LET’S GET IT ON – My pick for the green jacket

By Neil Bravo
My kumpadre Chito Malabanan, an engineer based in the Middle East, who’s a certified golf freak hurled this challenge.
Take your pick on the 2015 US Masters. He addressed the challenge, almost like a Las Vegas high roller, to his golfing peers including me and former Edge Davao sports editor Moses Billacura who has made Canada his permanent home.
Chito, who counts on Jesper Parnevik as his golf fashion guru, posted on FB: It’s the most awaited part of the golfing year. Forecast, predictions, wishes for this year’s edition of the Masters. Mine? It will be either Jason Day, Jordan Spieth or Henrik Stenson. Rory will be there in the early part but will fade down in the homestretch. And oh, by the way, the Tiger won’t withdraw in the middle rounds but can’t be seen playing in the last two rounds. Who’s yours?
The best part of the challenge is that Chito got to make the first picks.
So his picks are Filipino-Australian Jason Day, Spieth and Stenson. Look, he never picked Rory nor Tiger. Not even defending champ Bubba Watson.
Moses picked Jason Day.
My pick? Anyone who wears Under Armour.
After two days of the Masters, Jordan Spieth is leading the Masters after taming Augusta with a 64 in the first round and a 66 in the second round. That 64 is the best opening round score in 19 years of the US Masters. That 130 36-hole output is another Masters record.
The best part about it is that Jordan Spieth wears Under Armour. So there’s my boy.
In the golfing world, the list of Under Armour endorsers is so short I can count them by my fingers. And on just one hand. There’s Jordan Spieth, Hunter Mahan and Billy Horschel (the guy who wears octopus pants).
The 21-year-old Spieth was unstoppable in a bogey-free round of 66 to drop 14 under par for the tournament. That score was good enough to tie him for the lowest 36-hole score in major history and break the Masters’ record previously set by Raymond Floyd in 1976.
Spieth enters the weekend the favorite to capture his first major and green jacket. His 15 birdies and just one bogey through 36 holes place him five shots clear of the field.
Three men before him had leads of as much as five strokes going into the final 36 holes and all three went on to win the green jacket. Only one–Greg Norman–failed. That was in 1996. This is now the consolation Tiger Woods has on his mind and he thinks it could happen again that a guy who had led as much as 6 or 5 going into the final 36 holes went on to lose.
That’s something for optimism. You know, Tiger Woods has a heart of a champion. Now, whether he’s down by 12 or up by six, he knows how to squeeze in a win. This time though, he is 12 back. He shot his first ever sub-70 round at Augusta since 2011 in the second round which makes sense when we talk of his new-found optimism.
Rory Mc Ilroy is also at 12 back and whether or not Rory, the world no. 1, gets to get back on track remains to be seen.
For now, the big story is Jordan Spieth, the underdog guy who wears the underdog brand Under Armour.
The green jacket is waiting for my guy.