$3 for a chicken sandwich. $6 for a beer — including the Masters’ special secret brew. $1.50 for pimento!
The Masters prides itself on being more than a golf tournament. It’s a time capsule back to a different era on grounds that feel like they exist in a different universe entirely.
Each blade of grass is expertly trimmed. Every sidewalk meticulously cleaned of debris. The trees tower over the people on whom they cast shade but no leaves ever seem to fall.
And the concession stands serve America’s cheapest food anywhere outside of minor league baseball’s dollar hot dog nights. Behold, the spot where you can get a couple sandwiches, soda and dessert for less than $10.
The most expensive thing on the Masters menu is a $6 beer or wine — including the specially brewed “Crows Nest” wheat ale that’s only available during tournament week. Chicken, pork barbeque and club sandwiches are only $3 each. The event’s signature pimento cheese sandwich is just $1.50.
This all makes sense when you consider it’ll cost you $115 to buy a ticket for one day of golf at face value (and significantly more on the resale market). That makes it a little easier for the Masters to make its menu cheaper than your local McDonald’s.
Finau was presented with a patent certificate in Ping’s PGA Tour van on Wednesday.
When he is faced with a delicate chip from the collar or an awkward shot from a few inches off the green, Tony Finau has been known to turn his putter, a Ping PLD Anser 2D, counter-clockwise in his hands and strike the ball with the toe-end of his putter, popping the ball onto the putting surface.
In fact, he loves the feeling shots like that create so much that he worked with designers and engineers at Ping to build a prototype putter that replicates the sensations of that shot and was just named as one of three people on a utility patent awarded to Ping (U.S. #11,911,670 B2) for a compact putter head. Tony Serrano, Ping’s principal putter design engineer, and John A. Solheim, the company’s president, are also on the patent.
Finau was presented with a patent certificate in Ping’s PGA Tour van on Wednesday outside the gates of Augusta National Golf Club.
“When Tony turns his putter over and hits a putt with the toe, all the mass is directly behind the ball,” Serrano said. “So he came to us and said, ‘How can we make a putter that has some of these feelings and attributes and sounds that I get when I turn this putter over?’”
That led Serrano and his team to develop a few prototypes that would give Finau what he wanted while also conforming to the USGA’s Rules of Golf and equipment standards.
Tony Finau’s compact prototype putter is shaped like a cube and replicates the feeling of hitting a putt with the toe-end of a putter. (Ping)
The putter that Finau liked and worked with Ping to develop is cube-like in shape, with a small area in the back hollowed out to create some perimeter weighting. There is also a T-shaped alignment system on the top and a plumber’s neck hosel.
“He looks at the top rail of the putter when he turns it. It’s long and right down the center and helps him align the putter with the ball,” Serrano said. The small T accomplishes the same thing and helps Finau focus on a tiny area and make solid contact more easily.
The small hosel was designed and positioned close to the grooved hitting area so that when Finau putts, his stroke has to pull the center of gravity and the putter’s weight, like a traditional putter, instead of pushing the head’s weight as Finau would do with a flipped-over putter.
“Tony said that he plays with this putter all the time,” when he is home in Utah, Serrano said. Finau has yet to use the un-named putter in a PGA Tour event, but he plans to keep using it as a training aid going forward, and Ping plans to study the tiny putter more closely to see whether attributes of it could be designed into future PLD and retail putters.
The Honorary Starters ceremony is one of the best parts of Masters week.
The event is steeped in tradition, and when Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson take to the tee, thousands show up and surround the first tee box at Augusta National Golf Club to watch the legends kick off the Masters annually.
However, one of the coolest parts of the Honorary Starters ceremony was Nicklaus’ bag. The 18-time major champion and six-time winner at Augusta had a sick flag bag. The bag was made with different flags from around the country, including a Masters one and St. Andrews flag.
Flag bags are common in certain parts of the country, but seeing arguably the greatest golfer of all-time using one to begin the Masters was pretty cool. What a flex.
After Player found the short grass, Jack took his turn.
“Watch out to the left and right,” Nicklaus said.
There was no need.
The six-time Masters winner striped his ball down the left side of No. 1, and then gave way to Tom Watson.
“Just one thing,” said Watson, as he prepared to strike his shot. “Jack, you’ve never hit a hook off this tee in your life.”
