Golfing News & Blog Articles

Without those sulfourous green reading books sidelined this week and with a tightly bunched leaderboard where the slightest mistake could lose a green jacket, caddies take on extra meaning at The Masters.

Ward Clayton filed a definitive piece for Masters.com this week on the art of charting Augusta National compared to normal weeks where more of the charting is already done for players and caddies. How we got here is pretty incredible and there remains so much local knowledge to Augusta National.

Just a sampling from the piece related to the shining star that is 2020:

Yardages are important, especially this week when a landmark such as grandstands are absent and another marker must be documented. But at Augusta National, it’s the greens that are the final exam. Putts that look to break one way do the exact opposite or roll out much more than expected, resulting in head scratching and insecurity.

Willie Lee “Pappy” Stokes, the godfather of Augusta National caddies and a five-time winner as a caddie, quickly figured out a secret that Augusta National caddies carried for decades. In the caddie facilities adjacent to the Tournament Practice Facility, simple framed maps of green complexes hang on the walls. On every drawing, there is a distinct red dot, showing the direction of Rae’s Creek from that green – and the tendency for putts to break to the lowest point on the property when it’s not evident to the naked eye. Many caddies over the years have denoted that red dot in their personal Augusta National yardage books.

There was no disputing that Adam Scott had the unluckiest break at the Masters on Friday, a wretched piece of poor fortune that fully tested the Australian's famous sense of equanimity.

Ariya Jutanugarn announced she has tested positive for the coronavirus and has pulled out of next week's LPGA Pelican Women's Championship in Florida.

Close your eyes. Look at the jam-packed leaderboard. Notice all the big names. You would this is just like every other Masters, loaded with drama and possibilities heading into the weekend.

Tiger Woods remained at 4 under with Masters play suspended due to darkness and will be just off the fairway with his drive at No. 11 when second-round action resumes Saturday.

Bernhard Langer will become the oldest player to make the 36-hole cut at the Masters, topping the record by Tommy Aaron in 2000 by 33 days.

There are some big names -- that's you, Bryson -- who will wake up with work to do on what will be a long and busy Saturday at Augusta National.

While most major 2020 sports events have seen significant ratings declines, day one of the rescheduled Masters fared well. The 2.2 million average nearly caught 2019’s 2.5 million played in the traditional April slot.

From ESPN PR:

ESPN’s live telecast of the first round of the Masters Tournament on Thursday, Nov. 12, averaged 2.2 million viewers, airing from 1 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. ET from Augusta National Golf Club.

With the tournament being played in November after being postponed from its traditional April date due to the pandemic, the audience peaked between 5:15 and 5:30 p.m. at 2.44 million viewers. Last year’s first round, in addition to being played in April, also aired later in the day (3-7:30 p.m.) and averaged 2.5 million viewers.

ESPN will televise the completion of the second round of the Masters at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday. On both Saturday and Sunday, ESPN+ will have live feeds of Featured Groups and Featured Holes during Tournament play.

Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Abraham Ancer and Cameron Smith share the Masters lead at 9 under. Play was suspended due to darkness, and will resume Saturday morning.

The ever-confident DeChambeau hit another wide shot that got lost and led to a triple bogey. He followed that with two more bogeys.

After arguing to no avail after not being able to find his initial drive, Bryson DeChambeau went back to the tee at the par-4 third, drove it again and ended up with a triple-bogey 7.

A day after England's Paul Casey shot 7-under 65, Dustin Johnson and South Africa's Dylan Frittelli matched him once first-round play resumed at the Masters on Friday morning.

It’s fair to say most golfers hadn’t heard of Spornia before last spring.  However, the California-based company finished a close second in this spring’s MyGolfSpy Best Golf Practice Net Buyer’s Guide.

Couple that with the COVID-induced boom in the demand of at-home practice gear and it’s easy to see why Spornia experienced unprecedented success in 2020.

We loved how easy the SPG-7 net was to set up and take down while maintaining a stable platform for both indoor/outdoor use. But, hey that’s just us.

Here’s a chance to find out for yourself.

MyGolfSpy Ball Lab is where we quantify the quality and consistency of the golf balls on the market to help you find the best ball for your money. Today, we’re taking a look at the Srixon Z-Star. An overview of the equipment we use can be found here. To learn more about our test process, how we define “bad” balls and our True Price metric, check out our About MyGolfSpy Ball Lab page.

I hadn’t expected to be circling back around to Srixon so quickly after the Q-Star Tour review but given those findings, many of you were intensely curious about what we’d find with Srixon’s true Tour offerings.

