Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us @golf_com. This week, we discuss new wrinkles at the upcoming Masters, shots of the year, Brooks Koepka, Fred Funk and more.
1. With the Masters now just two weeks away, Augusta National revealed a series of new wrinkles for the year’s final major. The Par-3 Contest was canceled. Players will go off split tees because of the lack of daylight. Viewers will have the ability to create, and watch, their own personally curated featured groups. And … a college football preview show? Yep, ESPN’s College GameDay will broadcast from ANGC on Saturday. Which addition (or subtraction) is most significant?
6 crucial things we just learned about the unprecedented 2020 November Masters
Alan Shipnuck, senior writer (@alanshipnuck): Two-tee start. There are going to be some unfortunate souls who tee off on 10 on Thursday morning and will be 3- or 4-over when they arrive at the 13th tee. That’s just a brutal way to start, whereas holes 2 and 3 are among the best birdie chances on the course.
Michael Bamberger, senior writer: By Sunday afternoon, we won’t remember the two-tee start. It’s unfortunate, but a small price to pay to get in this fall Masters. It’s the same for everyone. The loss of the Par-3 Contest is a stark statement on what it will be like to have a Masters with no fans. Augusta’s bosses realized that you can’t have a Par-3 event with no fans, but the implication is that a Masters with no fans will be a totally different thing. That decision to cancel is, for me, a wake-up call to our expectations. As for the “personally curated featured groups” (nice phrase!): Watching the groups as you choose is a mighty nod to the youth of America – and the world. The CBS audience is old and getting older. This is the future. ESPN figured this out about 40 years ago. Just show me what I want to actually see. But now the viewer decides. It’s an extension of the culture. The iPad. The iPhone. iTunes. Have it your way, etc. Watch what you want when you want. It’s not good, it’s not bad, it’s just where we are and where everything is going.
James Colgan, assistant editor (@jamescolgan26): Don’t get me wrong, GameDay is a fun idea, but the show’s inclusion to Masters week won’t move the needle for a single golf fan. From a tournament standpoint, the split tee times are going to play a huge role — but I’m particularly bummed about the Par-3 Contest. Tradition is Augusta’s calling card, and for as hokey as the contest is, the week will feel just a little bit less “normal” without it.
Josh Berhow, managing editor (@Josh_Berhow): The GameDay addition is great, the split tees could be a factor but has happened before due to weather, and the latest from Masters Digital, while great, seems like just the next step in the evolution of their superb broadcast. But the loss of the Masters Par-3 is the most significant, even though it has no impact on who wins on Sunday. It’s really a striking reminder of what’s happening outside the gates of Augusta National, in the U.S. and in the world. This is a different Masters. Let’s hope the Par-3 returns in April, because that will also say a lot about the world we’re living in, too.
Josh Sens, senior writer (@JoshSens): The customized group-watching. In every other respect, we hope, this Masters will be a one-off. But viewers curating their own groups – that points to a fast-approaching golf gambling future that won’t recede after it arrives.
2. Our Josh Sens spoke with various experts to better understand how a fall Masters will differ from the spring edition. In your mind, are they any particular type of players whom the November date will either favor or hamper?
6 ways a November Masters will be different than April, according to experts
Shipnuck: Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Jason Day and other huge talents who have been snakebit in April. Everything about this Masters is going to feel a little different, and I think that will help loosen up some of the guys who habitually get in their own way.
Colgan: To Shippy’s point, both majors in 2020 have given us first-time major winners. I think we’ll see much of the same at Augusta. Some names I like: Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm – maybe even Tony Finau?
Bamberger: Looks like the course will play fast and short. Takes away the bombers’ advantage. Brings in 40 other guys.
Sens: I second Alan’s Jason Day call. I’m thinking of earlier this year, when Day acknowledged feeling more at ease in Ohio, without the added expectations of the crowd around him. I think we’ll see more of the same from him at Augusta, a course that has always suited him.
Berhow: Not having fans will help players who are a little more fragile between the ears. Standing on 12 tee, on Sunday, while in the hunt, for example, is going to be a gut-wrenching shot with or without fans. But it’s still going to feel different knowing there aren’t thousands of patrons breathing down your neck. I think this might benefit the unseasoned Augusta player more, but I still think the cream will rise to the top this year. With less on-course distractions, I think the favorites will thrive.
3. Brian Gay won the Bermuda Championship thanks in large part to his stuffed approach from on the 72nd hole, which led to a closing kick-in birdie and a place in a playoff with Wyndham Clark. With the end of 2020 in sight, it’s time to start assessing shot-of-the-year candidates. Which swing has your vote?
