by Gary Williams | Jun 14, 2024 | Blog
The grandiosity of the U.S. Open was on display on Thursday. Big crowds ringing many of the holes at Pinehurst, in particular the 1st when the top three players in the world teed off, made it look and feel significant. I’ve not heard of any shuttle nightmares or logistical issues yet, but the presentation of the championship and the physical footprint is very impressive.
Tiger Woods was off early, and his day began quite well with an opening birdie on the par 5, 10th hole. He also added a few nice par saves before a rash of bogeys on five of seven holes in the middle of his round. His 74 will put him likely on the cut line as he begins his round tomorrow afternoon.
Brooks Koepka got off to a very nice start and was at -3 through 10 holes and tied for the lead. He gave those three shots back on the inward 9 but his opening round of 70 puts him in the mix with an afternoon time tomorrow. I want a good round on Friday just to see if he’ll talk to the media.
Patrick Cantlay’s opening round of 65 is not surprising at all. What is surprising is his major record being so modest in contending. He simply hasn’t and he’s too good. He and Rory McIlroy are on the opposite sides of the draw but a Saturday pairing with those two is delicious. Friction is sports is a great ingredient and those two have friction.
Rory’s 65 was very impressive. He didn’t make a truckload of putts which speaks to the quality of the ball striking. He displayed a wonderful array of shots from different heights and shapes. He executed his plan exceptionally well and Friday morning gives him an opportunity to lay down a weekend marker for a very late Saturday tee time.
Bryson DeChambeau was not a favorite because of the chipping requirements and the penal nature of the native areas. He put on a very stout ball striking round and the likelihood of him contending in back-to-back majors just got ramped up. He’s off early Friday as well and can set himself up with a another good one in round two.
Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele labored all day, but they managed 71 and 70 respectively. Great players salvage things and don’t waste things. We live on the spectacular but winning relies on the mundane and the minimizing of mistakes. They did it day 1 but they need better on day 2.
Sergio Garcia and Tyrell Hatton getting in the mix would be spicy and so appetizing with the possibility of petulance. Keep it up boys.
Justin Thomas was just out of sorts and his inability to save pars from reasonable distances likely ended his week before lunchtime on Thursday.
The U.S. Open radio team can be heard on the course with the earpieces. They should be available at the big events. You stay connected and the broadcast is tremendous.
Pins I liked on Thursday. Holes 4-7-11-13-18. Pins I didn’t love for a Thursday 2-6-15-16. It’s not about them being poor pins, although 6 was dicey, it’s that I would like to see a few of them later in the week.
For a golf course that has so many beefy par fours the truth is that the closing hole is actually very gettable. Keep that in mind as we head to the weekend.
1-2-3 in the world are going to set the tone for a cut down Friday. Onward.
by Gary Williams | Jun 13, 2024 | Blog
When you conduct the U.S. Open in Pinehurst you are in an environment where the players, dignitaries, administrators and sponsors are self-contained in a small village. Dinners, breakfasts and simply walking around you are likely to bump into tons of people who play or used to play. Wednesday morning, I met some friends for breakfast at the Carolina Inn the historic hotel that sits ½ mile from the resort and the first tee at Pinehurst No. 2. I said good morning to Matt Kuchar in the coffee shop and he expressed utter delight at the hotel and the village. He couldn’t believe how charming everything was from the shops to the history of the hotel.
I had a nice chat with three-time U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin who was an invited guest for the hall of fame ceremony as an enshrined member and who was doing what you do when you win the championship three times, you monetize it, even 34 years after the last win. I also had a brief chat with the 2014 champion Martin Kaymer who returns as a guy people struggle to remember won the last time the event was here.
The USGA press conference was thorough and reflective of an organization that has made a massive commitment to Pinehurst, not only for the U.S. Open, but so many of their championships. Mike Whan knows how to talk and say something which is not a guarantee. The organization is in good hands with a pragmatic CEO and a golf lifer in John Bodenhamer who focuses on setting up the championship venues.
