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The Masters

TL’s Sunday Sports Notebook | April 9

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By TERRY LYONS

Can you imagine plotting and planning, scheming and teaming-up with some buddies to score tickets and attend The Masters at Augusta National only to have it rain? Worse that rain, it’s raw, damp and unpleasant … a.k.a “inclement weather,” which has suspended play in the mid-afternoon or both Friday and Saturday’s rounds.

The Masters is the jewel of professional golf’s Major tournaments, outclassing the PGA Championship, The Open and The U.S. Open. It is to golf what Wimbledon is to tennis or what the Boston Marathon is to long distance racing. It is the best.

With that tag, it is a very tough ticket.

That’s the way current Augusta National head honcho Fred Ridley and his predecessors – all good olde boys from the South – in Clifford Roberts (1931-76), Bill Lane (1977-80), Hord Hardin (1980-1991) – it was under Hardin’s era when the first black member of Augusta was approved – Jack Stephens (1991-98). Hootie Johnson (1998-2006) and Billy Payne(2006)-2017) – all wanted it.

The Masters evolved and improved with age. It awkwardly navigated the prejudicial ways of the past regarding African-American members and membership for women, as it wasn’t until Billy Payne’s watch when the first female members were introduced.

Despite it’s flaws, and its old-school policies all fighting modern technology and 24/7 sports coverage, the Masters remains pure and has proven-out the “less is more” theory of sports broadcasting.

Nowadays, there’s streaming coverage of the Amen Corner and Featured Groups, but the TV right are only in the pocket of CBS Sports. They’ll be on at 8:30am this morning and 2:00pm this afternoon to cover a rain-soaked tournament and hopefully tuck it in before “60 Minutes” starts at 7:00pm in the east.

Thankfully, unlike college basketball, CBS sports anchor Jim Nantz will stay on with his coverage of The Masters.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The Masters – as stated above – is truly one of the “Bucket List” events for any sports fan. What are the others? Here’s a list facing this reporter and a list of Bucket List items already checked-off.

BUCKET LIST EVENTS to COME (Hopefully):

  1. The Masters
  2. Winter Olympic Games
  3. Super Bowl
  4. Pebble Beach golf
  5. Kentucky Derby
  6. French Open and Australian Open

FIVE BUCKET LIST EVENTS CHECKED OFF:

  1. Summer Olympic Games (Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Athens)
  2. NCAA Final Four
  3. World Series and Stanley Cup Final
  4. U.S. Open (golf and tennis)
  5. NHL Winter Classic

(Note: The BIG EAST Tournament in New York and the ACC Tournament (1990 in Charlotte) are high on the list, as was a UCLA vs USC game at The Rose Bowl). There are far too many NBA events to list, but I might place the 1992 NBA All-Star Game in Orlando with Earvin Magic Johnson’s return to play as No. 1 and the 2004 NBA China Games in Shanghai and Beijing with Yao Ming as No. 2).

LIV vs PGA TOUR: The playing of the 2023 Masters re-united the best golfers in the world as members of the upstart LIV Golf tour were permitted to compete alongside their former colleagues on the PGA Tour. “It’s good to be back,” said Phil Mickelson on his return as he’s currently T-8 with 71-69 in the books and EVEN par.

Off the course, LIV and the PGA Tour will still do battle in the court of law, as this past Friday, Judge Beth Labson Freeman of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California vacated a Jan. 11, 2024, trial date and pushed back the start of the trial at least four months, citing reasons of the need for more time for discovery stemming from the coffers of the Saudi Public Investment Fund which has bankrolled LIV golf to absurd lengths of signing bonuses and payoffs for 54-hole tournaments.

The disputes involve eleven LIV Golf players who filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour on Aug. 3, 2022, accusing the tour of using its monopoly powers to squash competition.

On Sept. 29, the PGA Tour filed a countersuit against LIV Golf, accusing it of interfering with its contracts with players. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan suspended more than 30 players for competing in LIV Golf tournaments without conflicting-event releases.