Nicklaus, laughing, said, “That was a neck pull.”
On hand for the ceremony were former PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, and current head man Jay Monahan.
Also in attendance were past Masters champions Nick Faldo and Tommy Aaron, as well as CBS announcer Jim Nantz.
Nantz, who has covered the Masters since 1989, calls the annual tradition, “My favorite moment in golf.”
“It’s such a rich moment of nostalgia,” Nantz said. “It’s a passage of time. You look at these champions — these iconic figures who you looked up to so much in your youth. Every year, this ceremony is a moment of reflection.”
Three legends of the game have officially started the 2024 Masters
AUGUSTA, Ga. — It was pushed back a couple of hours but Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson took to the first tee at Augusta National Golf Club to be the honorary starters once again ahead of the 2024 Masters Tournament.
It’s a time-honored tradition at Augusta National, with the three legends of the game taking to the first tee to officially start the tournament each year. Due to some inclement overnight and early morning weather, the threesome were on the tee box at 10:10 a.m., with Gary Player getting the honors. Jack Nicklaus, a six-time Masters Green Jacket winner, going second, with Tom Watson, the newest addition to the starters bringing up the rear.
The honorary starters ceremony, in which Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson, all hit the ceremonial first tee shot at 10:10 a.m., officially starting the tournament for 2024.
That pushed defending champion Jon Rahm’s start time back to 1 p.m. ET.
I’d chalk up the Par 3 Contest as a laborious nine holes chasing around my kids and trying to keep up.
Editor’s Note: Peter Malnati qualified for his first Masters by winning the Valspar Championship last month. The 36-year-old veteran hadn’t won in nearly nine years on the PGA Tour. He’s sharing a first-person account of his experience daily only at Golfweek.com.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Webb Simpson, who is someone that I really look up to and have become close with, calls Wednesday at the Masters his favorite golf day of the year without a close second and I can totally see why.
The family involvement at the annual Par 3 Contest is really cool. My two sons, Hatcher, the eldest, and Dash were both suited up in their little caddie bibs. Hatcher had a little green bag and clubs. Dash was picking up golf balls. It’s a pretty cool site to see your 4-year-old hitting balls in the tournament practice area at Augusta National.
Parenthood is a labor of love and as much fun as I had, I’d chalk up the Par 3 Contest as a laborious nine holes chasing around my kids and trying to keep up.
The Par-3 course was set up with a bunch of funnel pins. I think five of my nine shots felt like they had a chance to go in at one point. I hit to kick in range four times, made one long putt, hit one wedge that looked like it was going to spin into the hole. I’m counting five birdies – I’m giving myself birdie at the last hole despite my wife, Alicia, missing the putt. But I hit it in there pretty close. She’s good at a lot of things so I will let it slide. I kid. She’s the rock and the reason we are able to do everything we do so she’s forgiven for missing a 2 footer. In her defense, it did break sharply from left to right. I could’ve left her a straighter putt.
We played with a couple of other Masters rookies in Adam Schenk and Stephan Jaeger. They are both parents, too, but don’t have the 4½-year-old like we do but they have younger kids in the 1-1½ range so it was similar family dynamics at play.
One last cool thing about the Par 3 Contest: My shot at the second hole to 16 inches held on as the closest of the day, which means I get a crystal trophy that will make for a cool souvenir.
Peter Malnati lifts his wife Alicia on the No. 9 tee during the Par 3 Contest at Augusta National Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Network
Prior to the Par 3 Contest, I did a morning workout and was one of the first players out on the front nine.
Do I know all the nuances of Augusta National? Have I seen it in different conditions and directions? Of course not. But I feel like I have a pretty good map of the course in my mind. I have a pretty good idea of where the hole locations are just from historical information. I did a lot of the practice around the greens and on the greens to different locations. I have a good sense of the strategy I want to use after my prep work. But I think none of it is going to come down to whether or not I have the right information to form the right plan. It’s just going to come down to execution. That’s the question every week and I do feel ready to do that too.
I guess there’s inclement weather in the forecast for Thursday that could throw a wrench in the starting times. We’ll have to see how that affects the course and the way it plays and what time we get to play and all that. Regardless. I’ll be ready for it and I’m thankful we got here early. I got to play all 18 holes on Sunday. I definitely feel like we’ve been here a full tournament week already. I’m ready to get the action started. I think I did a relatively good job of pacing my prep work. I don’t feel like I’ve overdone it. From an energy standpoint, I should be ready to go.
