Tag: Masters

Every golf fans needs this Masters Yule Log video from the Butler Cabin for Christmas

The Masters Yule Log video is perfect for any golf fan on Christmas.

Yes, the Yule Log is a Christmas Day tradition like no other, a continuous video of a fireplace with holiday tunes played over it.

But what about a Yule Log video for the golf fan in you?

There’s an answer for that, courtesy of the Masters’ YouTube channel. It’s a roaring fireplace … in the famed Butler Cabin at Augusta, where the famed green jackets are handed out. 

There’s no music behind the crackling fire, unfortunately, but I think I have just the tune to use in combination with the video below …

Here’s the Masters Yule Long and the soundtrack you need:

Staff picks: Who will win their first major championship in 2024?

Don’t be surprised if a handful of rising stars command the spotlight in 2024.

Four of the five major champions on the women’s side in 2023 were first-time winners. As for the men? Two of four.

As the golf world moves on from 2023 and looks ahead to 2024, we got to thinking, who is most likely to add a major championship to their resume for the first time in the new year? Several writers on Golfweek‘s staff have made their picks, some surprising, some not so much.

Men’s 2024 major venues: Augusta National Golf Club (Masters), Valhalla Golf Club (PGA Championship), Pinehurst No. 2 (U.S. Open) and Royal Troon (Open Championship).

Women’s 2024 major venues: The Club at Carlton Woods (Chevron Championship), Lancaster Country Club (U.S. Women’s Open), Sahalee Country Club (KPMG Women’s PGA Championship), Evian Resort Golf Club (Amundi Evian Championship), The Old Course at St. Andrews (AIG Women’s Open).

What a major championship exemption for LIV Golf players would look like for 2024

It’s never too early to start thinking about the 2024 majors, right?

Major championship discussion has been all the rage since the Official World Golf Ranking rejected LIV Golf’s application for points.

Players like Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau have discussed a new exemption category for players who made the jump to the upstart circuit led by Greg Norman and financially backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

But what would a major championship exemption category for LIV players even look like? A LIV official said an exemption for the top 12 players on the points list at the end of the season would make sense in their eyes. Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley already shot down the idea. Chief executive of the R&A Keith Pelly agreed. But let’s not let that get in the way of a fun exercise.

After all, it’s never too early to start thinking about the majors right? With the Masters a little more than 150 days away, here’s how exemption categories would pan out for LIV players at the 2024 majors.

Jasper Stubbs punches ticket to 2024 Masters with playoff win at 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship

Stubbs is the fourth Aussie winner of the championship over the last 10 years.

It’s a 22-hour flight from Melbourne, Australia to Augusta, Georgia. Jasper Stubbs will be making the trip next April after his win on Sunday.

The 21-year-old Aussie came from behind to force a playoff at 1 over and ultimately win the 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at the famed Royal Melbourne to punch his ticket to the 2024 Masters as well as the Open Championship at Royal Troon next year. He’s also earned a place in next summer’s Amateur Championship at Ballyliffin in Ireland.

Stubbs, who lives just two miles from Royal Melbourne, beat Wenyi Ding, the 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur champion, and Sampson Zheng in two extra holes after he began the round six shots behind Zheng. He’s now the fourth Australian winner of the championship, joining Antonio Murdaca (2014), Curtis Luck (2016) and Harrison Crowe (2022).

Chuan-Tai Lin finished T-4 alongside Max Charles at 2 over, with Kazuma Kobori in sixth at 4 over. Anh Minh Nguyen and Marcus Lim finished T-7 at 6 over. Jeffrey Guan (7 over) and Billy Dowling (8 over) round out the top 10.

This year’s field featured 120 male amateurs from 37 Asian-Pacific nations. The championship was created in 2009 by the Masters, R&A and Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation to further develop amateur golf throughout the region.

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Masters not changing qualifying criteria for LIV golfers in 2024, Fred Ridley says

The majors aren’t here to serve LIV Golf.

Earlier this month, the Official World Golf Ranking denied LIV Golf’s bid for ranking points. Since then, LIV golfers like Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson have spoke openly about how the top golfers on LIV deserve world ranking points, and even going as far to say the majors should create special exemptions for LIV golfers.

However, don’t expect the Masters to change anything for 2024.