Meanwhile with LIV golfer Brooks Koepka at the top of the Masters leaderboard, it bodes well for the rival tour and its competitive business model.

The 2023 Masters Tournament Preview

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By TERRY LYONS

AUGUSTA – The 2023 Masters Tournament is the first major championship of the 2023 pro golf season and second event that offers 600 FedEx Cup points to the winner. In 2022, Scottie Scheffler earned his first career major championship title and fourth win of the 2021-22 season with a three-stroke victory over Rory McIlroy. Scheffler went on to win the Jack Nicklaus Award as PGA TOUR Player of the Year while McIlroy captured his third career FedEx Cup title. They enter this year’s Masters as the two highest-ranked players in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Scheffler has two wins this season, including THE PLAYERS Championship.

Three players have successfully defended a title at the Masters Tournament: Jack Nicklaus (1966), Nick Faldo (1990) and Tiger Woods (2002). Scheffler is 1-for-3 in title defenses on Tour this season, with a victory at the WM Phoenix Open and Top-5 finishes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (T4) and WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play (4th).

The only player to win THE PLAYERS and the Masters in the same year is Tiger Woods in 2001. Woods is also the last player to successfully defend multiple titles in the same season, doing so four times in 2007.

The Masters 2023 | Special Discount | Best offer of the PGA Tour Season

Preview | The Masters

COURSE: Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia

ARCHITECT: Dr. Alister MacKenzie and Bobby Jones Jr.; Perry Maxwell in 1937

YARDS/PAR: 7,475 yards/Par 72

2023 PRIZE Money/First Place Winnings: At least $15,000,000/$2,700,000

DEFENDING CHAMPION: Scottie Scheffler

PAST RESULTS: (link)

PAST CHAMPIONS: (link)

FEDEx CUP Points to Winner: 600

SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @The Masters

TV COVERAGE: Special coverage of the Par Three Tournament today from 12:00 Noon (ET) on The Masters site. ESPN will provide tournament preview coverage 3:00pm to 5:00pm (ET).

Tournament Info and How to Watch/Stream The Masters: (NBC Boston)

How to Watch Par 3: In case of changes, visit: (Masters.com)

The Basics:

Tournament site: The Masters

The Masters –  Tee Times start Thursday at 8:00am (ET) and go to 2:00pm (ET).

Weather: Thursday’s forecast is for cloudy skies. Temperatures range from 67-to-84 degrees with a 17% chance of rain. Winds at 8mph. Weekend forecast is calling for rain with a 64% chance of rain on Friday, a 96% chance on Saturday and 79% chance on Sunday.

Notes:

Three-time FedEx Cup Champion Rory McIlroy will try to become the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam with a win, joining Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen. McIlroy was the only player to finish in the Top 10 at all four Majors in 2022 (2nd/Masters, 8th/PGA Championship, T-5/U.S. Open, 3rd/The Open).

2015 Masters winner Jordan Spieth holds the lowest scoring average of any player in tournament history (min. 25 rounds) at an average of 70.71 (Others: Second-lowest: Tiger Woods, 71.05). Spieth also holds the tournament records for low opening 36-hole score (130, 2015) and low opening 54-hole score (200, 2015; tied with Dustin Johnson, 2020). Spieth has three top-10s on the season, highlighted by a T3 at the Valspar Championship.

Six players have six or more PGA TOUR wins in the last five seasons, including Patrick Cantlay (seven wins in that span) and Max Homa (six) are the only two among the group that have not won a Major championship in their careers. At No. 4 (Cantlay) and No. 5 (Homa) in the Official World Golf Ranking, they are also the two highest-ranked players in the world without a win in a major. Cantlay has made six starts at the Masters and earned low-amateur honors in 2012 (T47) while Homa is making his fourth appearance after making the cut for the first time in 2022 (T48).

