At ’20Masters, no fans means no magical roars
Pandemic will quiet Augusta, but memories still resonate
AUGUSTA, Ga. — The roars were endless Sunday at the Masters, coming from every where for just about everyone. One moment stood out in 2011. From below the rise of the fairway on the par-5 eighth hole, it sounded like a sonic boom. That was an eagle cheer coming from the green, no doubt.
But for whom?
“Tiger Woods just came through,” a marshal said, and thus ended the mystery. But it didn’t end there.
Woods, who started that final round seven shots back, now was tied for the lead. Moments later, as Woods headed to the ninth tee, another cheer rang out from the 18th green. Andthen, another one downby Amen Corner. Andthen a third cheer in the direction of the 15th green.
More birdies? Eagles? No, it was the crowd across the course responding to scoreboards change as Woods moved into a tie for the lead. He couldn’t keep it going. Thatwas the year eight players had at least a share of the lead at some point on the back nine until Charl Schwartzel closed with four straight birdies. An incredible day. Amazing atmosphere. And now, silence.
This Masters in November will be missing the patrons because of the COVID-19 pandemic and missing the very essence of what makes Augusta National so magical.
“It echoes there. It travels,” Woods said. “It’s unlike any place in theworld.”
Woods has heard his share. He probably can still hear the lustrous chants of “Tiger! Tiger!” after he celebrated a fifth and most unlikely Masters victory last year. Or the change in pitch from anticipation to letdown to delirium when his chip on the 16th hole in 2005 trickled down the hill, stopped for a full second on the brim of the cup until gravity took over and the ball dropped for a birdie.
Ask what one moment stood out and it wasn’t even for him.
He was paired in the final round with Davis Love III in 1998. Right behind them was 58-year-old Jack Nicklaus, making an early charge, chipping in for birdie on No. 3.
“The roars were so much louder. Those were Nicklaus roars,” Woods said. “And that’s what I had grown up watching and got a chance to experience in person.”
Nicklaus had company in producing a cheer that Phil Mickelson remembers. It was the second round of 1991. Mickelson, the 20-year-old U.S. Amateur champ, opened with 69 andwas on the 18th green.
“Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus were playing together and on the 16th green, one of them made the putt from down below to the front right up-on-top pin. And the place erupted to the point where the ground actually shook and you could feel the vibrations inmy feet,” Mickelson said.
“And moments later, the other player— I don’t know who putted first between Tom and Jack — made the same putt and the place erupted again,” he said. “That was my first Masters.”
A charge even more stunning than Woods in 2011 — which also fell short — was Jordan Spieth in 2018. He started the final round nine behind, and his birdie on the 16th put him at 9-under for the day and tied with Patrick Reed.
Along for the ride that day was Justin Thomas, friends with Spieth since they were teenagers.
“Hemade about a 35-footer and that was the loudest roar I’ve ever heard in my life. It felt like the ground was moving. It was insane,” Thomas said. “I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it, talking about it. Itwas unreal.”
The sound is different for eagles than birdies. Anything around the 16th hole Sunday with the pin below the ridge can only mean a hole-in-one. And when the roars are for Nicklaus or Palmer, Woods or Mickelson, it’s a different decibel.
Rory McIlroy remembers his first Masters. Itwas 2009, and the 19-year-old made a respectable debut.
Thatwas the year Woods and Mickelson were paired together in the final round, the undercard to another pulsating finish.
“I was coming down 15, and Tiger and Phil were coming up 7,” McIlroy said. “They went out in 30 and 33. It was my first Masters, I remember being on the back nine, the roars and cheers, they were six deep on either side.”
Andthen his thoughts turned to November, an autumn Masters.
A quiet Masters.
“The way I see it, every hole at Augusta will be like what we experience on the 12th green,” McIlroy said. That green is some 150 yards away from the nearest spectator, most of it hidden by bunkers.
“You hole a putt, people can’t see if it goes in,” he said. “Every year we experience one hole like that.
“But not the other 17.”