NO MASTERS
For the first spring since the War…
WHENEVER the Masters has been played since it was founded in 1934 it has always been a rite of spring. But not this year.
Instead, they hope to make it a one-off Ode to Autumn, with the season’s traditional first major of the year becoming the last and being staged either before the Ryder Cup in early September, or after it in October.
Both dates are fraught with difficulty — and that is without considering the ongoing effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
The club closes for the summer owing to the effect of the hot Georgia sun on the bent grass, and it is still recovering in September. Even if life has returned to something approaching normality by then, could they possibly get it ready for the most prestigious tournament in the American calendar?
There is also the biggest event on the European Tour, the BMW PGA Championship, taking place in the middle of that month.
In October, meanwhile, the PGA Tour season is back underway, so clearly, there are plenty of discussions to be had. But hey, it’s the Masters, and if somebody has to compromise and move aside, so be it.
‘Ultimately, the well-being of everyone associated with the Masters, our amateur events before it and the Augusta community led us to this decision,’ club chairman Fred Ridley said. ‘We hope this postponement puts us in the best position to safely host the Masters at some later date.’
The unprecedented, stunning news came hot on the heels of the first tour event to be cancelled for something other than bad weather since September 11, 2001, and the first shutdown of a cluster of PGA Tour events since 1945.
You would have needed a heart of stone not to feel for PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. On Wednesday he had been a beacon of enthusiasm in his ‘state of the tour’ address, as he outlined how golf remains the sporting king of the corporate world.
On Thursday, he remained bullish in explaining why the show could still go on without fans. Another 24 hours, and he looked a broken man while explaining why the Players Championship, the tour’s signature event or ‘our Super Bowl’, as he put it, had to be cancelled after the first round, as well as the final leg of the Florida swing and the following two tournaments in Texas.
Ultimately it was Mickey Mouse and Harry Potter who made his mind up, which is not as trite as it sounds. If Disney and Universal are closing their gates on the hundreds of thousands of people in Florida right now to visit their attractions, how can a mere PGA Tour event go on?
‘We’ve got two theme parks between this tournament in Jacksonville and the next one in Tampa, and the fact they closed their doors, that was the final piece,’ said Monahan. ‘Even if we think we have a safe environment, it wouldn’t have been right to proceed.’
He also cited the concerns of the significant international contingent, who were understandably becoming anxious about getting home.
Monahan was coming under increasing pressure anyway to act on Thursday, as the major sports fell like dominos. On the LPGA tour, they cancelled five events, including the first women’s major of the season in California.
‘I guess we’d have been better suited than most to carry on given we’re an outdoor sport but I wouldn’t have forgiven myself if something had happened because we played on,’ said commissioner Mike Whan.
Rory McIlroy thoughtfully made a similar point following his first round. ‘It’s not just us but friends and family,’ he said.‘My mother’s got respiratory issues, and I certainly don’t want to get something and pass it on to her.’
McIlroy was at the club to pack up his belongings yesterday, looking a little lost like everyone else at the thought of at least a month off. ‘I know I’ll do some practise but it’s going to feel weird not knowing what to practice for,’ he said.
At least he concluded with a little levity at the end of another fraught day. ‘You know, I finished my first round with three successive birdies,’ he said, smiling. ‘That’s something for me to cling to while we hunker down, isn’t it?’
5 Tiger Woods has won the Masters five times — one behind Jack Nicklaus’s record of six. Woods won at Augusta in 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2019. He is also the last player to retain the Masters.