It will be novel to see how Augusta National looks and sounds devoid of the typical eruptions of blooming flora – or the eruptions of roars and gasps from the patrons – and with gold and orange accents rather than pinks, reds and whites.
With current distance king Bryson DeChambeau considering a 48-inch driver for the Masters next week, Mickelson has been testing a 47½-inch driver that he says he’ll use to try to win his fourth green jacket.
When the new date was first announced, the consensus was that Augusta National would play much longer and much softer in the American autumn, and the early forecast seems to confirm that notion, but not for the reason you think.
Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley announced overnight that the low-key lead-in to the tournament, first held in 1960, will not take place when the Masters is contested without fans next month.
Whatever ones lingered about whether Bryson DeChambeau’s plan to bulk up and hit the ball as far as possible would hold up in the cauldron and nuance of Major championship golf have been answered. This week at Winged Foot, he killed nuance.
While the rest of the field succumbed to Winged Foot, Reed fought back. Which is how golf’s lone wolf was the only one howling after 36 holes, Reed’s temerity and fortitude rewarded with the halfway lead.
The first green has so much hustle and flow, the USGA specifically tells players that its handling it differently than the other 17th, maintaining it a slower speed so that the ridiculousness doesn’t become too sublime.
Australian Golf Digest