On Thursday, Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley and R&A CEO Martin Slumbers spoke with members of the media Thursday at Royal Melbourne in Australia at the 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur, a tournament where the winner receives an exemption to the Masters and Open Championship.

Ridley said the criteria isn’t changing for the 2024 Masters.

“If you look back over the history of the Masters Tournament and the qualifications that existed, we have changed those qualifications numerous times, dozens of times,” Ridley said. “We look at those every year. We don’t make changes every year, but we do look at them under the current circumstances.

“As you recall last year, there was some speculation as to whether or not we would invite LIV golfers, and we stayed true to our qualification criteria and we invited everyone who was eligible. Our qualifications are very much dynamic and we adjust to what we feel is the best interests of the tournament representing the best players in the world, so we always look at that.”

The three changes for the Masters in 2024 were inviting the NCAA individual champion, winners of FedEx Cup point-awarding fall events and a tweak to the wording of the Tour Championship qualification.

The Masters normally invites the top 50 in the OWGR as well as past champions, PGA Tour winners and high finishers from other major championships.

Meanwhile, Slumbers said the R&A is reviewing its qualification criteria, which will be released early next year. However, Slumbers said recent conversations about exemption categories have been completely off the mark.

“I think it’s very important that we don’t lose sight of the fact that The Open is intended to be open to everybody, but you earn your place in the field and through exemptions and that won’t change,” Slumbers said.

There was a follow-up question specifically naming Talor Gooch, who won the LIV individual championship and made more than $35 million this year. However, he is not eligible for any majors in 2024 and sits outside the top 200 in the OWGR.

“(LIV golfers) made decisions based on what they thought was in the best interests of their golf careers, and we certainly respect that,” Ridley said. “We do have in our invitation criteria, it does say that we reserve the right to invite special exemptions to international players, although we did issue a special exemption to an amateur (Gordon Sargent) last year.  So we are always looking at that.

“But these decisions have been made, and we’ll have to do what’s in the best interests of the Masters and we’ll continue to do that.”

Added Slumbers: “From my perspective, without getting into detail, there are plenty of opportunities for any player in the world who thinks they are good enough to have a chance to qualify and play in The Open Championship irrespective of which tour they are participating on, and that will not change.”

Ryder Cup hero Jon Rahm’s golf equipment blends new woods, old irons and prototype gear

Jon Rahm’s Masters-winning gear includes a mix of new and old Callaway clubs.

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In one of the most eagerly awaited major championships in years, Jon Rahm claimed his first green jacket by winning the 2023 Masters by four shots over Brooks Koepka and three-time Masters winner Phil Mickelson. The victory gave Rahm his second major title (he won the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines) and a lifetime exemption into the event, along with a $3.24 million paycheck.

But Rahm’s amazing season included more than winning a green jacket. The Spaniard won the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions, American Express and the Genesis Invitational. he was also a runner-up at the British Open and the Mexico Open at Vidanta, and at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, Italy, Rahm was a monster. He won three points in four matches while seemingly making one clutch shot after another.

From an equipment standpoint, Rahm made some changes to his equipment setup before 2023, but his bag still contains several clubs that helped him win more than $5 million in prize money last season.

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Augusta National accepting job applications for 2024 Masters Tournament

Interested in getting to Augusta National for the Masters but can’t find and/or afford tickets?

Interested in getting to Augusta National for the Masters but can’t find and/or afford tickets?

Here’s one way to get on the hallowed grounds: work at the golf course during tournament week.

Augusta National’s official Masters website has a jobs page for prospective employees. The club says it’s looking for thousands of people to fill jobs in concessions, hospitality and merchandise operations. Specific jobs include barista, forklift driver, cashier, overnight sandwich prep and merchandise.

The application process opened last Monday and will stay open until Dec. 4. ANGC is looking to staff three events: the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (April 6), the Drive, Pitch and Putt National Finals (April 7) and Masters Tournament week (April 8 to April 14). If you intend to apply, you have to work all nine days. Be ready for long days, too, as the jobs site indicates: “Depending on your position, you may work between 10-14 hours each day.”

ANGC is asking people to only apply for one position and notes that “selected applicants will receive offer letters via email beginning in mid-January and continuing through March 2024.”

The jobs page makes no mention of whether any of these positions allow for free time to watch any of the events.