Brian Gay rallies to win Bermuda Championship in playoff
Shipnuck: Morikawa’s drive on 16 on Sunday at the PGA Championship is the only acceptable answer.
Colgan: What about Jon Rahm’s Memorial-clinching chip-in? I’d argue the conditions at Muirfield made Rahm’s shot a slightly higher degree of difficulty than Morikawa’s at the PGA (though, obviously, it’s hard to quantify the difficulty of shotmaking while holding a major championship lead).
Bamberger: Any shot by Sophia Popov at the British Open.
Sens: Rahm’s playoff putt was nails, no doubt. But the putt DJ made to get in the playoff in the first place was maybe even ridiculous because of the circumstances. It was an absolute must, or he was done.
Berhow: Sangmoon Bae hit two straight shots into the water, then dropped his third, from 250 yards out, into the cup. Good par.
4. Brooks Koepka dished on a variety of topics during a Q&A on the Instagram account of his girlfriend, Jena Sims. He discussed his favorite golfer (Tiger Woods), why he doesn’t have an equipment sponsor (“the freedom”) and his favorite ice-cream (Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food) — and he didn’t answer questions on rival Bryson DeChambeau (“If you’ve don’t got something nice to say, don’t say it at all.”) Koepka seemingly was both honest and blunt, or just typical Brooks. What did the session teach you about Koepka that you didn’t already know?
16 takeaways from Brooks Koepka’s hysterical Instagram state of the union
Shipnuck: That for all of his testosterone, he is curiously lacking in chest hair. I assumed he had it waxed for the Body Issue shoot but nope.
Colgan: I can’t grow facial hair, so I’ll leave the testosterone prognostication to the owner of GOLF’s preeminent Disney villain mane (love you, Shippy). I learned Brooks is authentic in speaking the language of 18-25-year-old men. Irrespective of whether he’s always been in the right, he gets them because he is them, and that sort of engagement is (usually) a fun thing for the sport.
Bamberger: That, despite his claims to the opposite, he likes attention.
Sens: That I wouldn’t want him choosing ice cream for me.
Berhow: Can’t believe Koepka didn’t know there was a band named Phish. I’ll never look at him the same again.
5. Fred Funk, at the Bermuda Championship, became the fourth player in PGA Tour history age 64 or older to make a cut — while averaging 243 yards off the tee. Where does Funk’s effort rank among the golfing accomplishments of 2020?
PGA Tour pro averages less than 250 yards off the tee and cashes
Shipnuck: Well, his lusty celebration told you how much it meant to him. It’s just a cute footnote to the season but another reminder that tournament golf is the ultimate meritocracy.
Colgan: Forget about what it means to him, what does it mean for ME that I can drive the ball past him all day long and yet he’d still properly rip my soul from my body on a golf course?
Bamberger: It’s just neat, that he did it, that it can be done, that he enjoyed it so much. Early in the pandemic, I talked to Fred and one of the things that became apparent was just how much he loves to play and compete, no matter the stage or the purse. Having his son trying to follow in his path adds to the whole thing.
Berhow: It’s pretty cool and a nice reminder to everyone that if you can golf your ball, you can golf your ball.
Sens: As out-of-nowhere achievements rank, I wouldn’t put it on the same level as Sophia Popov’s, but that celebration alone solidified it in the year’s top 10.
6. On Monday, we’ll unveil GOLF’s 2020-21 ranking of the Top 100 Courses in the U.S. Which top U.S. course have you longed to play that has eluded you?
Shipnuck: Fisher’s Island. I had a game lined up during the original week of the U.S. Open, but that got scrapped. Damn you, Covid!
Colgan: Besides the (very) obvious contenders at the top of the list, I’d say Piping Rock. Many a time I’ve “gotten lost” scoping the course (which is just a short drive from my hometown) from my car. Maybe one day.
Bamberger: Every course in Chicago. I have never played in Chicago. Watched a lot of baseball in Chicago. Got engaged in Chicago. Have heard a lot of good music in Chicago. Have watched a lot of good golf in Chicago. Once saw Harry Caray in a bar in Chicago. But have never played there.
Sens: Lawsonia Links in Wisconsin. I’d always heard grumblings of how good it was. But one of our panelists who just played it told me that it was “mind-blowing, the revelation of 2020.” This is not a guy given to hyperbole. And for $65 on weekdays? Come on!
Berhow: Private: Cypress Point, please. Public: I still need to check off Pinehurst No. 2.