By Joel Beall
Augusta National Golf Club announced Tuesday that Tom Watson will become an Honorary Starter beginning at this year’s Masters in April.

A two-time winner of the green jacket, Watson will join Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player for the opening tee-shot ceremony.

“I am honoured that Tom has accepted our invitation,” said Fred Ridley, chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters. “I look forward to commemorating his love for the game and impact on the Masters with his millions of fans across the globe as he hits a tee shot alongside two of the tournament’s other all-time greats, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.”

Added Watson: “​​Augusta National in April is one of my favourite places to be. With the many fond memories of both watching the Masters as a youngster and then competing in the tournament for so many years, I am greatly honoured to join my friends and fellow competitors, Jack and Gary, as an Honorary Starter in this upcoming Masters. In both of my victories, Jack was on my heels. And when Gary won his third tournament in 1978, I was there to help him put on the green jacket. Moments like those stand out in my career, and the opportunity to share the Honorary Starter tradition with Jack, Gary and the Masters patrons will be very special.”

Watson won his first Masters in 1977, birdieing the 17th hole to ultimately beat Nicklaus by two shots. He again bested Nicklaus by two (along with Johnny Miller) to capture the 1981 title. He also came in second three times. During a 15-year stretch starting with his 1977 win to 1991, Watson finished T-7 or better on 11 occasions; his “worst” outing in that stretch was a T-14.

Watson made 42 consecutive appearances at Augusta National. Only Nicklaus has more total under-par rounds, with Watson holding the record for most consecutive years (21) with at least one under-par score. His 72.74 scoring average is fifth-best in tournament history.

The tradition of Honorary Starters at the Masters began in 1963 with Jock Hutchison and Fred McLeod—players who won the PGA Seniors’ Championship at Augusta National in 1937 and 1938—starting the tournament with ceremonial tee shots. Other players who have been Honorary Starters include Byron Nelson, Gene Sarazen, Ken Venturi, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Nicklaus, Player and Lee Elder.

The 2022 Masters begins April 7. Hideki Matsuyama is the defending champ.

The post Masters 2022: Tom Watson named Honourary Starter appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Distance gains have been a prominent conversation at Augusta National since Tiger Woods bludgeoned the Masters to his will 23 years ago, the club responding by stretching out the course, adding trees and growing out the second cut, and buying surrounding property in the event future alterations might be needed. This conversation has been amplified in 2020, partially due to the USGA’s Distance Insights Project but mostly because of Bryson DeChambeau.

The 27-year-old’s transformation into a fledgeling long-drive contestant resulted in a U.S. Open title, DeChambeau bombing and gouging venerable Winged Foot as if it was a standard tour venue. The prospect of him doing the same to Augusta National is not so much a storyline as it is the storyline in this tournament’s lead-up. Which is why Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley did not dance around the subject in his State of the Masters address Wednesday, stating “We are at a crossroads as it relates to the distance issue.”

“I do think that we’re coming closer to a call to action,” Ridley said. “As it relates to our golf course, we have options and we will take the necessary actions to stay relevant.”

Ridley prefaced his comments that, thus far, he has been reluctant to make major changes when it comes to adding distance to the course. “Sometimes when you do that there are unintended consequences,” Ridley said. He continued that tinkering with yardage may disrupt the philosophy of a hole, the philosophy that Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie had in mind when designing Augusta National. “The scale and the scope of the hole changes. The look of the hole changes.”

However, Ridley agrees that distance gains have affected the way the course was intended to be played, specifically citing what’s happened to the par-5 13th.

“It still provides drama, but its challenge is being diminished,” Ridley said. “We don’t think it’s good for the Masters, we don’t think it’s good for the game.”

But one of the most obvious ways for the Masters to respond may not happen in 2021.

Since Augusta National bought land along its northwest boundary from neighbouring Augusta Country Club in 2017, there has been an expectation that one day that land would be used to build a new tee box at the 13th, lengthening one of the most famous holes in golf beyond its current 510 yards. Though satellite images show development on the acquired land, don’t necessarily expect to see it lengthened next April.

