Max Homa rubbing sand from his eyes in the second spherical.
Darren Riehl/GOLF
AUGUSTA, Ga. — The little plumes of smoke blowing throughout windswept fairways have been really wee clouds of sand. The lady who seemed like Barbara Nicklaus in the very public and really crowded merchandise tent close to the driving vary was, actually, Barbara Nicklaus. The man on the vary earnestly striping one shot after one other with no caddie or a nameplate beside his bag was the membership’s designated marker, Michael McDermott, an Augusta National member and a severe stick. He knew his companies could be needed on the weekend, if the Friday evening lower landed on an odd quantity.
The weekend! Weekend golf in the yr’s first main. What golf desperately wants proper now’s precise golf. Well, right here it comes.
Tiger Woods was on a riser, fingers on his hips, wanting down on a scrum, a rugby time period co-opted by reporters. He was at the finish of a 12-hour shift, from 4ish in the morning to 4ish in the afternoon, about half of it spent on the hilliest course in championship golf, enjoying 23 holes in two over par. He’s 48, his physique ravaged by surgical procedures and automobile crashes and 1,000,000 golf swings, however there he was, in his completely happy place. He’d be enjoying golf on the weekend, and he wasn’t out of it, not in his thoughts.
“I have a chance going into the weekend,” Woods stated. It was intense, seeing Woods and listening to Woods. His life, the significant a part of his public life, has actually been about solely two issues: His ability in golf, and his unforgiving relentlessness. “I have a chance to win the golf tournament.”
Woods has a brand new man on his bag, the veteran caddie Lance Bennett. (Matt Kuchar, Lorena Ochoa.) He has a brand new clothes line, Sun Day Red. (His belt on Friday had only a single buckle gap.) He nonetheless falls again to jock-speak nonchalance. “Just need some food and some caffeine and I’ll be good to go.” He’ll be good for the weekend.
Man, do we’d like it. Golf — skilled golf, elite males’s division — has been chopping off its personal toes with its self-absorption (manner too many guidelines debacles, gamers placing themselves forward of the game) and its vulgar pursuit of ever-bigger paydays.
C’mon, individuals. It’s simply golf! We pay for the privilege of capturing 90. You receives a commission for the privilege of enjoying programs like Pebble Beach, Harbour Town, Doral — and Augusta National. You’ve obtained it made. Can you not see that? You’ve obtained it made!
And, for this weekend, so can we.
This Max Homa, together with his beard and his bouncy stroll and his journaling. He appears just a bit bit . . . on the market, and golf is best for it. This Scottie Scheffler, with this dancing-shoes end and his regular-guy demeanor. Makes golf higher. This Bryson DeChambeau, together with his — all the pieces. His single-plane swing, with its nods to Moe Norman, the Canadian golf savant of the Fifties. His nighttime vary periods, music in his ears. His press-room quotes like, “Tee height. OK, tee height.” Like, that is getting severe. He makes golf higher.
Was Zach Johnson’s Masters F-bomb directed at patrons? Here’s what he stated
Nick Dimengo
Last yr, the Masters, and actually the different three majors, too, have been coloured by the LIV-Tour divide. Us in opposition to them. Tradition versus upstart. All it dropped at the game is aggravation. This ridiculous {golfing} dispute is just not going to vanish. But for this weekend, none of that issues. The temper was set Tuesday evening, at the Champions Dinner, which brings collectively previous (Big Jack), the younger (Jon Rahm), LIV rebels (Phil Mickelson), Tour loyalists (Woods). Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters winner and a member of the 4Aces LIV Golf workforce, sat with Gary Player and Nick Faldo and talked about Seve Ballesteros.
Reed was even par as he walked from the seventeenth inexperienced to the 18th tee. A fan put out a fist. Reed bumped it again and stored on going, his eyes on the prize all the whereas, the 18th tee. You’ve obtained to complete on this game. You can’t qualify for the weekend rounds enjoying simply 35 holes.
Reed hits a low draw, with drumstick arms he borrowed from Tom Watson and a trap-draw swing with its nods to Ian Woosnam and Karrie Webb. Say no matter you need about him — let’s give it a break for this weekend, lets? — the man can flat-out swing a golf membership and play this maddening game. He has a really perfect swing, and a really perfect ball flight, for a day when flagsticks are bent like a client inspecting peaches at a roadside fruit stand. At least, in concept.
But Augusta National, for the Masters, is just not a concept. It’s golf. Golf at its finest. Right up there with the U.S. Open and the British Open.
Reed hit his ultimate tee shot on Friday a mile proper, and nonetheless he made a tap-in 4. His spouse, Justine, in her Chanel mountain climbing boots, taking it in. You don’t get fortunate and make a par on the 18th at Augusta National in Friday afternoon’s no-direction-home wind. You don’t get fortunate and shoot even par for 2 rounds on this 2024 Masters.
So right here comes the weekend. The weekend of the yr’s first main. Patrick Reed’s in. He’s enjoying. Max Homa, Jim Nantz, Lance Bennett: in, in, in. Tommy Fleetwood, one below, 9-wood in his bag: in. Tiger Woods, together with his new belt and his manner outdoors likelihood: in.
“I love the crowds,” Patrick Reed stated. He was sun-whipped and wind-burned however he didn’t appear drained in any respect. We all understand how that goes, when your golf is nice. The game provides you power “The more people the better.”
Enter us. In.
Michael Bamberger welcomes your feedback at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com
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