I talked to Randy Smith, Scottie Scheffler’s long time swing coach, and Randy embodies the Scheffler team. Straight forward and focused on the golf and only the golf. Scottie was playfully messing with Tom Kim’s golf bag and this is the fourth time in the last month I watched Scottie and Tom mess with each other. Kim has surrounded himself with the right people at the top of the game with Scheffler and Jordan Spieth in his adopted hometown of Dallas.
Standing on the top side of the Thistle Dhu putting course this afternoon it showcased why Pinehurst is so well positioned to host the biggest championship of the USGA. The massive putting green, the short game area and the Cradle, which is being used as the range is the greatest practice footprint in golf. The scope and scale amplifies what is needed now to host the biggest events in golf and with fans surrounding the entire perimeter of the area it is a majestic site.
At 2 pm I was standing on the first tee when Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy began their nine-hole two-ball practice round. Both players played irons off the first tee, and I saddled up to walk close by as they put the finishing touches on their U.S. Open prep. Rory hit driver on 2, 4, 5 and 8. He hit iron off the tee on 7 but hit a second ball with driver to take on the dogleg. He pulled it slightly into the left native area. Iron off the tee left him a short iron for his second. The crowds for a Wednesday afternoon were massive and when Rory and Kaymer played the second hole the gallery extended a few people deep from tee to green.
Having played No. 2 almost 75 times in my life I still marvel at a few features. The 2nd green is so unorthodox it’s hard to explain. Effectively the green 2000 square feet of useful area and the runoffs are menacing. I walked completely around the 5th green, and the runoff front left is sinister. You have to hit the ball nine steps into the green to avoid it running back off and into the native area 15 yards short and below the green. The native areas and crude bunkering that guard the right-hand side of the 7th fairway is art. That hole summarizes what Coore/Crenshaw executed when they restored the golf course in 2011.
Leaving the property at 5 pm the golf course is so prepared to star. The dry conditions since Sunday night have the golf course completely in the hands of the USGA. I never push back on another’s likes or dislikes regarding golf courses, so I know there are folks who are not totally smitten with No. 2, but I am for many reasons. Its nuanced, it’s not all aerial, there are options and the whole place is golfy. I think this is going to be special and I think the door is open for a few players down the marquee who will shine.
Some names I like to have good weeks. Thomas Detry, Tom Hoge, Russell Henley, Aaron Rai and Akshay Bhatia.
You can make reasonable cases for 8 to 10 players and I expect Collin Morikawa, Cam Smith, Xander Schauffele and Rory to contend but this comes down to the best player not having to be his best but be better than everyone else and I expect Scottie Scheffler to thrive under the conditions and pressure.
Scheffler wins. Enjoy Day 1.
by Gary Williams | Jun 12, 2024 | Blog
Tuesday was a dry, warm day and the rain that fell at Pinehurst No. 2 on Sunday night was a temporary respite for the field of 156 players who would love to see the golf course softened some before the gun goes off on Thursday morning. Temperatures are expected to continue rising as the week progresses and the golf course has a dry firmness that will allow No. 2 to play at its most interesting.
Tuesday is always a big press conference day and the mid-morning saw a flurry of top players make their way into the interview room. In a 45-minute window Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm and Tiger Woods met the assembled media and as is customary, Tiger spoke to a packed house. With each passing major championship press conference Tiger is asked less and less about his approach to winning and more about the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and this week with his son Charlie in tow Tiger shared his feelings about Charlie’s understanding of his golf swing. He also reflected on his career in USGA championships on the day he will receive the Bob Jones award in a ceremony on Tuesday night.
Hovland is quickly becoming a very good listen in the press room. He’s curious, reflective and his sudden pivot back into contention at the PGA with his reunion with instructor Joe Mayo have made him a necessary pre-championship presser.
Jon Rahm walked in with a sandal on his ailing left foot and got temporarily defensive as he did at the Masters and PGA when questioned about his performance in 2024. Jon continued to show his dedication to having historical context about what has transpired at Pinehurst in past U.S. Opens but after a media session, and consulting with multiple doctors Rahm withdrew before 5 pm. His major championship season is one event away, The Open Championship, from being an abject failure.
