When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
The weekly free Quad is here and I’ve got State of the Masters press conference highlights and analysis, including Fred Ridley’s surprising detail on Phil Mickelson, tepid women member admittance policies in the past, and course alteration talk…galore.
Plus, a windy forecast, quotes, Champions Dinner highlights, Picks and Reads.
Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson at the 2022 Masters (The Masters)
It wasn’t the prettiest morning but the privilege remained as Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and newcomer Tom Watson kicked off the 2022 Masters.
First, Player’s introduction by Fred Ridley and shot :
Gary Player, three-time Masters champion, has been part of the Honorary Starters since 2012. #themasters pic.twitter.com/2HNE2zImYx
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 7, 2022
And Jack Nicklaus:
63 years since he played in his first Masters, Jack Nicklaus returns once again to be part of the Honorary Starters. #themasters pic.twitter.com/pf7vKzE3Tz
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 7, 2022
Watson gave an impromptu speech as only he can to show his gratitude in joining the festivities.
With 15 top-10 Masters finishes and a legacy that will last a lifetime, Tom Watson joins the Honorary Starters. #theMasters pic.twitter.com/AXMu9McRop
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 7, 2022
The group held court in the media center after and I’ll have a full roundup in the Quadrilateral.
The Augusta Chronicle’s Doug Stutsman filed a sensational read on how the tradition of club caddies ended in the early 1980s, with fantastic anecdotes from several former champions, caddies and contenders. The Hord Hardin Society migth not be so thrilled but Clifford Roberts comes off well.
Carve out a few minutes for this one.
A teaser:
Forty years later, few original Augusta National caddies are still living. Stovepipe, Pappy, Fireball, Eight-Ball, Iron Man, Cemetery and Willie Peterson are all deceased. Bussey suffered a stroke during the COVID pandemic and is confined to a Richmond County care facility. Yet a handful remain active and healthy, and have an unwavering opinion of 1982.
Jariah "Jerry" Beard, who piggybacked Masters rookie Fuzzy Zoeller to the 1979 jacket, spends his days slapping balls at Augusta Municipal. The local kid worked his first Masters in 1957 and said the majority of caddies relied on two annual events to pay bills: Masters Week and The Jamboree, a three day member-member bash held each March.
“The club is closed all summer, so caddies depended on those events to make ends meet,” Beard said. “Clifford Roberts always had our back. Mr. Roberts made sure we were taken care of. But when Hord Hardin took over, he turned his back on us real bad.”
Groupings were announced on a soggy Tuesday in Augusta and evaluated.
Plus, quotes galore, player insights into the course changes (with photos!) and more in the latest edition.
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It’s a good reminder of how dramatic each of his victories here have been and how much time separated numbers four and five.
Equally remarkable, if not more, was his fifth green jacket in 2019 after Woods returned from four surgeries on a lower back — the last one to fuse his spine — in such bad shape that he feared he might never be able to play again.
In between was his most historic Masters victory — the Tiger Slam — when Woods made it a clean sweep of the four professional majors in a span of 294 days. The feat remains his alone.
A video crew for Masters.com received exclusive access to Tiger Woods’ Sunday practice around and the official site has shared an edited package. Unfortunately it’s more glossy than meaty so it’s tough to tell much about his game, though he’s definitely taking an aggressive lash at the ball. The course was closed to all other media and spectators.
Really a tremendous goodbye to Judy Rankin at the 2022 Dinah/Chevron Championship and in classic fashion she was a bit embarrassed to be taking away from Jennifer Kupcho’s winning moment.
Tiger Woods heads to the course (Geoff Shackelford)
As promised in celebration of 4/4/22—a Triple quadrilateral, this one is open to all to sample as we begin a busy week in Augusta.
There’s a healthy preview here for all to sample.
As noted on April 1, the dudes of Dude Perfect brought their antics to Amen Corner complete with Jim Nantz narration.
It’s what the kids demand!
Hole locations for the third round of #ANWAgolf at Augusta National. pic.twitter.com/jfkhpKZDvw
— Augusta National Women's Amateur (@anwagolf) April 2, 2022
With all 30 cutmakers within six strokes of the lead held by Beatrice Wallin and Latanna Stone, the 2022 ANWA is set for a wild finish. NBC coverage begins at noon ET.
Players teeing up at Augusta National also face a tricky call: who to have on the bag. Paul Rogers and Hailey Hernandez ask and report on the big decision.
Players were still afforded a round at Augusta National after storms delayed the second round into the traditional mid-tournament practice day. Adam Woodward queried players about the most challenging holes.
Spectators arrive at the 2019 U.S. Open (Geoff Shackelford)
Continuing a concerted effort to go to America’s greatest courses and ensure that future Executive Committees have nothing fun to do, the USGA is set to lock Pebble Beach in through the end of the 21st century.
In announcing the latest “anchor site,” the 2100 U.S. Open “will ensure the next generation can celebrate the 100th anniversary of Tiger Woods’s 15-stroke win in the 2000 U.S. Open,” said the press release which also announced 14 championships for the famous seaside course.
From the release:
“In a world so secure with a future as clear as a sunny day on the Monterey Peninsula, we can’t be more delighted than to announce the securing of Pebble Beach as the site of our national championship for decades to come,” said USGA Chief Championships Officer John Bodenhamer. "It really is a relief to have gotten this deal done for the betterment of the USGA, the Pebble Beach Company and the world’s best golfers who want to play the very best courses. And we have contingency plans should the 18th hole be taken from us.”
Sources say the USGA contract with the Pebble Beach Company includes several “out” clauses should ocean levels rise and take out the finishing holes.
