It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Masters Week in Augusta is something that’s part of the very fiber of Augusta citizenship from an early age. Spring break’s dates are altered, vacations are planned and businesses prepare for a massive influx of patrons. And there’s a golf tournament going on, too.
This will be my fifth Masters in a row on-site at Augusta National Golf Club with CBS Sports, and I’m happy to report that the grounds are as immaculately manicured as ever ahead of the big week. With fans returning in full force for the first time since Tiger Woods’ triumphant victory in 2019, you’d better believe that not a blade of grass will be out of a place and nary a pinecone will be found resting where it shouldn’t.
But in a place where things seem never to change, regardless of what’s happening outside the tree-lined gates, changes have indeed been made to two of the course’s most iconic holes.
In its annual media guide, Augusta National announced that 35 yards have been added to the course’s yardage through two main alterations.
“Masters tees moved back 15 yards and to the golfer’s left,” on No. 11, the guide reads. “Fairway recontoured and several trees removed on right side.”
On No. 15: “Masters tees moved back 20 yards and fairway recontoured.”
This brings the total yardage of the par-72 course to 7,510 yards. Longer hitters have always held a slight advantage at Augusta National given the less-penal rough and need to have manageable approach shots into Augusta’s maddening green complexes. These new changes may be even one more tick further in the long hitters’ direction.
The depth of talent in golf is as good as it’s ever been, and as young as it’s ever been, too. The Official World Golf Ranking has been around since 1986, and the top five golfers in the world are all under the age of 30 for the first time ever. Those golfers are new world number one, Scottie Scheffler, along with Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland and Patrick Cantlay.
However, golf is not simply a young man’s game at Augusta. Having experience at Augusta National has proven to be a pre-requisite for success. Not since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 has a Masters rookie (or debutant, in Masters’ terms) donned the iconic Green Jacket. It’s the same reason why some of the Masters veterans like Fred Couples and Larry Mize continue to play the event and actually shoot respectable scores. And they’re nearly triple the ages of some of the game’s brightest stars.
And, of course, there is the ever-looming Tiger Woods question.
As of time of publication, the five-time Masters champ remains listed as “in the field” for this week’s event, a status very much in question following Woods’ Feb. 23, 2021 car accident that left the golfer with significant leg injuries. He played in the PNC Championship with his son, Charlie, in Dec. 2021, but has not played a sanctioned round of golf since then. The 15-time major winner has been purportedly playing golf in Florida ahead of Masters week in an attempt to gear up for yet another Green Jacket run, but the golfing world will have to wait until Thursday morning to see if golf’s favorite son actually tees it up.
As if there weren’t enough storylines to follow this week, I called in the aid of two friends at Golf Digest to offer up under-the-radar picks for this week’s tournament that casual golf viewers may not know about quite yet.
“One player I’m fascinated to watch at this year’s Masters is Belgium’s Thomas Pieters, who once posted one of the quietest T-4 finishes in tournament history in 2017. Back then — but really just five years ago — Pieters, then 25, was a European star in the making, having already made a Ryder Cup team a year earlier and picking up three wins on the DP World Tour.
In the years since, he’s gone through some struggles on the course, and thus hasn’t been the force he was expected to be after that top-five finish as a Masters rookie in 2017. This week will mark his third career appearance in the event, and just the first since 2018, when he missed the cut.”
“Sam Burns ain’t your average debutant. There’s nothing average about three wins in 10 months on the PGA Tour. If he had played in a few Masters Tournaments and missed the cut, you might bet him to win — so why not do it? Yes, course experience is crucial here, but Burns might be good enough to buck trends. Heck, Will Zalatoris had a shot to win last year — and he has three fewer wins than Burns. This is the biggest disparity in terms of talent and betting odds, and I’m going to capitalize on it.”
I’ll be keeping a close eye on these two golfers and so many others as Augustans and tourists alike experience the first fully-attended Masters since Tiger Woods’ triumphant victory back in 2019. Feels like a decade ago. And remember, Team Pimento Cheese, always.
Tyler Strong is a correspondent and the former business editor of The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com