Bryson DeChambeau explained how he is a completely different person than he was five years ago as he pursues another U.S. Open title. He shared how he wants to complete the career grand slam and took it deep explaining his “run out’ numbers on the increasingly fast Pinehurst fairways.
Sitting in the interview for the session with 2014 winner Martin Kaymer was a little odd. There were four media members present, me included, and it felt like an intimate conversation as opposed to a press conference. Martin has always been a delightful guy and gave great perspective on seeking a level of play anywhere close to where he was 10 years ago.
Rory McIlroy was a late arrival on the property. He entered the press building in sweats from head to toe having just arrived at the nearby Moore county airport. Having not played the golf course yet his session focused more on state of game and 2014 reflections as opposed to his gameplan. He shared how the only real goal he has, big picture, is to be considered the greatest European player of all time but that he is very proud of his body of work.
PGA champion Xander Schauffele has moved on from his victory at Valhalla and was emphatic that he’s focused on now and spent little time basking in the biggest win of his career. I conducted a one-on-one interview with him after his press conference for SiriusXM and he gave a great explanation on the challenges of missing greens at No. 2 and that the greater challenge is not only where to miss but the value of having the right angle into the greens.
World #1 Scottie Scheffler walked into the interview room at 4 pm after playing the back nine. He will play the front on Wednesday to complete his prep. I also interviewed him one on one and asked him if he had seen “Bull Durham” and of course he had not. I shared with him the line from Crash Davis, “A player on a streak needs to respect the streak but they don’t happen very often.” He attributed the streak in part to a stat I shared with him about him leading the tour in “bounce back” birdies. He simply won’t look back and does not project ahead. He is determined to be where his feet are. He laughed and said, “ask me about a movie that was made after I was born”. Fair point.
It was interesting to observe Brad Faxon, who will be a co-lead analyst on the TV broadcast, working with Vanderbilt all-American Gordon Sargent on the practice putting green. Sargent is a freakish ball hitter with extraordinary speed, but his putter is his weak link and with Mark Blackburn in place as his full swing coach and now Faxon being a part of the team Sargent is locked in with elite instruction.
I spent 20 minutes talking with legendary club professional Bob Ford. Ford is the first tee announcer for the U.S. Open and is also a past Bob Jones award recipient. Ford shared with me that his former club, Oakmont, the host of the 2025 U.S. Open is looking spectacular after restorative and renovated work under the direction of Gil Hanse.
I walked across the entire footprint of the property on Tuesday, and I think the USGA has nailed it. Maniac Hill, the driving range at the resort, has been converted into a hospitality village. Huge big screens, countless food vendors, a mini merchandise building provide a massive area to eat and drink and watch golf in the heart of the property just to the left of the 18th hole.
I caught up with executive producer of the television broadcast, Tommy Roy of NBC, and got his thoughts on the presentation of the golf course. Tommy is a golf nut, and he will ensure that every single player in the field will be seen hitting a shot over the course of the first two days. He believes if you make into the U.S. Open you deserve to be seen on the broadcast.
The scale of the build out on 18 will give the closing hole a grand look. The multi-level structure running up the left side of the hole that wraps into the clubhouse in the rear is the kind of stage that is appropriate after last year’s 18th hole at Los Angeles Country Club that didn’t allow for a massive structure on the 18th hole because of the proximity to the 1st hole at LACC.
Tee times released Tuesday revealed that world number 1, 2, and 3 Scheffler, Schauffle and McIlroy will play the first two rounds together. In the late/early wave.
The final day of prep awaits which will include the USGA press conference from Mike Whan and John Bodenhamer and expect them to be asked about exemptions, world rankings, LIV golfers and the anchor sites.
A day closer to the 124th US Open.
by Gary Williams | May 27, 2024 | Blog
Cunning, baffling, powerful. I heard those three words for the first time in a treatment facility where I was an inpatient being cared for and counseled for the disease of alcoholism. Those words are not simply part of the lexicon of anyone in recovery, they are the cold facts about the disease that can be treated but not cured. Grayson Murray knew those words and I believe he had a true understanding of what those words will always signify for anyone in recovery. That while we all want the daily reprieve from our condition, it never offers a guarantee beyond today. Because the most sinister word associated with the disease of addiction and alcoholism beyond cunning, baffling, and powerful is the word patient. The disease has one objective, and only one, it wants your life.