“This also keeps Facebook from taking Pebble,” said the source in an apparent reference to USGA fears of losing courses to an anticipated U.S. Meta Open. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has instructed his rebranded company to invest heavily in all aspects of the “meta” universe, down to landing site rights to a future national metaverse golf championship.
“Pebble is Zuck’s number one goal for a U.S. Meta Open and he’s demanding exclusivity for a $1 billion offered,” said a USGA source. “We had talks with him about making it the 16th USGA championship but he wanted access to the social security numbers of our members. He probably has them anyway, but institutionally that was a deal killer.”
In addition to the 2100 U.S. Open, the USGA will go to Pebble Beach every five years for a significant championship starting in 2032. The course will host four more U.S. Women’s Open’s. The 2053 U.S. Senior Women’s Open will celebrate the 30th anniversary of next year’s 2023 U.S. Women’s Open winner at Pebble Beach.
Other announced events include the 2055 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, 2062 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur and the 2077 U.S. Open to commemorate Lanny Wadkins’ PGA Championship win.
“That’s for when the PGA of America is over Frisco by then and desperate to return,” said the source.
A 2068 date was also secured for a new championship not yet announced, though sources say it may be at the recently renovated Peter Hay Course and called the “U.S. Senior Mixed Team Four-Ball Par-3 Course Open.”
Due to budget cuts and tax-incentive driven move to Connecticut, Golf Channel ratings have flatlined and the “brand” diminished despite housing all early round PGA Tour coverage. The once highly-profitable and popular channel is now down to 63 million homes from a peak of nearly 80 million just a few years ago, causing NBC Sports to shift early round U.S. Open and The Open coverage to USA Network.
To stop the bleeding, network executives are said to be mulling an aggressive plan to win back nostalgic viewers. Sources say the initiative, dubbed internally as “Since Holly’s No Longer An Option,” centers around regular weekly late night showings of Tin Cup, the Ron Shelton-directed movie once airing so often that Cheech Marin bought two ocean front homes just off his Golf Channel residuals.
“Someone upstairs equates the film with our Golden Age instead of anything from the original programming, documentaries or award-winning feature department,” said a source. “So get ready for a lot more Tin Cup. Seems Tommy’s Honour just isn’t clicking with the millennials.”
Another source added: “It’ll be expensive, but say goodbye to late night infomercials for Villages insomniacs like Relief From Inflammation, Forgetful?, Try THIS Trick, and Bye Bye Neck Pain. They think this will get the channel’s average age viewer back into the mid-70s.
A third source in Hollywood and connected to actor Don Johnson added, “It’s his most layered role and worthy of more study. So it’s a win-win-win.”
Sponsors like Sqairz golf shoes, penile health pillmaker Xiaflex, Preparation H and crooner Mike Stone have signaled renewed interest in scooping up more premium ad time if Tin Cup returns.
A network spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
In a bid to make the traditional-but-often-stilted Green Jacket ceremony more appealing, Augusta National Golf Club will institute several changes in 2022. Some of the changes can be traced to the needs of documentary crews filming for the forthcoming Netflix series, which initiated conversations about inside access to the ceremony and an overall view of members whose grandchildren say the club needs to appeal to the “next generation.”
Sources cautioned that the changes recently outlined in a memo to the Butler Cabin And Wine Cellar Committee remain fluid and may be subject to change after rehearsals with CBS. But the Club expects all or most of the ceremony modifications to be incorporated when this year’s winner is given the Green Jacket.
In the most shocking change, Jim Nantz will step aside from his ceremony-hosting duties after 27 years. CBS’s more youthful Amanda Balionis and Colt Knost have been tabbed to interview the champion after a successful test run at this year’s WM Open’s 16th hole. Sources say Nantz has never been more loved by the club, and that the move is a pure youth play aimed at a demographic willing to wear Birdie Juice rope caps.
The highlight package used to bridge the gap from tournament completion to Butler Cabin ceremony will be replaced by a pre-taped trick shot performance from Dude Perfect. Filmed recently at Amen Corner and featuring Bryson DeChambeau, the club sees the Dudes as a more festive lead-in thanks to their faith-based, giant lawn dart trick shots.
The 2022 Champion will be allowed to leave his cap on inside Butler Cabin. Should the winner choose, he can wear it backwards in a subtle nod to millennialism and better face lighting for the inevitable tears of joy. Netflix reportedly lobbied hard to letting the Champion switch into their preferred private jet attire of hoodie, joggers and sneakers. But time constraints and logo-exposure issues tabled the idea.
The winner of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, as well as all age group winners in the Drive, Chip and Putt will be flown in and positioned on green suede sofas made from repurposed carpet fibers. They will be behind the Champion, the defending Champion and Low Amateur, who will sit on vintage bar stools instead of Butler Cabin’s traditional wood furniture. Consideration was given to covering the Butler Cabin fireplace and installing a fire pit in lieu of a coffee table, but the idea was scrapped by the club’s Fire Marshal.
Chairman Fred Ridley will take off his tie and go with an open-collared dress-shirt look. He also will not shave all week in hopes of sporting some stubble by Sunday. The aesthetic was crafted in consultation with the club’s tailor and Netflix’s hair and make-up team. Ridley also reportedly tested out a hoodie-under-the-blazer motif. “We just couldn’t find the right color hoodie to go with the Green Jacket and Fred worried about his mobility wearing so many layers. The last thing he wants is a repeat of the Bubba-Billy handshake whiff, but the Netflix people thought that would be hilarious.
Spokespersons for Augusta National, CBS and Netflix did not initially respond to requests for comment.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
