Thursday, November 12, 2020

A tradition unlike any other

 Oh 2020 you annoying son of a bitch. Now you've gone and messed up the Masters once again. You already caused it to move from April til November but now with your weather forecast the first round has been delayed. As if you needed anymore reason to hate 2020. Well at least I can share with you my thoughts going into the tournament. The front runners for the green jacket are the normal cast of characters. Justin Rose, Bryson DeChambeau, Tiger Woods. There isnt much in terms of shocking new comers this year. However if you follow the masters you know that someone who is a long shot always finds a way to make it interesting on Sunday. With the tournament moving to November, it did open up the interesting visual of seeing the most beautiful course in golf shrouded in fall colors. The normally lush green trees that line the fairway and encircle Amen corner will not be an amazing array of fall colors. Thats one plus of having it this time of year. The other interesting part is something we are all slowly becoming accustomed to seeing and that is no fans will be allowed on the hallowed grounds of Augusta National this year. While that will seem weird i think it will actually improve some players games. Not having a group of people around you while you make a birdie putt on 10 might calm some people and it may lead to some lower cards being turned in. A quick side note about the no fans thing, The people at the masters have decided that anyone who did have tickets to this years event will be able to still purchase all the cheap food and things they offer which i thought was pretty cool. With not much else to watch this weekend i was really looking forward to having 4 straight days of masters golf. Which brings me to my next point. CBS has had the masters for i think about 60 years now. Why cant they show all 4 rounds? It was until 1995 that the first 2 rounds even got shown and even then the coverage starts at 3pm. This year they have conceded and will start at 1pm but still it tees of around 730am every day. So there is about 5 hours of coverage im missing. Unless you get the official masters app. (not an ad just the only place to watch every shot). Ive heard that the decision for that range of coverage is not the fault of CBS but rather the people at the masters wanting to stick to their traditions and keep some allure of the tournament. Which if that is the case im ok with to an extent. I do think its time for them to bend a little and start getting with the times. I think it was only a few years ago that they finally let women into the club and onto the course so i guess they are making progress in the same sense the artic ice is melting. Getting into the masters has always been something of a challenge but yet a fun one at least in my opinion. You either have to win a raffle to buy tickets, or you can try to get them on the secondary market. Those prices rival super-bowl ticket pricing. Last year i saw a grounds pass on a second hand website asking for 5600 for access to just Sunday. Needless to say if never win the raffle and can buy tickets at a normal rate ill just enjoy watching it at home. Adding along to the growing list of people testing positive for Covid-19, 2018 masters champ Sergio Garcia has tested positive and will miss this years event. Tiger woods is looking to win his record tying 6th Masters tournament this year. After totally blowing out the competition last year in his triumphant return to the masters after missing 3 of the last 4 due to back surgeries and complications from a foot fusion. Tiger is more then likely going to be the big favorite heading into Sunday. Assuming the weather and 2020 doesn't continue to suck!


RIP Alex Trebek 

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