Although they went to great lengths to avoid controversy during Masters Week, the LIV Golf tour and the PGA Tour managed to make some waves when Augusta National decided against inviting former multi-time Majors winner and Masters runner-up Greg Norman to the tournament. Norman is currently serving as Commissioner of LIV Golf. (link)

“Green Hot” Scheffler Takes The Masters

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AUGUSTA – FedEx Cup leader and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler won the 2022 Masters Tournament, earning his first major championship title and fourth career PGA Tour victory. Amazingly, all four wins have come in his last six starts.

Scheffler became the first player to win four times in a six-start stretch on the PGA Tour since Jason Day in 2015 and the sixth player to win in his first PGA TOUR start as World No. 1 and sixth World No. 1 to win the Masters

Paying tribute to Augusta National, 82-time PGA Tour winner and five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods finished 47th in his first start on the PGA Tour since the 2020 Masters. He said he was “grateful” to be able to compete after suffering leg injuries in a terrible car accident sidelined him all this time. Woods walked with a noticeable limp on Saturday and Sunday and posted his highest scores ever at The Masters.

Players to win the Masters Tournament as World No. 1:

  • Scottie Scheffler, 2022
  • Dustin Johnson, 2020
  • Tiger Woods, 2002 and 2001
  • Fred Couples, 1992
  • Ian Woosnam, 1991

TL’s Sunday Sports Notebook | April 10

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox will depart New York after tonight’s first ESPN Sunday Night Baseball game against the Yankees, then chill-out in Detroit for a three-game set against the Tigers Monday to Wednesday (two afternoon games) before heading home Thursday for the Friday, April 15, 2:10pm (ET) home opener against the Minnesota Twins at Fenway Park.

Minnesota’s SP Sonny Gray is scheduled to throw against Boston SP Nick Pivetta unless the weather forecast throws a change-up. The four-game set against the Twins concludes with the 11:10am (ET) start on Patriots’ Day, Monday, April 18th – the holiday in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts known best at the day of the famed Boston Marathon.

Reading the Boston Red Sox Tea party leaves this early in the season is nearly as impossible as forecasting the weather. After all, when the Red Sox were playing the New York Yankees on Saturday, Boston saw sunshine and spring-like settings turn to ominous skies, snow, hail, thunder and rain before returning to a beautiful spring evening.

That unpredictable weather pattern might equate to the Sox pitching roster, once again, as Nathan Eovoldi, Pivetta, Tanner Houck, Michael Wacha and Rich Hill could prove to be a formidable staff which can be super-sized if Sox star Chris Sale can return to form at some point mid-season. Currently, Sale is on the 60-day Injured List with rib injuries. He’ll begin throwing next week.

James Paxton, acquired by Boston for a single year deal for a lofty $10m, is recovering from Tommy John surgery last April when he was a member o0f the Seattle Mariners.

One-time Sox closer Matt Barnes is already banged-up as the season begins but could return soon. Until then, it’s bullpen by committee with newly extended four-year contract holder Garrett Whitlock carrying the load with Ryan Brasier and Hansel Robles. Matt Strohm andJake Diekman round out the relievers from the southpaw side. Josh Taylor, a 61 game reliever last season, has been out on the IL with a bad back but could return within weeks.

If you’re scoring at home, that pans out to create uncertainty every time Eovaldi, Pivetta, Hill, Wacha, Barnes and eventually Sale and Paxton take the pitching mound to start a game, whether it be at Fenway or on the road.

Of course, pitching is the key element for all teams to contend in the American League East as the Toronto Blue Jays, Yankees, and Tampa Bay Rays are all worthy to compete for playoff berths while the Baltimore Orioles are likely to hold up the rear in the division but are fast improving.