“I can say no to that,” Ridley said. “Our season is under way. We would not make any changes in that period.”

With the issue at hand much larger than the Masters or Augusta National, Ridley noted the need to find a balance, especially for the thousands of courses that don’t have the resources that this club has. Perhaps more than anything, worried about a mixed message.

“You don’t want to make the game harder,” Ridley said. “On one hand we want to say we want to grow the game, and on the other hand we’re saying we’re worried about distance. I think everybody just has got to get their head together and figure it out.”

The post Augusta National chairman says ‘We are at a crossroads’ regarding distance gains appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
AUGUSTA, Ga. — The absence of patrons this week at Augusta National certainly makes this a Masters all to itself. At least that’s the hope.

At his State of the Masters address Wednesday, Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley expressed a desire to have fans return to the 2021 tournament while trying to temper expectations.

“Looking on to April, I’m hopeful that we will see improved conditions regarding this virus, but April is less than five months away,” Ridley said. “So there’s certainly no assurance of that.”

Ridely said he was encouraged by what he saw at the Vivint Houston Open, which welcomed 2,000 fans at Memorial Park However, Ridley noted the club stood by its decision to keep this a gallery-less Masters, remarking that a significant amount of notice is needed in advance to bring in patrons to Augusta National.

“While I don’t know exactly when that decision is going to be made, we’ll have to give it some lead time for April,” Ridley said. “So we are just going to make the decision based on the best information possible, but we do have hopes that the tournament in April will be closer to normal than it is right now.”

Projecting what will happen five months from now is particularly tricky given the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the United States. Asked what would need to happen between now and April for a large contingent of fans to return to Augusta National, Ridley said a decision would be based on the club’s confidence on objective data.

“I think the vaccine—I don’t want to get into medical prognostications, but just logically, as a layperson, a vaccine, while it will be wonderful when it happens, there’s going to be ramp-up time and all kinds of issues that will probably point to beyond April as being the silver bullet, if you will,” Ridley said. “I think as relates to testing, there are some real opportunities there. Our staff has been exploring those very deeply, and we have a number of people who are very interested in helping us.”

Beyond a vaccine, the possibility of enhanced testing measures that might allow for patrons to attend is something that the club is investigating, Ridley acknowledged.

“Our staff has been exploring those very deeply, and we have a number of people who are very interested in helping us,” Ridley said. “And so I think that’s something that we will really be looking hard at, is that capability—it already has developed, but as it continues to develop. That would certainly be a wonderful circumstance if we could test large numbers of people.”

The post Augusta National holds out hope April Masters will have fans appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

“There’s miles and miles of cable, and trucks, and it’s a city that moves every time we move,” CBS’ Dottie Pepper told Golf Digest last year. “It’s not like you can just plug it in and press play.”

RELATED: Social Media giant to broadcast LIVE Masters coverage across the Middle East

But at this year’s Masters, that’s exactly what golf fans will be able to do.

Beginning Thursday morning, every shot of every player all week can be seen on the Masters app or Masters.com. That’s right, you can watch every shot of every player at a golf tournament for the first time ever. Well, virtually every shot. If a player finds a particularly unusual spot on the course (Think: Bryson DeChambeau by the bathrooms on No. 18 in 2016), the cameras might not pick it up. But the goal is for every shot to be seen.

While this new feature won’t be available live or on TV, the hope is that each shot will be viewable within five minutes of being hit. In other words, you should be able to see Rory McIlroy’s tee shot on No. 8 before he hits his second. Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley made the announcement during his pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday.

“The reason we’re going it is because we have always subscribed to the notion that we want to provide content to our fans in the way they want to receive it,” Ridley said of this ambitious endeavour. “You know, the world is migrating more and more towards digital technology. It was something that we thought, and that we were hearing, that our fans wanted, and with a lot of great work of our digital technology committee and our staff, we were able to develop this.”