In an informal poll posted on Twitter last week, Z-Star was the overwhelming choice for the next review. No recount necessary. So here we are.

Will the Z-Star positively differentiate itself from the Q-Star Tour? Is there a redemption story to be had with the Srixon Z-Star?

Steve Spurrier remembers every shot. Nick Saban had a chance to break 80 -- until his caddie got in his head. Urban Meyer nearly knocked it in on No. 12. Some of college football's biggest names recall their favorite Augusta National stories.

2020 Masters: Jon Rahm in the 11th hole rough

Given the time of year, Augusta National was never going to be agronomically perfect for the rescheduled Masters. So we’ll gladly look past the thin rye grass and the weak tee turf given the tricky window for laying down rye seed and uncertainty this event would be played.

But in the grand scheme, the clunky rough (a.k.a. second cut) grown is obviously higher this year and no matter the height, contradicts the well-stated philosophy of Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie, the tall stuff looks so shallow and unnecessary on a masterfully-designed course highlighted by width and certainly never embellished by artificial tall grass.

The rough looks curb-like while giving off a grow-in look that is unbecoming of a masterpiece.

The tall stuff is also functionally problematic. From Michael Bamberger’s Golf.com account:

The defending champion and five-time Masters winner managed a first Thursday: a bogey-free opener. Normally a slow starter, Woods has positioned himself in historic position. From GolfDigest.com’s Brian Wacker notes on Tiger’s 2020 Masters 68:

Thursday marked the ninth time that Woods has broken par in the first round of the tournament. On the previous eight occasions, he finished no worse than a tie for eighth. Four of those times, he went on to win, including last year, when he opened with a 70 on his way to a 13-under total and one-stroke victory.

ESPN.com’s Bob Harig shares this from the patron-free grounds of Augusta National.

But Thursday brought him back to familiar ground, and perhaps he willed himself to a good score without the supporters who typically carry him. Sure, his buddy Peyton Manning was there. So was NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. As Augusta National members, they were among the few allowed to attend.

Woods went the entire round without a bogey, a first for him on opening day at the Masters and the first time in any major round since the 2009 PGA Championship -- a span of 105 rounds.

But the U.S. Open champion still managed a two-under-par 70 despite visiting some bizarre locations and double-bogeying the par-5 13th.

Ryan Lavner at Golf Channel.com writes:

How he easily cleared the deep bunkers on the left side of the 495-yard fifth hole.

Said Rahm, laughing: “There were a couple of them that were reality checks (for me).”

Even without any roll, DeChambeau hit hybrid into the uphill, par-5 eighth and had no more than 7-iron into the other three longest holes.

They were lucky to get as many holes in Thursday as they did at Augusta after the worst of rains passed just west of the Masters. Still, a three hour delay in November is a killer for getting threesomes around Augusta National in orderly fashion.

So Friday’s coverage will now commence on ESPN to cover the round conclusion (where Justin Thomas is -5 through ten holes). Second round coverage and all online/app streams will continue on as planned.

Full-field, traditional coverage of the first round of @TheMasters continues LIVE tomorrow (Friday) at 7:30am ET on ESPN. #themasters #golf

If round two is not completed Friday—highly likely—then Saturday morning is also likely to again see round two concluding coverage go live on ESPN (with Woods and DeChambeau in the window).

Depending on how things go, the tournament could still finish on time. But should CBS have to run off to its all-vital NFL game at 4 pm ET, it seems the Sunday option is to turn coverage over to ESPN parent network ABC:

Following Paul Casey’s 2020 Masters opening 65, GolfDigest.com’s Dave Sheloski caught up with Casey instructor Peter Kostis. The longtime instructor, Titleist peddler and CBS announcer is missing his first Masters since 1990, but explains what Casey’s been up to in finding a post-ZOZO Championship game.

“His posture was slumping because of low energy, so that made a huge difference. Then we got his tempo up and he saw immediate improvement,” Kostis said. “That kind of got him going. He got re-energized.”

Increasing Casey’s tempo in his putting stroke to match it up with his swing was one additional tweak. His backswing was too long and slow. “That’s still in the works, and it’s tough to take a putting change to a place like Augusta, but he’s very good and just going out and trying to play comfortably and not worrying about the technical stuff,” Kostis said.

After his round, Casey spoke to media and according to this item by Golf.com’s James Colgan, Casey seems to not realize Augusta National’s greens are bent grass.

“It’s not just the softness of the greens,” he said. “There’s a little bit of Bermuda still in there.  So, the Bermuda has a twofold effect.  One, the greens are very receptive coming in …  And obviously the putts are not as quick as well.”