Lets take a look at the Vegas odds for the American League title as of Opening Day:

  • Toronto Blue Jays | +400
  • Chicago White Sox | +500
  • Houston Astros | +500
  • New York Yankees | +500
  • Tampa Bay Rays | +850
  • Boston Red Sox | +1000
  • Los Angeles Angels | +1000
  • Seattle Mariners | +1000
  • Minnesota Twins | +1700
  • Detroit Tigers | +2300
  • Cleveland Guardians | +4200
  • Texas Rangers | +4800
  • Kansas City Royals | +5000
  • Oakland Athletics | +6000
  • Baltimore Orioles | +16000

In the National League, there’s rarely a bar room argument that the LA Dodgers, Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres all have an edge and the New York Mets could contend if starters Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer can combine for 35-40 wins. Meanwhile, while last year’s surprise club, the San Francisco Giants, have slipped.

Here are the Vegas Opening Day odds for the National League title:

  • Los Angeles Dodgers | +175
  • New York Mets | +500
  • Atlanta Braves | +550
  • Milwaukee Brewers | +750
  • San Diego Padres | +750
  • Philadelphia Phillies | +1000
  • San Francisco Giants | +1000
  • St. Louis Cardinals | +1400
  • Miami Marlins | +3400
  • Chicago Cubs | +4800
  • Cincinnati Reds | +6500
  • Washington Nationals | +6500
  • Colorado Rockies | +11500
  • Arizona Diamondbacks | +18000
  • Pittsburgh Pirates | +25000

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: As long as the odds are laid out so nicely, there’s no reason not to make early season predictions for Divisional Winners, Wild Cards, League Championship Series contenders and the winner of the 2022 World Series.

Here now, the picks:

American League:

Divisional Winners: Toronto Blue Jays*, Chicago White Sox, Houston Astros*

Wild Cards: New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, LA Angels.

ALCS: Toronto vs Houston with the Astros advancing to the World Series.

National League:

Divisional Winners: Atlanta Braves*, Milwaukee Brewers, LA Dodgers*.

Wild Cards: San Diego Padres, New York Mets, SF Giants.

NLCS: LA Dodgers vs. Atlanta Braves with the Dodgers advancing.

World Series: LA Dodgers over Houston Astros, 4-games-to-2.

THE MASTERS: There are a few sporting events which take on a “Carnegie Hall” level of prestige in the sports world.

They are:

  1. The Masters
  2. Wimbledon
  3. The Kentucky Derby
  4. The Ryder Cup
  5. The Boston Marathon
  6. The Breeders’ Cup
  7. Tour de France
  8. Monaco Gand Prix

This week’s Masters is living up to its rightful place in sports. The headline-grabbing storyline is the return of Tiger Woods to competitive PGA TOUR golf. While Woods has been both impressive and competitive, his rivals are atop the leaderboard heading into the final round.

The Leaderboard:

Scottie Scheffler – (-9)

Cameron Smith – (-6)

Sungjae Im – (-4)

Shane Lowry – (-4)

Charl Schwartzel – (-4)

Tiger Woods is T-41 at (+7)

Scheffler has won three times in his last five starts on Tour.

IT’s JUST A FANTASY: For this column, rarely do I delve into Fantasy Sports and share my fantasy team ups and downs, whether it be NFL Football or MLB Baseball. And, while we’ve been known to play every kind of fantasy sport imaginable, from Olympic Basketball and Ice Hockey to World Cup to NBA to NBA Playoffs to NFL Playoffs to PGA TOUR Golf to NBA Summer League to – well, you get the idea, the completion for NFL regular season, PGA Golf and the long run of MLB Baseball are the three I’ve settled for over the past five or six years.

The Baseball fantasy league is called the “Teddy Baseball League” to honor the great Ted Williams and its weekly winner is crowned the “Dean RosenTeam of the Week” in memory of one of the league’s former team owners who passed away all too soon. The Teddy is a hybrid of fantasy baseball with the first 17 players for each team picked in “auction” style of bidding, then the final 14 players are picked in snake-draft order to fill-out a 31 player roster for 11 teams.

The standings are rotisserie style, not head-to-head, so it is a long marathon of a season.

The franchise, worth billions – I am sure, is the Chathams, named after one of my favorite places on earth in Chatham, Massachusetts – on The Cape. We are often tagged as “The Cape Codders.” And, that’s alright with me. The Cape Cod Baseball League is a favorite for sure and there will be more on that this summer.