Whatever time it is when I get to peg it on the first tee on Thursday, I’m sure I will feel some nerves. I’ve felt those nerves at just about every PGA Tour event I’ve played and I don’t think tomorrow will be any different. Maybe it will be a little more intense in terms of the nerves but whatever I feel, I’ve done the work, I have the support system around me, and I’m ready for it. I’m excited to get this started.
24-year-old Swedish golfer Ludvig Åberg is expected to make waves at the 2024 Masters.
The 2024 Masters will be Ludvig Åberg’s first ever in his professional golf career.
At 24-years-old, Åberg will be one of the youngest competitors at the 2024 Masters and with his pedigree, he could very well make a splash at the tournament this year. Åberg got his first PGA Tour win at the RSM Classic in November 2023 and was also part of the European team’s victory at the 2023 Ryder Cup.
For the third year in a row the Masters has been impacted by inclement weather.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — For the third year in a row the Masters has been negatively impacted by inclement weather.
Augusta National Golf Club announced on Wednesday night that forecasted weather during Thursday’s first round had delayed not only the opening of the patron gate but the round itself. The club sent an update shortly after 7:30 a.m. ET on Thursday morning that noted the first round would start at 10:30 a.m. ET, instead of at 8 a.m. ET as originally planned. Patron gates open at 9:30 a.m. ET and the Honorary Starters Ceremony featuring Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson will start at 10:10 a.m. ET.
Rain has now fallen during 48 of the 88 tournaments, including each of the last six. Eight days of play have been postponed, but four days were made up by scheduling 36 holes in one day in 1936, 1938, 1939 and most recently 2003. The last Monday finish due to weather occurred in 1983.
Last year inclement weather suspended play for 21 minutes on Friday before it was ultimately suspended for the day later in the afternoon. Play was once again suspended on Saturday afternoon due to more heavy rain.
Thursday’s forecast calls for morning thunderstorms with a 95% chance of rain, upwards of 20 mph winds and a high of 80 degrees.
Finau realized that unless very unusual conditions arise, he was not going to hit his 3-wood off the ground.
Phil Mickelson won his second green jacket at the 2006 Masters while carrying two drivers in his bag, and it appears that big-hitting Tony Finau is planning to try to capture his first major this week at Augusta National using the same strategy.
According to Kenton Oates, a PGA Tour rep for Ping, Finau is planning to use two Ping G430 LST drivers during the 2024 Masters because, after developing his course strategy, he realized that unless very unusual conditions arise, he was not going to hit his 3-wood off the ground. Perhaps if the anticipated rain on Thursday significantly softened the turf on the par-5 eighth hole, or if the wind blew into Finau on the second shot on that hole, maybe a 3-wood would be in order, but aside from that, he was not going to need the club.
Ping G430 LST driver. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
With that in mind, Ping built Finau a second G430 LST driver, built to his 3-wood specifications. Finau’s standard driver is a 9-degree G430 LST, but it has an actual loft of 7.75 degrees and is fitted with a 45.25-inch Mitsubishi Diamana GT 70TX shaft. The stated loft of the 3-wood-replacement-driver is 10.5 degrees, but with the adjustable hosel set to the small minus position, Kenton Oates, a PGA Tour rep for Ping estimates the head has about 8.9 degrees of loft. Ping gave the short driver to him last week in Texas. Finau brought the shorter driver to Augusta with the rest of his gear this week.
“It’s probably going to give him a carry distance of about 290 yards and then roll out to about 300,” Oates said. “It’s still going to go really far. Tony was getting ball speeds with his gamer driver in the high 180s and ball speeds with the little one in the low 180s on the range this week.”
According to Oates, the increased loft and shorter shaft allow Finau to shut the face more aggressively and produce the draw-style flight. That shot shape could be very handy on the newly lengthened second hole, as well as the seventh, 10th, 13th, 14th and 17th holes, which all encourage a right-to-left shot.
Past the Masters, Oates explained, Finau and other pros may start to consider carrying two drivers more frequently because if they don’t need to play a 3-wood off the turf to reach par 5s, elite golfers could find having a draw driver and a fade driver to be an advantage worth exploring.
