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Magnolia Lane. Amen Corner. Rae’s Creek. The butler’s hut. Hello again, old friends, it’s been too long. They have taken 19 months to return, but the long wait is finally over. It’s the 2020 Masters Tournament! A sporty ray of sunshine at the end of a long dark year. We deserve it.
The metaphor is fine, but real sunlight is not guaranteed. The 84th edition of the Masters is the first to be held in November, and while autumn temperatures are not expected to be much different than spring, it is expected to rain. That will make the field play even more than the 7,475 yards on the card, no wonder Bryson and DJ are the favorites, although as former champion Jordan Spieth has pointed out, if you can “throw some darts” in milder conditions “It could be whoever wins.”
We will desperately miss customers. Especially on Sunday when seasoned Masters viewers can break down every roar and creak to figure out exactly who did what and where. All those pepper cheese sandwiches that were never made. Pitchers of iced tea were not served. No one to see Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus do the honorary opening drives. Bah.
But let’s look at the bright side! We will see the course in a whole new light. More fall leaves, less spring azaleas, yes. But also the organizers take advantage of the strategic points where the clients usually wander, showing us new angles, points of view, perspectives. The lack of a gallery can also encourage big hitters and more creative thinkers to use parts of the field that are normally best avoided. Let’s see what DeChambeau does on 13 to begin with. Oh, and all this means that we will have two Masters Tournaments in five months. Every cloud.
So will the new US Open champion continue to redefine golf with a boom and make his way to green jacket glory? Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy will host similar plans. Brooks Koepka rediscovered some form last weekend, just in time. Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Hideki Matsuyama, Tony Finau and Tyrrell Hatton look good for a special single. PGA Champion Collin Morikawa or Tour Rookie of the Year Scottie Scheffler could become the first player since Fuzzy Zoeller to win on his debut. Bubba Watson is in great shape and knows exactly how to get the job done here. And then this
Maude
We could go on. Spieth to end a three-year drought in a place he loves? Phil, the thrill of becoming the biggest winner in history? Will Rickie Fowler, Paul Casey or Lee Westwood finally win the claim to the greater championship? Yes, we could chat for years, but you already understand the essentials. Starting times (split tees for the first two rounds, to make sure we don’t run out of November daylight) are below. But just in case we haven’t gotten your juices flowing …
Its on!
TEE TIMES
(USA Unless noted, all local times, -5 hours from GMT, -a- denotes fans)
From 1
0700 Lucas Glover, Corey Conners (Can), Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai)
0711 Brandt Snedeker, Charles Howell III, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha)
0722 Larry Mize, Andrew Landry, -a- Lukas Michel (Aus)
0733 Matt Kuchar, Lee Westwood and Kevin Na
0744 Xander Schauffele, Jason Kokrak, Henrik Stenson (Swe)
0755 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Jason Day (Aus), -a- Abel Gallegos (Arg)
0806 Vijay Singh (Fij), Lanto Griffin, Tyler Duncan
0817 Mike Weir (Can), Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa), Matt Wallace
1105 Sung Kang (Kor), Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa)
1116 Danny Willett, Rickie Fowler, -a- John Augenstein
1127 Phil Mickelson, Abraham Ancer (Mex), Bernd Wiesberger (Aut)
1138 Adam Scott (Aus), Collin Morikawa, Tyrrell Hatton
1149 Justin Thomas, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Brooks Koepka
1200 Dustin Johnson, Patrick Cantlay, Rory McIlroy
1211 Zach Johnson, Justin Rose, Champion of Cameron
1222 Victor Perez (Fra), Sungjae Im (Kor), Brendon Todd
From 10
0700 Sandy Lyle, Jimmy Walker, Yuxin Lin -a- (Chn)
0711 Webb Simpson, Marc Leishman (Aus), Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)
0722 Kevin Kisner, Adam Hadwin (Can), Scottie Scheffler
0733 Jon Rahm (Spa), Bryson DeChambeau, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa)
0744 Patrick Reed, Paul Casey, Tony Finau
0755 Tiger Woods, Shane Lowry, -a- Andy Ogletree
0806 Jordan Spieth, Gary Woodland, Ian Poulter
0817 Graeme McDowell, Nate Lashley, Si Woo Kim (Kor)
1105 Justin Harding (Rsa), Shugo Imahira (Jpn), Nick Taylor (Can)
1116 Chez Reavie, Sebastian Muñoz (Col), Byeong-Hun An (Kor)
1127 Bubba Watson, Matthew Wolff and Tommy Fleetwood
1138 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Billy Horschel, Cameron Smith (Aus)
1149 Bernhard Langer (Germany), JT Poston, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa)
1200 couples Fred, Max Homa, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa)
1211 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa), Andrew Putnam, -a- James Sugrue