It waits and while progress is the objective, and there is no doubt in my heart and mind that Grayson was making progress, that we all are a day away from being a little more vulnerable and that progress is suddenly in peril. Promotions, engagements, success, material achievement can all be nice, but it will never override or replace the demons that reside in the mind of anyone with mental illness associated with depression and alcoholism. Grayson lived with what anyone in recovery lives with and that is the stark truth that our daily reprieve from our disease is just for today.
Most alcoholics think they are terminally unique. I most certainly believed that no one else thought the way I did. Consumed in every waking moment by knowing I couldn’t go a day without it, making sure I always had enough and going to lengths so insane to be fortified with my master by my side or nearby that I put everything that I valued in jeopardy. Everything. Career, family, friends, LIFE. The thought of living without the thing that helped me escape reality was so daunting I developed anxiety and depression. It’s also not complicated that those things are a byproduct of alcoholism since treating depression with a depressant is not a complicated equation to see the result. I have no answers, but like every alcoholic I have my story and my story shared with others in recovery have helped me achieve peace and purpose, but just for today.
I met Grayson when he was 17 years old, and he was a superior talent. Because of his personal relationship with very close friends of mine I paid attention to his path, and it was a turbulent one. From afar he exhibited the behavior of someone I recognized, myself. Restless, irritable and discontented are how most alcoholics go through their days. Grayson, like anyone pursuing something like elite professional golf, are susceptible to ebbs in their behavior but his pattern was more acute, and it was just that, a pattern. Despite his growing challenges to manage and control his drinking and thinking, Grayson saw success. It really speaks to the extraordinary innate ability he had to play the game of golf to win golf tournaments while managing something that doesn’t stall out. Alcoholism is progressive and although each of us may have functioned to varying degrees the inevitability of it winning in its pursuit of destruction is simply what happens unless one decides they can’t take it anymore. The number of paradoxes associated with the disease are endless but the introduction to the first one is simple, to win you must admit complete defeat. Win starts with survival but with a daily commitment to treating your condition, peace and joy are attainable.
Grayson’s decision to seek treatment was a start and there is nothing more therapeutic for the mind of a person in the depths of addiction than to unplug, sleep, leave the outside world behind and begin to heal your heart and mind under professional supervision. Re-entry into what was left behind can be disorienting but Grayson’s performance was not accidental. More importantly, his willingness to share his journey and his vulnerabilities was reflective of another paradox about the disease. To keep your own recovery, you must give it away. Giving away your truths, your fears and talking about your journey, whether publicly or privately within the recovery community, helps you while helping others. Remember, we don’t have answers, but we have our story, and the identification of behaviors, thoughts and feelings gives those who thought they were the only ones who thought similarly the hope we all thought was gone. Grayson’s performance at the Sony Open made me cry, not because of how he won but because of how he expressed himself when it was over. Gratitude. Led with it and it was permeating through the eyes of a young man who looked into the abyss and turned away from it. Immediately I reached out to him to tell him how happy I was for him, not just because he won but because he had found a faith in himself and he didn’t look, for the first time in forever, restless, irritable, and discounted. Peace is something I can’t adequately explain. Free of guilt, shame and years of deceit is so liberating that you wake up saying out loud, “I didn’t lie to anyone yesterday”.
Grayson joined me on my 5 Clubs podcast ten days after his win at the Sony Open and I asked him in advance if he was comfortable having a truthful conversation with a fellow alcoholic and he said, “Let’s do it Gary, we are in this together”. His emotion and gratitude have stayed with me far more than the reflections on how he won again on tour. It is haunting to hear him express how his dad had lost his best friend to the disease and how he feared for so long about his parents getting the most dreaded call parents could ever receive about a child. He expressed purpose and grace on that day. He was not being dishonest and that is a realization in the recovery community that we focus on today, control what we can, accept what we can’t and express love and tolerance. Undeniably, Grayson was doing that, and he was making progress.
