliferation of this hybrid GUR/hazard. Your mileage may vary.

Cheers,
Tim

I *HATE* those ridiculous "environmentally sensitive areas". We have a local muni that rebuild a couple of holes, and ADDED them. They're not sensitive in any way. If you don't want me in there, don't build up a bunch of bruch where i can walk. Just make it a water hazard where the ball goes under. To not be able to play a ball when it's in-bounds is an abomination of the ROG.

Not from this Big Break, but looks like former BB'r Val is looking to get some cash, can't see it selling for that much.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Big-Break-VII_W0QQitemZ...1QQcmdZViewItem

Link doesn't work for me, but the item # is 320171167065 for any interested parties.

Geez! It looks like the picture of the bag was taken in a prison cell

$800? I wouldn't pay 80 cents for that bag.

Have you ever seen anyone throw as many clubs as arod? In the preview for tomorrow nights show it looks like he absolutely loses it! Should be great for tv. I just have a hard time having respect for someone that has that bad of a temper. You can't tell me that at times many of the PGA tour top players have wanted to throw a club or show some emotion but hold it in for the most part.

I would enjoy the show a lot more if A-God¹ would go ahead and get eliminated.² I really dislike people with superiority complexes who look down on other people. (So all of you idiots stay out of my way and don't disagree with me!)³

Everybody else seems nice enough.








¹The only reason I like that nickname is because he hates it so much and all the other players seem to slowly be adopting it. Anthony is makin' friends in the desert!

² Alternatively, I suppose Brian Kontak could just put his lights out the next time Anthony calls him a c@ck. That would work for me too.

³