As in recent years, the Masters website and app will still track every player’s shot, but now, instead of just seeing where a player is on the course (those results usually take about 30 seconds to register on the site and app), you can see how he actually got there. By bringing up a player’s scorecard, you will still be able to see more produced highlights of certain holes, but raw video of all the shots will be stitched together and available for every hole.

“It’s been two or three years in developing,” Ridley continued. “We had it in a beta test mode previously, but now I feel like we can actually execute on this.”

Tracking technology has become an important part of modern sports coverage. Starting next season in the NHL, all players and pucks will have sensors. Those player sensors, by the way, will be sewn into jerseys, not implanted into their brains. Sports hasn’t become a full-on science-fiction movie yet, but we’re getting close with another fun new feature being unveiled at this year’s Masters.

IBM’s “Round in Three Minutes” will provide a condensed version of a golfer’s round at Augusta National, but with a key twist: AI will help determine those highlights. IBM’s Watson has been programmed to detect celebrations and crowd noise to determine the most important and exciting shots from a player’s round. Sounds great, although we wish the machine luck distinguishing between lackluster Dustin Johnson fist pumps.

But while the “Round in Three Minutes” is cool, fans will surely be focused on the Masters every shot feature. During a tournament that draws cries for more TV coverage, you literally can’t get anymore coverage now—if you follow the action online.

“I think quantity is important, but that is not what is going to drive our decisions,” Ridley said. “We’re not going to sacrifice quality, but we thought this was a great supplement to our traditional means of providing coverage.”

The post Masters 2019: The innovative way golf fans will be able to finally watch every shot (Yep, EVERY shot) appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Welcome to the Masters morning rundown, your one-stop shop to catch up on the action from Augusta National. Here’s everything you need to know for the morning of April 11.

It’s finally here. The Masters, in earnest, begins Thursday morning (PM UAE time). May the weather be kind, the pimento be fresh, the azaleas remain in full bloom and the fist pumps, plentiful.

Wallace wins Par 3
Most Masters entrants will purposefully DQ at the Par 3 Contest, hoping to avoid the event’s infamous curse. Matt Wallace went into overtime in hopes of breaking it.

Wallace, making his Masters debut this week, went three rounds of sudden death with Sandy Lyle at Wednesday’s competition, winning with a birdie on the third hole.

“I wanted to hole that putt on the last (Wallace missed a birdie at the ninth), and I didn’t, and then went to a playoff and it got a little bit more serious than how the nine holes went,” Wallace said. “I guess I just I wanted to win this. I want to break history somewhat.”

Wallace tied Lyle with a five-under 22, which included this ace at No. 8:

Oh Matt Wallace ??pic.twitter.com/zJulN22uHN

— GOLFTV (@GOLFTV) April 10, 2019

As Wallace alluded, no one has captured the Par 3 Contest and Masters in the same week. (Media members reminding their audiences no one has won the Par 3 and Masters in the same week: a true tradition unlike any other.) But there have been close calls, with Raymond Floyd (1990) and Chip Beck (1993) finishing runner-up.

Wallace, who won three times on the Euro Tour last season, will tee off with Bernhard Langer and Alvaro Ortiz at 12:10 p.m. on Thursday.

Finau returns to scene of crime

On April’s Fools Day, Tony Finau and Nike “released” the Finau1, a shoe with exaggerated ankle support. A sneaker that gave a not-so-subdued, and sardonic, nod to Finau’s gruesome injury at the 2018 Par 3 Contest.

However, Wednesday proved that fake boot is very much real, as the 29-year-old broke out the high, hightop at the seventh hole, the scene of the crime last spring.

.@TonyFinaugolf came prepared for the Par 3 Contest this year. pic.twitter.com/vEXwv9opeZ

— Masters Tournament (@TheMasters) April 10, 2019

A closer view, thanks to our Golf Digest photography team:

Andrew Redington

Considering Finau managed a T-10 finish on a busted wheel last season, go ahead and give Big Tone the green jacket if he has this bad boy at his disposal Thursday morning.

Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley. Picture: Chris Trotman

The latest broadcast innovation fans will love
A common complaint lodged at golf broadcasts, especially on Thursday and Fridays, is the abundance of missed televised shots. A complaint the Masters has heard, and answered with an ambitious endeavour.

Beginning on Thursday, fans will be able to see every shot, from every player, on Masters.com. Well, almost every shot; the occasional strike that’s off the grid—think of Rory McIlroy’s notorious tug on the 10th in 2011—may be missing. Nevertheless, all but a handful of foul balls are at a viewer’s disposal is one of the biggest presentation breakthroughs in the past decade.

The venture was announced on Wednesday by Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley.

“The reason we’re going it is because we have always subscribed to the notion that we want to provide content to our fans in the way they want to receive it,” Ridley said. “You know, the world is migrating more and more towards digital technology. It was something that we thought, and that we were hearing, that our fans wanted, and with a lot of great work of our digital technology committee and our staff, we were able to develop this.”

As our Alex Myers discussed, the Masters website and app will continue to track every player’s shot. Coverage that will now be supplemented with raw video stitched into a virtual scorecard.

“It’s been two or three years in developing,” Ridley said. “We had it in a beta test mode previously, but now I feel like we can actually execute on this.”

An innovation that hopefully manifests in fans’ ultimate viewing desire: clips of Jim Nantz rehearsing his weekend intros and victory calls. With a little teamwork (and IBM), we can make the dream work.

Picture: David Cannon

A new pin on 18, but no new tee on 13…for now
During his annual pre-tournament press conference, Ridley also discussed several items pertaining to the course. Most notably, that plans to lengthen the par-5 13th hole—enabled thanks to the acquisition of land from neighbouring Augusta Country Club—are currently on hold. According to Ridley, the club is waiting on results from the USGA and R&A’s project regarding distance impact in the game.

Conversely, reading between the lines (as well as aerial images suggesting initial steps have already occurred), it seems, eventually, yardage will be added to the 13th.

“Admittedly, that hole does not play as it was intended to play by [Bobby] Jones and [Alister] MacKenzie,” Ridley said. “The momentous decision that I’ve spoken about and that Bobby Jones often spoke about, of going for the green in two, is to a large extent, no longer relevant.”

Additionally, it appears, at some point this weekend, there will be a new hole location on the 18th green.

“The 18th green was a green we rebuilt this summer, and we captured or recaptured some areas on the back part of the green that had been lost to encroachment, which is really a natural process in all golf greens over time,” Ridley said. “So there is a larger area, both on the back left and the back right. The back right I think is going to give us an opportunity for a really good hole location. There’s plenty of room back there, but it kind of looks like it’s almost tucked, almost in the bunker, when you’re in the fairway.”

This will be the second Masters under Ridley’s command.

Ian Woosnam. Picture: Kevin C. Cox

Woosnam’s last ride?
Three years ago, Ian Woosnam, winner of the 1991 Masters, announced his retirement from the tournament. Only he didn’t, as the Welshman’s continued to tee it up at Augusta.

However, it sounds like 2019 will be, officially, Woosnam’s last ride in Georgia. The 61-year-old told Golf Digest’s John Huggan it’s time, his 30-year-bout with ankylosing spondylitis, a rheumatic disease that can cause his vertebrae to lock, is becoming too much to bear.

“I know I‘ve said this before. But this time it feels like the end. I want to enjoy playing but I just can’t,” Woosnam said. “It’s too bad really. I’ve got a new driver and I’m ripping it off the tee. I even managed to knock it past Sandy a couple of times this morning. I’m playing well so it it is really disappointing. But I have to say goodbye sometime. If nothing changes physically, I’m done. I just can’t go on like this.”

This will be Woosnam’s 31st appearance at the Masters. Aside from his 1991 triumph, the Hall of Famer has not finished inside the top 10 at the tournament, and he last made the cut in 2008.

The post Masters 2019 morning rundown: Wallace wins Par 3 Contest, Finau’s prank turns out to be very real, and Augusta National announces new broadcast endeavour appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.