I hugged him in the parking lot at Augusta National on Tuesday of Masters week. He was clear eyed, but he displayed a vulnerability that was simply different. It was not a warning but simply reflective of being present and not truculent and numb. A month later, I hugged him again in the parking lot at Quail Hollow, the week he had his mom with him for the Wells Fargo Championship where he finished tied for 10th and we greeted each other the way many people in recovery do with not a nonchalant “How are you?” but “Really don’t bullshit me, how are you?” The following week we greeted each other again outside the clubhouse at Valhalla with our customary hug and hold and the look into each other’s eyes. There is a telepathy amongst most people in recovery and it’s not complicated while the disease is full of complexities. It’s simple, I’m here, whenever and wherever. My hand and my heart will always be there if you need it.
I always go through scores on leaderboards and look for certain players and Grayson has been one for the time well before he got sober. I saw on Friday that he WD’d and thought nothing of it. On Saturday I was doing an interview with Danielle Tucker, at 1 PM eastern time, from Hawaii when my phone starting ringing repeatedly and I was receiving a blizzard of texts messages. I finished the interview and called Taylor Zarzour who oversees the PGA Tour radio network for SiriusXM. He told me of Grayson’s death with the compassion of a dear friend, which he is, and told me they were likely to halt play at Colonial once all the family was notified and the programming for the channel would change for the day. The news didn’t shock me the way the news of any sudden death would which is what makes me so sad. It’s not that I had any inclination that Grayson was in a very vulnerable and desperate place, it’s that these tragic stories are what the community of addiction and depression are conditioned to experience. I got very close to a gentleman in treatment in his 60’s who ran an investment firm and he was from an affluent family and his academic and professional career were bold type and he was also addicted to methamphetamine. Upon leaving treatment he entered a sober living house in South Florida and would send me pictures of his new clean life. He was excited to return to work, to his passions, which were many and to having long conversations with me about life and family which we did every day while trying to find our equilibrium in rehab. Seven months later he was dead.
I’m shredded to think about where Grayson’s mind was in the hours leading up to his death. It scares me. It makes me cry. It makes me wonder what it would feel like to contemplate taking your own life and that immediately makes my heart race and I feel sick. I’m haunted by the look in his eyes when I saw him the last three times we hugged. There was a tenderness to him that belied his behavior for the years he was battling so hard and losing to the disease. Giving up gave him hope and purpose but it revealed something more profound. His journey was weighty, and the disease just waits, exercising the most unredeemable display of patience. Grayson’s death will not keep me or anyone else in recovery sober but his willingness to bare his soul in the last year gave comfort and inspiration to others whether they were fighting their own battles with addiction and mental illness or not. Alcoholics share their truths with each other every day and one additional paradox about the disease is that feeling good because you’re being vigilant about treating your disease can scare an alcoholic into thinking “I’ve got this”. So, at your best you may be most susceptible. I thought I had a drinking problem until I found out it was merely a symptom. I have a thinking problem.
I pray that the introspection and reflection displayed by so many in the golf community in the aftermath of Grayson’s death will sustain itself. I know tragedy is temporary as life continues and its challenges harden us all. I dreamed of being a broadcaster and being able to witness the greatest athletic feats not of being an alcoholic. But I’m so grateful that I’m a recovering alcoholic because without my ability to simply raise my hand and say I can’t do this anymore, God please help me, I would be dead. Grayson Murray fought to find the light and his fight was arduous but admirable. Let us all remember, it’s just for today.
by Gary Williams | Apr 24, 2024 | Blog
Chic Anderson and Frank Ricard had their moments, but they were separated by 30 years. In 1973 Anderson famously called Secretariat’s then and now record 31-length victory in the Belmont Stakes. In 2003 Ricard famously left “Mitchapalooza” to go streaking through the quad in the epic film, “Old School”. I thought about both men, one real and one fictional as Nelly Korda and Scottie Scheffler were polishing off their latest wins. Streaking in sports is a far more appealing thing than Frank the Tank headed to KFC, not that him being picked up by his wife and her friends on that chilly night was not entertaining. But, “separation”, which both Korda and Scheffler are currently doing in golf always sells.