The Chathams have an active owner and a seasoned veteran of a General Manager and head of Analytics in Craig Glazer. The league competition is tough. No team misses a beat, nor a prospect, nor a mistake of a cut. Line-ups are set weekly, on Monday when there’s five minutes before the first pitch of the first game of the week. It’s great.

Our strategy – which has been no secret to our fellow league franchise owners – is to go heavy on offense, grab at least one stud or semi-stud Starting Pitcher, one formidable Reliever for saves and then do our best to fill-out the rest of the line-up. In taking this road to the Teddy Title, we need to thread the needle, acquire a couple up & coming stars who pan out and pray to the heavens our top offensive gems stay healthy.

That was not the case last year when Ronald Acuna Jr. was injured in mid-season and with his injury, so were the days of our Teddy triumph to be. We were also sunk when Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Cody Bellinger, a superstar level player, had his worst season EVVV-AHHH.

That was last year, this is this year. Here is the line-up and I’ll not the bidding numbers for a few of the top players. (A side-note, the most expensive player in the auction was our very own $42 bid for Juan Soto of the Washington Nationals. That came out of a $202 budget).

Here’s our club:

  • Shohei Ohtani LAA, DH – $23 (a surprise that he went for under $30-$40).
  • Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Tor, 1B – $35
  • Juan Soto Wash, RF – $42
  • Gerrit Cole NYY, SP – $35
  • Rafael Devers Bos, 3B – $33
  • Jacob deGrom NYM, SP – $6 (deep discount with 60+ day IL)
  • Marcus Semien Tex, 2B – $17 (shocked he didn’t get more bidding)

That’s where the budget kicked-in and we were left to fill nine players at $1 and one player at $2.

That resulted in the rest of the roster consisting of:

  • Edwin Diaz NYM, RP
  • Taylor Rogers SD, RP
  • Tyler Stephenson Cin, C (a target going into the draft)
  • Austin Meadows Det, LF (shocked he was still available)
  • Amed Rosario Cle, SS
  • Ty France Sea, 1B
  • Jeimer Candelario Det, 3B
  • Eduardo Rodriguez Det, SP
  • Lance Lynn ChW, SP (currently on IL)
  • Josh Bell Wsh, 1B

The snake-draft portion of the night brought:

  • Luis Severino, SP, NYY
  • Andrew Benintendi, OF, KC
  • Jordan Montgomery, SP, NYY
  • Ian Happ, OF, CHC
  • Randal Grichuk, OF, COL
  • Marcus Stroman, SP, CHC
  • Corey Kluber, SP, TB
  • Matt Brash, SP, SEA
  • David Bednar, RP, PIT
  • Reid Detmers, SP, LAA
  • Nick Senzel, OF, CIN
  • Seth Beer, 1B, ARI
  • Josh Rojas, 2B, ARI
  • Kendall Graveman, RP, CWS

A rare, pre-opening day trade sent Senzel, Meadows and Bednar outbound while we filled a weak middle infield position with Dansby Swanson, along with outfielder Anthony Santander of Baltimore and 1B Eric Hosmer.

That’s the club – for now – as transactions have and will continue each and every week of the season. Next update?

How about the 4th of July and then September 1 and October 1?

Scheffler Leads By Three at Augusta

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AUGUSTA – FedExCup leader and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler holds a three-stroke lead over PLAYERS Championship winner Cameron Smith entering the final round of the Masters Tournament today. Both players in the final pairing (Scheffler and Smith) are in the Top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking and Top five in the FedEx Cup standings. Both have won multiple times on the Tour this season.

There have been 15 PGA Tour events played in the calendar year 2022. Scheffler and Smith have combined to win five or one-third of the Tour events.

Scheffler has three wins in his last five starts on Tour. Five players have won the Masters after entering the week No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking and five players have won on Tour in their first start as World No. 1.

