The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
FALL MASTERS
NO SPECTATORS AS PANDEMIC ALTERS TOURNAMENT WOODS TO DEFEND TITLE AT AUGUSTA NATIONAL
Nothing about this Masters will look familiar until the champion slips his arms through a green jacket. The purple, white and pink blooms of azaleas and dogwoods give way to the orange and gold hues of autumn leaves. Augusta National might look familiar with its emerald green fairways, blazing white sand in the bunkers, towering Georgia pines lining the fairways and the still water of Rae’s Creek. It just won’t sound the same, not without thousands upon thousands of spectators sending those recognizable roars from all corners of the course.
The biggest change is the calendar. Golf ’s annual rite of spring is now two weeks before Thanksgiving.
Indeed, this is a Masters unlike any other.
“It’s going to be eerie. It’s going to be different,” Rory McIlroy said. “But at least we’re playing for a green jacket.”
Even that was in doubt when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down sports around the world a week before the first day of spring. Relief came a month later when Augusta National said it would move the Masters from the first full week of April to Nov. 12-15. And when the pandemic did not loosen its grip, the club had no choice but to close the door to its patrons.
For those who feel Augusta National is the cathedral of golf, it sure will sound like one. By now, the players should be used to the silence. Spectators have not been allowed at the previous two majors, or even big tournaments that typically draw big crowds like Muirfield Village and East Lake.
Nowhere else than the Masters will the quiet be so deafening. “There’s no other place like it,” Tiger Woods said. “It echoes there. It travels. You can figure out who’s doing what, and the roars for certain people are louder than others. It’s unlike any other place in the world.”
Woods won his fifth and most improbable Masters last year, capping off a return from four back surgeries that at one point left him wondering if he would ever play again.
NOVEMBER MASTERS
Augusta National is expected to play slightly longer with softer fairways because the rye grass doesn’t have as much time to take root as when the Masters is in April. The real change is the time of year. Instead of nearly 13 hours of daylight, there will be roughly 10½ hours. That means starting in groups of three players off the front and back nine.
Imagine starting the tournament on Nos. 10 and 11, the two toughest holes at Augusta National. The last time there was a two-tee start for the opening rounds was in 2005 because of rain.
NO PATRONS
Being without patrons means more than just no roars. The Masters decided to cancel the Par 3 Contest on Wednesday because that’s mainly entertainment for the crowd. And there’s no reason to open the merchandise store without spectators. Instead, those with a ticket purchased from the club have been given an access code to shop online for the first time. They can browse as often as they want but can make purchases only twice.
THE ANTICIPATION
This is the longest time between the Masters since World War II canceled the tournament from 1943 through 1945. C.T. Pan won the RBC Heritage a week after the Masters. He will have waited 571 days to hit his opening tee shot in his first Masters. The attention leading up to the Masters isn’t as great because the World Series just ended and America is in the middle of the NFL season. That could be good news for McIlroy, who is not having to deal with as much outside noise in his sixth attempt at the career Grand Slam.
The trade-off for waiting 18 months for the Masters is only having to wait five months for the next one. This will be the first time since 1971 that a major was played consecutively. Dave Stockton won the 1970 PGA Championship, and Jack Nicklaus won the PGA the following February when it was held at PGA National in Florida.
MASTERS TRIVIA
The magnolia trees that line the 330-yard drive from the entrance gate to the clubhouse at Augusta National were planted in the 1850s. The road was paved in 1947.