Blowouts are not marketable, but moments in time, whether a season like the 2007 Patriots or Usain Bolt in the Beijing, London or Rio Olympics that draw a captive audience. The outlier athlete has been and always will be an attraction. Add the optimization, specialization and analytics in today’s sports world and it’s become harder for athletes to truly create a divide between themselves and the opponent. Teams study every solitary tendency of the opposition, and each league and coach is trained to become professional copycats. Golfers, regardless of manufacturer, play virtually the same stuff, utilize the identical analytics, are trained and coached by a handful of the same instructors and play under very similar conditions with few exceptions for the morning and afternoon waves in tournaments. It was never boring to watch Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky swim away from the competition anywhere or seeing Michael Johnson make up the stagger in the 400 meters before reaching the turn in Atlanta in the 1996 Olympics or watching Tiger Woods winning by two touchdowns and a two-point conversion at Pebble Beach in 2000. My Dad attended every significant sporting event in North America and dragged me to most when I was a kid, and he was at Belmont Park in June of 1973. To his dying day he proclaimed that Secretariat getting to the top of the stretch already with a massive lead in the Belmont as the most inspirational thing he ever saw in sports. He was also not blessed to be hearing the call from Chic Anderson, which included the line, “He’s moving like a tremendous machine”.
Nelly Korda and Scottie Scheffler have done things before May 1st that have those of us who cover their work making references to Annika Sorenstam, Nancy Lopez and Tiger Woods. Those are not reaches, just mile markers that Korda and Scheffler are currently reaching. Nelly started the year with eight career wins and a major championship victory. Scottie began 2024 with six wins on the PGA Tour and a major on his resume. As we wait for their next starts, they are suddenly now at 13 and two and 10 and two. That escalated quickly. In 20
05 Annika and Tiger combined to win 16 times and they both won two majors. Those collective benchmarks do not seem unreasonable for Korda and Scheffler to touch considering how much runway they have in front of them in 2024. Golf is weird, however. Its why us weirdos are drawn to it. Even the garden variety chop thinks they are close to playing well or poorly at any moment but these two are not of the garden variety. They were both reared to do what they do with nature and nurture playing varying roles in their paths. The commonalities are chippy competitive natures, superior refined skill and minds inclined for uncommon achievement.
Empirical data will help us determine the traction each of them is giving their respective tours, but the anecdotal evidence is beginning to materialize. In the golfy circles I swim in outside of the media space I am receiving queries about tournaments that begin with Korda and Scheffler. Where do they stand, not on Sunday but on Thursdays. Their separation raises the stakes for each of their next starts whether it be the Founders Cup for Korda or the Wells Fargo Championship or PGA Championship for Scheffler. Subsequently, it also means that the ones who knock them off next will receive bolder type in the postscript and a weightier sense of accomplishment from the general public. Wearing the bullseye can also become fatiguing which adds to the intrigue. Teams and individual performers have historically spoken about trying to maintain the pursuit of something as opposed to succumbing to the psychology of trying to defend, protect, or hold onto something they don’t actually possess. We simply don’t experience this type of dominance very often let alone simultaneously. Streaking is box office, just ask Frank the Tank.
by Gary Williams | Apr 13, 2024 | Blog
Oftentimes golfers give the impression that they are never satisfied. Friday at Augusta National exposed the frayed edges of a field of players taxed to the limit by a grueling examination of golf. The calamity of Jordan Spieth on the 15th hole Friday morning that resulted in a quadruple bogey 9 was the first of so many colossal blunders by the best players in the world. Viktor Hovland’s had a 3-inch back stab that effectively ended his week. Zach Johnson made a triple bogey on the 12th hole and the patrons, 150 yards away gave him a smattering of applause because they truly had no clue what he made on the hole and Johnson reflexively told them to F-off. Not a good look. Justin Thomas was at level par standing on the 15th tee and 75 minutes later he was 7 over par and headed back to Jupiter, Florida for the weekend a fractured golfer. The scoring was historically high, the winds were unrelenting and the path of play challenged daylight. But the beauty of an elite golf competition is that you sleep on it three nights.
