AUGUSTA, GEORGIA | While the daddies and their children spent Wednesday afternoon playing par-3 golf for the family scrapbook, and thousands gathered to watch between bites of their $1.50 sandwiches, the Masters needed just one more thing.
Another sunrise.
Everyone has put their work in. Everyone has a plan for Augusta National’s equation. Everyone imagines themselves in a green jacket Sunday evening.
“Something I dreamt about as a kid,” Bryson DeChambeau said.
Some of the pre-tournament work will matter. Much of it won’t, once a slope takes a slightly off-line approach or a gust catches a tee shot above Rae’s Creek. Nevertheless, it is all about getting to the first tee on Thursday feeling ready.
Jon Rahm has played in eight previous Masters. Every year but one he made a pre-tournament trip to Augusta to reacquaint himself with the place. The one year he didn’t come in early he won.
Rahm didn’t make a pre-tournament trip this year because of scheduling challenges.
“If I win this year, then I definitely won’t come again early,” Rahm said, the hope dripping like a drawl in his voice.
There is a romance to the notion that the Masters doesn’t truly begin until the back nine on Sunday, but the reality is what happens in the first round on Thursday tends to be the ultimate truth-teller.
Only three times since 2000 has a player outside the top 10 after the first day gone on to win the Masters and it hasn’t happened once since Tiger Woods, who was tied for 11th after one day in 2005.
That’s where this Masters stands, hours before Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson slap their ceremonial tee shots into the morning chill just past sun-up Thursday.
That helps explain Rory McIlroy’s particular challenge at the Masters. In his last six starts, the only time he has been inside the top 30 by sundown Thursday was last year when he was T14 after one day.
It only feels like this Masters begins and ends with whatever McIlroy does this week. No pre-tournament detail is too small.
When asked on Tuesday if he’s reading anything in particular these days while he waits for the Masters to begin, McIlroy revealed the book on his nightstand is a John Grisham tale titled “The Reckoning.”
Perfect for Rory at Augusta.
A satisfying read?
“It’s got off to a pretty good start,” McIlroy said, perhaps prophetically, perhaps not.
That’s where this Masters stands, hours before Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson slap their ceremonial tee shots into the morning chill just past sun-up Thursday.
It is the most anticipated event in golf even if the prevailing narrative suggests McIlroy and defending champion Scottie Scheffler are the Marvel superheroes in this story. McIlroy would be the one in the cape, Scheffler would be the quiet one with every superpower known to golf.
As Scheffler approached the ninth green during a practice round, a woman watching with her friends said, “There’s Scheffler … he’s probably going to win again.”
Her friends nodded in agreement.
Under the sprawling live oak behind the Augusta National clubhouse where the beautiful people tend to gather, the air is cool and crisp, the jewelry sparkling in the spring sunshine and the inevitable edge that comes when play begins won’t fully arrive until the first double bogey is made Thursday.
Much of the beauty of the Masters is all that comes with the golf itself. There is a pageantry to it, especially when the weather cooperates and paints the greenest place in golf in shades of blue and gold.
Practice round tickets are precious, tournament tickets more precious and it’s not unusual to see patrons – they’re not fans, they’re not spectators, they’re patrons – carrying big bags full of merchandise around Augusta’s famous hills, looking a bit like Christmas shoppers in movies.
There is an undeniable magic to the Masters and Augusta National. Some of it is man-made, some of it is kissed by nature and some of it seems conjured up by whatever spirits inhabit the place, tapping various men on the shoulder every April.
Nike went so far as to script Masters-themed outfits for Scheffler’s 11-month old son, Bennett, saving mom, Meredith, a trip through the hour-long line at the merchandise pavilion.
To the regulars, the early days have been a chance to scope out the damage Hurricane Helene’s wind and rain did to the sacred layout. It’s noticeable, particularly the new views of nearby Augusta Country Club and the airiness down around the par-3 sixth and 16th holes, but Augusta National looks as beautiful as ever, the pink and purple azalea blooms still providing pops of color around the property.
An underground parking garage for the players has been built under the members’ practice range since last April, but it’s invisible without a precious player’s badge granting access to the subterranean facility.
There is an undeniable magic to the Masters and Augusta National. Some of it is man-made, some of it is kissed by nature and some of it seems conjured up by whatever spirits inhabit the place, tapping various men on the shoulder every April.
It’s where silver-haired Ben Crenshaw eats lunch beneath an umbrella behind the clubhouse wearing his green jacket while the foursome of Adam Scott, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Fred Couples plays a practice round, waiting for Thursday.
It’s a time when skipping a ball off the water on the 16th hole is done in fun rather than the result of weekend nerves. It’s a time when Ángel Cabrera has returned, having done his time in an Argentinian prison, to reclaim his seat at the Tuesday night Champions Dinner.
It’s time to welcome one more sundown because the Masters is just one sunrise away.