Those five players to win in their first start as World No. 1, including one at the Masters are:

  • Dustin Johnson, 2017 WGC-Mexico Championship
  • Adam Scott, 2014 Charles Schwab Challenge
  • Vijay Singh, 2004 RBC Canadian Open
  • David Duval, 1999 BellSouth Classic
  • Ian Woosnam, 1991 Masters Tournament

Fan favorite, 82-time PGA Tour winner and five-time Masters Tournament champion Tiger Woods recorded a third-round (78), his highest score in 93 career rounds at Augusta National.

The Masters announced this year’s purse with a record $15,000,000 up for grabs and $2,700,000 going to the winner.

 

Leaderboard | Going into Final Round

Scottie Scheffler 69-67-71—207 (-9)

Cameron Smith 68-74-68—210 (-6)

Sungjae Im 67-74-71—212 (-4)

Shane Lowry 73-68-73—214 (-2)

Charl Schwartzel 72-69-73—214 (-2)

Full Leaderboard: (link)

Moving Day at The Masters

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AUGUSTA – FedEx Cup leader and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler holds a five-stroke lead after the second round of the Masters Tournament, tying the largest 36-hole lead in tournament history for the sixth instance. Scheffler is the first player to lead by five strokes or more after the second round of a major championship since Brooks Koepka at the 2019 PGA Championship. Scheffler has won three times in his last five starts on Tour.

To no surprise, 82-time PGA Tour winner and five-time Masters Tournament champion Tiger Woods enters the third round tied for a respectable 19th place and made his 22nd consecutive cut at the Masters, one shy of the tournament record held by Fred Couples and Gary Player.

Defending champion Hideki Matsuyama enters the third round T2; last player to successfully defend title at the Masters was Woods in 2002.

Notables to miss the cut: Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka, Xander Schauffele, and Bryson DeChambeau.

Louis Oosthuizen withdrew from the tournament, joining Paul Casey in the WDs.

Leaderboard | After 36 Holes

Scottie Scheffler 69-67—136 (-8)

Charl Schwartzel 72-69—141 (-3)

Sungjae Im 67-74—141 (-3)

Shane Lowry 73-68—141 (-3)

Hideki Matsuyama 72-69—141 (-3)

Wind Blowing at Augusta

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AUGUSTA – Windy conditions at Augusta National will be a major factor today as the second round of The Masters gets underway with 8:00am (ET) tee-times. Although the forecast is for sunny skies and temperatures ranging from a chilly 49-degrees for first tee times but warming to 66-degrees by 5:00pm (ET), winds will blow at 3 mph in the morning and build to 21 mph by 5:00pm (ET).

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To say the least, shot making and putting will be an adventure today, especially for the later afternoon groups. That will include Tiger Woods, Louis Oosthuizen and Joaquin Niemann who tee-off at 1:41pm (ET). Niemann, yesterday, shot three-under (69) and is two shots off the leader, Sungjae Im who carded five-under (67).

Woods, an 82-time PGA Tour winner and five-time Masters Tournament champion, opened with a 1-under (71) and is T-10 in his first competitive round since the final round of the 2020 Masters (508 days ago).

Defending champion Hideki Matsuyama is T-19 after shooting even-par 70. The last player to successfully defend his Masters title was Tiger Woods in 2002.

Cameron Smith (2nd) and Scottie Scheffler (T-3), both winners in their most recent starts on the Tour, are within two strokes of the lead. The last player to win on the PGA Tour and win a major in his next start was Jordan Spieth, at the 2017 Travelers Championship In Hartford and the Open Championship in Britain.

Scheffler, who has three wins in his last five starts, is making his first start as World No. 1 (also No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings). Four of the six players at T-3 or better have won on Tour this season, combining for seven wins (3/Scheffler, 2/Smith, 1/Sungjae Im, and 1/Joaquin Niemann).

Two past champions are tied for third place: Dustin Johnson (2020) and Danny Willett (2016).