I arrived at Augusta National on Saturday morning at 7:15 am. It was cool and serene with emerging light all around as I made my way from the press building to the area where patrons first step foot on the lush overseeded turf of this historic venue. I had never witnessed the procession of patrons being given entry just to the right of the first fairway and after the brief instructions which included “no running and have a fabulous day” the people were off to put their chairs down at various points only to wait hours before a competitive golf shot is struck at those locales. I proceeded up to the main entrance to the clubhouse and swiftly walked through the building and out the back door. I wanted to walk across the golf course and through all the crosswalks to see which memories would strike me first at each hole I walked across and through.
The 18th hole was on my left as I proceeded down the hill and there are a collage of moments that sprang to mind but I stopped at the big fairway bunker on the left side of the fairway to recall the bunker shot struck by Sandy Lyle in the 1988 Masters in the final round. From there I crossed at the front of the 8th tee and thought of the two-shot swing in the final round of the 2014 Masters. First-timer Jordan Spieth made bogey and Bubba Watson made birdie, his 3rd birdie in five holes. The players were then tied walking to 9 tee and Spieth would bogey the 9th to fall behind and never catch Watson again on that Sunday. The 2nd green was my next stop and Louis Oosthuizen’s albatross is front and center in my mind as I can see his ball drip into the hole in the final round of the 2012 Masters. The 4-iron from 253 yards would be one of the most famous shots of all time had he won the Masters, but Bubba produced his own miracle shot in the playoff to make the “2 on 2” a de facto footnote. The 3rd hole is one of my favorites and I always am reminded of Jack Nicklaus chipping in for birdie in the final round of the 1998 Masters at age 58. He would finish 6th, just another reminder of how well elders are treated at the Masters.
The 7th hole cross walk follows the 3rd hole and I have multiple Tiger memories from the 7th that sprang to mind. His hole out 2 in the final round in 2010 and his bullet tee shot in the final round in 2019 when he was teetering, and Francisco Molinari looked bulletproof. Molinari made bogey and Tiger made birdie and it was game on. I then walked behind the 6th green and the hole-in-one by Chris Dimarco in the first round of the 2004 Masters was first to mind. Chris almost made a one the following day as well and was agonizingly close to winning two Masters in back-to-back years. Making my way up the hill right of the 6th hole and to the left side of the 5th fairway, one of the hardest holes on the course, where few likely remember in 1995 Jack Nicklaus made 2 not once but twice on the hole known as Magnolia. I stopped to examine the 5th green closely as it was originally intended to be an homage to the road hole at St. Andrews and when you look at the front portion of the green you realize that green couldn’t be built today at almost anywhere.
Once I got to the long and steep flight of stairs that sits conspicuously behind the 6th tee and the 5th green, I sat down to look down at the 16th green. Who knows what might happen there this weekend but Tiger’s chip-in in 2005, Nicklaus’ long birdie putt in 1975, Jack’s almost hole-in-one in 1986 and Greg Norman’s rinsed tee shot in 1996 flooded my thoughts.
The activity on the golf course at 8:15 this morning is uncommon since there would not be any golfers reaching the far end of the golf course for hours. Augusta National is a severely tilted piece of the land from the top of the hill by the clubhouse down to Amen corner and the 12th green and it also disorients your mind because of all the moments we know of, witnessed in person, or saw on television for a lifetime. This place makes me emotional. It makes me miss my dad to the point that I am tearing up writing these words because all of my best firsts in golf were with him, including here. I am grateful to have these moments and the motivation to venture out on the golf course early on Saturday morning considering how compromised I was several years ago by my alcoholism. I have never taken being here for granted but now more than ever I am humbled to be given the time and filled with gratitude to seek the solitude that mornings like today can provide.
This afternoon will be tense, entertaining, stressful and filled with high drama, but I’ll remember my Saturday morning, walking alone, reliving great moments and being thankful for this precious time at this special place.
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