The Masters Golf Tournament tees off Thursday at the Augusta National Golf Club for the 84th time in its long and iconic history. Because of the pandemic, the traditional mid-April date for the Masters was rescheduled for mid-November. It will be the same Augusta National as far as treacherous greens, Rae’s Creek and feast-or-famine par-5s. It will not be the same Augusta National because the weather will be cooler while the magnolias and azaleas won’t be in full bloom. Because of limited daylight, contestants will start their rounds on both the first and 10th tees. The tournament also will be without spectators.
Nonetheless, whether it’s an April Masters or a November Masters, we’re still talking about one of golf’s four major championships. The best golfers in the world will be teeing it up in Georgia in just five days and the endgame is not only a winner’s check of slightly more than $2 million, but also a place in the history of the game as the 2020 Masters champion.
During the last decade a threesome of very talented and very young golfers were the dominant linksters on tour when it came to prognosticating major championships. Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka each garnered four majors while Jordan Spieth added three grand slam titles to his golfing resume. However, all three of the aforementioned stars have had issues of late, whether it’s with consistency, their health or their swing. For McIlroy, a Masters victory would put him onto golf’s version of Mount Rushmore alongside Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tiger Woods as winners of all of golf’s four majors. McIlroy needs a Masters triumph to go with his 2011 U.S. Open title, his pair of PGA Championships in 2012 and 2014, and a British Open win in 2014. However, Rory has played inconsistently of late and he is better known for breaking clubs than for recent victories. Koepka, who finished second by one stroke to Tiger Woods at the 2019 Masters, is struggling with a variety of physical ailments. Spieth has lost his way on the golf course and continues to fight his swing.
Of course, the talk leading into this year’s Masters revolves around the newfound power of Bryson DeChambeau, the reigning United States Open champ. DeChambeau had been a top-notch 20-something golfer who won titles and money, but didn’t make an impact in the majors. During his off-season of 2019 coupled with time off in early 2020 because of the pandemic, Bryson hit the weight room and added bulk and muscle to his frame. He suddenly morphed into a middle linebacker and the end result was that he was able to overpower Winged Foot this past September while winning by six strokes. DeChambeau was the only golfer in the field to finish under par. One month earlier he had finished in fourth place at the PGA Championship at Harding Park. It seemed as if he found the magic potion for success in the majors.
We’re obviously dealing with a new version of Bryson DeChambeau. Golf’s “Mad Scientist” has spent his recent time off working with an elongated 48-inch driver. Feedback from his practice sessions includes tee shots that carry more than 400 yards. Augusta National has always rewarded golf’s big hitters as evidenced by the fact that Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer have won a combined 15 Masters titles. Yet it is also a course that rewards a creative short game and a brilliant putting stroke. Seve Ballesteros, Ben Crenshaw and most recently Zach Johnson are a testament to that. In the end, for DeChambeau to prevail at Augusta National he’ll need to control those big drives and chip and putt brilliantly as well.
DeChambeau is not alone when it comes to power golf. When he won the U.S. Open in September, the likes of Matthew Wolff, Dustin Johnson, John Rahm and Justin Thomas were hitting it just as far as Bryson. The same will hold true this time around even if DeChambeau has added an extra 30 yards off the tee with a super long driver. On top of that, Augusta National is an old-style Alister Mackenzie and Bobby Jones design with a myriad of holes that dogleg to the right and to the left. You’ve still got to find the fairways.
Justin Thomas has to be considered one of the favorites. He has a PGA Championship on his golfing resume and one naturally assumes he will add more majors over time. His game has all the right components for success. Dustin Johnson also has one major title, the 2016 U.S. Open, and yet unlike his 20-something contemporaries, DJ is 36 years old and has been a professional for 14 years. He has also been sidelined of late from the COVID virus. If Dustin should end his career with just one major, he would have to be seen as an underachiever. He is very good, and yet he’s let more than a few majors slip through his fingers.
Now might be the time for one of the tour’s new breed to step into the limelight, just like Collin Morikawa and DeChambeau did earlier this year at the PGA and the U.S. Open. First and foremost on that list of most likely to break through and win a major is Xander Schauffele. Xander has an all-around solid game and historically does well on traditional golf courses. He too finished in second place at the 2019 Masters, one stroke behind Tiger. John Rahm is another young golfer who is close to his breakthrough moment on tour. He finished in the top 10 at last year’s Masters. Patrick Cantlay also has the all-around game to win at Augusta National and he is in great form, having won two weeks ago. Finally, a dark horse pick who has had a degree of success at Augusta National is Tony Finau. He was also in the top 10 at the 2019 Masters and can bomb it with the longest of hitters.
Tiger Woods is the defending champion and yet we might look at his 2019 Masters win as a last hurrah. During 2020 Tiger has ranked 245th in total driving, 224th in greens in regulation, and 171st in putting. Phil Mickelson, a three-time Masters titlist, also has seen Father Time adversely impacting his golf game. While he has two wins on the Champions Tour, he is ranked 60th in the world and is currently 174th in Fed Ex Cup points. Phil is 50 years old.
The 84th annual Masters Golf Tournament tees it up Thursday at the Augusta National Golf Club. There are 96 golfers in the field. This will mark the first time that the Masters has not been contested in the spring. The golf course will look differently and it will play longer because of the colder temperatures in Georgia in November. Yet there is a major title to be won and the greats of the modern era will be there. Expect the eventual champion to be a 20-something who is long off the tee, solid with his irons and creative with his putter.