Leaderboard | After 18 Holes

Sungjae Im 67 (-5)

Cameron Smith 68 (-4)

Danny Willett 69 (-3)

Joaquin Niemann 69 (-3)

Scottie Scheffler 69 (-3)

Dustin Johnson 69 (-3)

Full Leaderboard: (link)

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Woods to Play at The Masters

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AUGUSTA – Five-time Masters Tournament champion Tiger Woods will make a “game-time decision” on whether he can return to competition this week and as of Tuesday night, it looked like a go after a “phenomenal” practice round, according to former Masters champion Freddie Couples who played a round with Woods.

Woods suffered significant injuries to his right leg and ankle in a February 2021 car accident and has not competed on the Tour since the 2020 Masters. The 508 days between the final round of the 2020 Masters and first round of the 2022 Masters would be the second-longest span between competitive rounds of Woods’ PGA Tour career.

Scottie Scheffler will enter the Masters Tournament holding the top spot in both the FedEx Cup standings and Official World Golf Ranking. Scheffler has wins in three of his last five starts and is the first player to win three times in a PGA Tour season prior to the Masters since Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas in the 2016-17 season.

Due to inclement weather and safety concerns, Tuesday’s practice round was suspended at 10:55am (ET) and the course at Augusta National Golf Club was closed for the rest of the day.

Preview | The Masters

COURSE: Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia

ARCHITECT: Dr. Alister MacKenzie and Bobby Jones Jr.; Perry Maxwell in 1937

YARDS/PAR: 7,475 yards/Par 72

2021 PRIZE Money/First Place Winnings: $11,500,000/$2,070,000

DEFENDING CHAMPION: Hideki Matsuyama

PAST RESULTS: (link)

PAST CHAMPIONS: (link)

FEDEx CUP Points to Winner: 600

SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @The Masters

TV COVERAGE: Special Wednesday coverage from 12:00 Noon (ET) to 5:00pm (ET) on The Masters site. ESPN will provide preview coverage 3:00pm to 5:00pm (ET).

The first two rounds of The Masters (April 7 & 8) are scheduled for coverage from 8:30am to 7:30pm (ET) on The Masters Network.  On Saturday, coverage is set for 10:00pm to 7:00pm (ET) on the Masters and 3:00pm to 7:00pm (ET) on CBS. On Sunday, The Masters goes from 10:15am to 7:00pm (ET) and CBS coverage runs from 2:00pm to 7:00pm (ET).

PGA TOUR LIVE STREAMING on ESPN+: Streaming coverage from The Masters (April 7 & 8) is scheduled for coverage from 8:30am to 7:30pm (ET) on The Masters Network/ESPN+. On Saturday, coverage is set for 10:00pm to 7:00pm (ET) on the Masters and ESPN+ while Sunday The Masters streaming goes from 10:15am to 7:00pm (ET) on the home site and ESPN+

PGA TOUR RADIO COVERAGE: Live Tournament coverage will air each day, April 7–10, starting at 2;00pm (ET) and running through the completion of play. Additionally, each day before the broadcast begins, SiriusXM will provide live look-in coverage of featured groups during its programming in the morning and early afternoon. … Several new acclaimed voices join the SiriusXM broadcast team this year. Mike Tirico will be the lead play-by-play voice from 4pm ET through the conclusion of play each day. World Golf Hall of Fame member Curtis Strange will be the lead analyst for the Saturday and Sunday rounds.

Rose Holds Slim Lead After 36 Holes at The Masters

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PGA Tour Brunch Coverage of the Weekend at The Masters

By TERRY LYONS

AUGUSTA – England’s Justin Rose will attempt to become the first wire-to-wire winner at the Masters since Jordan Spieth (2015). Rose followed up his opening round (65) with a hard-fought par (72) on Friday. Rose has nine birdies on the back nine through two rounds, tied for the most at the Masters in the last 30 years.

Will Zalatoris birdied his final three holes for a 4-under (68), which moved him within one stroke of Rose, the 36-hole leader. Zalatoris is seeking to become the first player to win in his debut Masters appearance since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.

