To call it Super Bowl week wouldn’t do it justice. But there really isn’t anything you can say, write, type, or tweet that would do The Masters justice. It’s the best tournament, with the most history, played on the best course, at a perfect time on the calendar. I don’t care about the astronomical definition: Masters week is the first week of spring.
Golf fans are forced to wait eight months between majors, and the pent up enthusiasm has us ready to burst with anticipation. This year, we are blessed with more storylines than the upcoming season of Game of Thrones (which also happens to premiere this weekend).
- Jordan Spieth has been flying through the 2015 season at an excruciating pace, stopping only to siphon jet fuel from the oil wells of Texas while racing up to 4th in the OWGR.
- Bubba is going for three titles in four years, a feat matched only by Nicklaus (kill me).
- Rory is going for the career grand slam, and if he gets that, then he’s going for the Rory Slam, which might be like, the fifth best story of the week.
- Patrick Reed is going to go full Muhammad Ali in a pre-round press conference, then go trounce the field by six shots.
- Tiger might actually kill someone with a bunker shot, or he might really be back (according to him).
I could keep going, but there really are about fifty different potential scenarios that would make this Masters one for the ages. It’s so hard to put into words, that I’ve resorted to just taking it to podcast form with four separate preview podcasts (Ashley Mayo from Golf Digest, Kyle Porter from CBS, Kevin Van Valkenburg from ESPN, and Fox Sports contributor Shane Bacon. Then again on the first ever “Friends of Tiger” podcast with Shane Ryan. Also a Masters Mailbag). No official preview can acceptably set the scene for what is transpiring this week, but we don’t lay up, so we’re going to at least go for it.
Course
Augusta National Golf Club
“Is this heaven?”
“No, it’s East Georgia.”
You’re going to find everything you need to know about Augusta in lots of other places. It’s the most written about, talked about course in all of golf (at least in the United States). We humbly recommend, though, checking out Adam Sarson’s terrific breakdown of the track on a hole by hole basis. If you want to discuss how to make a perfect-10 into an 11, check out Part II of our Masters preview from last year, where we talked about how we would improve the course. Finally, in Part I of our Masters Preview from last year, we broke down prevailing shot-shapes required for this layout (as well as a whole bunch of 2014 Tiger analysis that went to waste since he didn’t play). All that said, we’ll move on to other parts and try to paint the picture of the place as best we can.
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Vibe
Via Tron Carter:
What I’d like to highlight here is often overlooked about The Masters. First, not enough people realize how centrally located Augusta is within Eastbumblefucknowhere. It borders South Carolina to the east and north, the Savannah River Site (Nuclear YOTTO) to the immediate north, Georgia’s lake country to the west, and absolute nothingness to the south. This isolated location is culturally instructive. In the dozen or so times I’ve been to Augusta, every time for either high school golf tournaments or the Masters, I’ve never actually been to Augusta proper. Not once have I even come close to downtown Augusta. In my mind it doesn’t even exist.
Real life Augusta
Augusta National is an oasis of conservative ideals, Southern charm and manners, and unfettered hoity-toityness smack dab in the heart of a plebeian epicenter. I’m amazed that this doesn’t get talked about more. Washington Road is equal parts rough and tumble strip mall, fast-food joints, and check-cashing shops. In short, it’s the new, somewhat dystopian America. Washington Road is Augusta, Augusta National is not. And yet, just off these wholly populist confines sits Augusta National Golf Club – one of the last bastions of old-school civility, even older-school money, and fraternal ideals. A place that shat on Bill Gates (at the time the richest man in the world) for having the gall to publicly entreaty his desire to become a member. Put simply, the right turn from Washington Road onto Berckmans Road is the very definition of dichotomy. In society and in golf.
I’ve experienced Augusta National five times, three of which were actual tournament rounds. Each and every time, the day began around 5:00AM in Atlanta (not gonna pay $500/night to stay at a Days Inn). The drive along I-20 east is wholly unremarkable (painful even) as you drive through vast stretches of pine forest transfixed by the day that looms ahead. The relative quaintness of the exit onto Washington Road suggests that The Masters is something different, not some big-box golf tournament. Once off the exit, you head a couple blocks east, hang a right, and you’re in the (massive & free) parking lot (or whatever they call it – patron’s vehicle storage?).
The biggest change over the last few years has been the stroll from the lots to the gates. Patrons used to park in someone’s yard, walk in through nondescript fencing, and that was that. Now, those same yards are AGNC-controlled lots (minus the houses) and feed into a corporate-ish environment not unlike that of the entrance to the Kentucky Derby. The new entrance screams “big event”, which strips just a little bit of that allure away. But that allure comes rushing back as soon as you set your eyes on the course. That moment when you realize it actually exists, it’s actually a real place, is beyond special.
Once inside the gates, the vibe is pretty much set to perma-jolliness (think Matt Kuchar) all week. The beauty and greenery of the grounds is awe-inspiring, the history permeates every nook and cranny of the premises, and the beer flows at a remarkably fair price. People are exceptionally happy and decidedly content to be where they are, walking the grounds, and taking in the action. One thing Augusta has always gotten 100% right is the experience of its customers. You never once feel exploited, taken for granted, or marginalized as can all too often be the case at a lot of sports venues. In this way, it’s the very best of Southern hospitality on full display.
Last Year
Nope.
Drinking Game
So many possibilities here. The first inclination is a nice whiskey, but you’re going to be watching so much golf that we can’t suggest getting hammered. We only require this: On Saturday and Sunday, you must be at your television for the exact moment that Jim Nantz comes on and sets the scene. Your household must have complete silence. If that requires putting the two year old down for a nap early, or sending your family to the store for pimento cheese, then you have to be prepared to make that game time call. When Nantz finishes his lead in and drops the obligatory “Hello, friends”, you cheers everyone in your house, text your buddies, tweet it at us, and recognize that you just committed yourself to that couch until Nantz excuses you.
Picks
I’ve placed so many bets over the last six months that it doesn’t make sense for me to make any more picks at this point. Basically, if someone made a somewhat supportable case for any player not named Anirban Lahiri to win the Masters, I took it at face value and just bet it. So here’s what I have (all odds via Sportsbook):
Phil Mickelson (25/1, now 20/1) – Overreacted to him jumping out to the early lead in Houston, but I don’t regret this one. I’m a believer in Phil’s chances. I’m actually surprised he’s not being talked about more. Yes the last year-plus has been a struggle for him, but we do remember him finishing one shot behind Rory at the PGA, right? An