Embed from Getty Images

Jordan Spieth (T-4) at five under (-5) leads the field with 30 greens hit in regulation, his most through two rounds at the Masters, including his 2015 tournament when he won the Green Jacket.

Bryson DeChambeau (T-17) followed his first round (76) with a 5-under (67) for a nine-stroke turnaround – his largest in a major championship between rounds one and two.

Brian Harman (T-2) at six under (138) is the only player in the field to shoot sub-70s with 69-69.

Matthew Wolff shot 76-79 (155) but was DQ’d. The Statement from Masters Tournament HQ: Following his second round, Matthew Wolff returned a scorecard with a hole score lower than he actually made on hole 17. He was subsequently disqualified under Rule 3.3b(3).

Early tournament leader Hudson Swafford at (-2 after four holes), MTC with 73-83 (156).

Defending Masters champion Dustin Johnson missed the cut after shooting 74-75. Other “big names” to MTC included: Georgia native Matt Kuchar, past Masters champion Sergio Garcia, Daniel Berger, Brooks Koepka, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, Jason Day, and Sungjae Im.

Masters Leaderboard After Second Round:

Justin Rose 65-72—137 (-7)

Will Zalatoris 70-68—138 (-6)

Brian Harman 69-69—138 (-6)

Marc Leishman 72-67—139 (-5)

Jordan Spieth 71-68—139 (-5)

Full Leaderboard: (link)

36-hole cut: 54 professionals at 3-over (147) from a field of 85 professionals and three amateurs. An amateur failed to advance to the weekend for the first time at the Masters since 2015.

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Justin Rose Shot a 65 to Take Opening Round Lead at The Masters

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Rose Fires Six Under on Back 9

By TERRY LYONS

England’s Justin Rose burst onto the professional golf scene as an 18-year old with a (T-4) and low amateur honors at the 1998 Open Championship. He’s won the 2013 U.S. Open and the gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games. At the Masters, he’s had a (T-2 in 2015) and an outright runner-up at the 2017 event. In Thursday’s opening round of the 2021 Masters, he shot a blazing 7-under (65), including his six under, six birdies on the Back Nine.

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Rose tied Jack Nicklaus for the most first-round leads/co-leads in Masters Tournament history. (4 times).

Rose’s round began with a bogey on the Par 4 first and one other bogey on the Par 4 seventh hole, and then the magic began. Rose carded an eagle on the Par 5 eighth and proceeded to birdie seven of the next 10 holes to finish two off the Masters/Augusta National course record of (63) – shared by Nick Price (‘86) and Greg Norman (‘96).

Rose played his first 13 Masters without missing a cut, but that streak ended in 2019. Last November he finished (T-23) and was listed as a 70-1 shot by William Hill to win this event.

Brian Harman (USA) and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama shot impressive opening round three-under (69) and stand four off the lead. Four professionals shot two-under (70) and are (T-4) after 18 holes.

Tournament favorite, Dustin Johnson shot a two-over (74) and other favorites were, at least five off the leader. Patrick Reed fared best (two-under, 70); Jordan Spieth, the winner at last week’s Valero Texas Open and the 2015 Masters champion, shot one-under (71). Spain’s Jon Rahm shot even par (72) and is T-13th after 18.

Justin Thomas is among 10 players (T-20th) after his +1, (73).

Johnson is among 22 players (T-30th) and is joined by former Masters champions Bernard Langer (1985, ‘93), Charl Schwartzel (2011), Bubba Watson (2012, ‘14), and Adam Scott (2013). Some of the PGA Tour’s highly-ranked players like Brooks Koepka, Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick are also (T-30).

Masters Leaderboard After Opening Round:

Justin Rose 65 (-7)

Brian Harman 69 (-3)

Hideki Matsuyama 69 (-3)

Will Zalatoris 70 (-2)

Webb Simpson 70 (-2)

Christiaan Bezuidenhout 70 (-2)

Patrick Reed 70 (-2)