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Phil Mickelson dishes on stealing sign from Augusta National’s practice area

Story time with Phil is back, and Mickelson delivered a doozy.

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Story time with Phil is back, and Mickelson delivered a doozy.

On Thursday, Mickelson posted a video on his social media channels of himself sitting in a cart (Note to Phil: You need some help with your lighting. Also, bring back the Phireside chat) and detailing the time he stole a sign from Augusta National Golf Club.

To say that such an act at the home of the Masters would be frowned upon by the ghosts of co-founders Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts and the club’s powerbrokers today is putting it mildly, but Phil is gonna Phil.

He begins by recounting how in 2004, his short-game guru Dave Pelz introduced a towel drill that consisted of him placing towels on the range from distances of up to 175 yards and taking aim at them. Mickelson credits the drill with helping him win his first major at the 2004 Masters.

Augusta National opened its current practice facility for the Masters, which stretches more than 400 yards long, in 2010, but before that, there were separate locations, referred to as the East and West. Mickelson liked to do his towel drill at the East, and he claims when he showed up in 2005, there was a sign that read: “East practice tee for short game practice only.”

But Mickelson still wanted to practice there, so he cooked up a scheme that we’ll file under the category, ‘What will Phil do next?’ Let’s allow Phil to pick up the thread of this story:

“After the Champions Dinner, I let all the champions leave first, and I go down Magnolia Lane and I park the car, and I kind of crawl under the magnolias, and I take that sign and I wiggle and I wiggle and I lift and I yank it out and I throw it in the back of my SUV and off I go,” Phil recounted. “So, I show up the next morning and there’s no sign there, I start hitting my shots, I do my towel drill and I do it all week long.”

One year later, the sign had returned. Once is wild enough but Mickelson wouldn’t steal the sign twice would he? Apparently, he would. There was only one problem.

“I show up the next day and I’m going to go do my towel drill and there’s another sign there,” Phil said. “It never dawned on me there are cameras everywhere and there’s some video of me crawling under these magnolias with the guys saying, ‘Look at this idiot, what’s he doing?’”

The story is so outrageous that it’s hard to believe – even for Mickelson – but he removed any doubt.

“A lot of you might bet that that’s not a true story,” Mickelson says at the end of the video. “I’m not a betting man (said with a straight face!) so I’m not going to take it but I wouldn’t do that because…” and he sticks the infamous sign in the video frame and with his best goofy grin delivers the kicker: “It’s a true story.”

Alabama Golf’s Nick Dunlap is the 2023 U.S. Amateur Champion

Alabama Golfer Nick Dunlap joins Tiger Woods in elite feat

Alabama Golfer Nick Dunlap picked up a massive win this weekend at the US Amateur Championship at the Cherry Hills Country Club. Dunlap is only a sophomore with the Crimson Tide but has already done the unthinkable and is currently ranked as the No. 9 amateur in the World Rankings.

The way the tournament was set up it was one-on-one play rather than the traditional field style, and Dunlap never trailed over the final 18 holes in the championship round. Dunlap was sensational all weekend as he posted 11 birdies over the course of 33 holes.

Dunlap joins the greatest golfer of all time, Tiger Woods, in becoming only the second player to ever win the US Amateur Championship as well as the US Junior Am. Dunlap is a Huntsville native and is quickly putting himself on the map and showing that he can be a serious contender on the PGA Tour alongside other Alabama greats like Justin Thomas and Lee Hodges. With the victory, Dunlap has guaranteed himself a spot in the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open next year.

When you are receiving comparisons to Tiger Woods, it might be easy to let all the noise get to your head. However, Dunlap is a composed athlete and said this of the comparison,

“I think it’s only a third of what he’s done. Just to be in the same conversation with Tiger is a dream come true and something I’ve worked for my whole life.”

There is no question that Dunlap has certainly put himself on the fast track to be one of the greatest Crimson Tide golfers of all time.

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Jon Rahm gives early look at what’s on his Masters Champions Dinner menu

The Masters champions will be treated to a little Spanish flavor.

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The two questions Jon Rahm gets asked the most are what was he thinking when his tee ball hit the branch on No. 18 at the Masters and what is he going to serve for his Champions Dinner after he eventually won?

The two-time major champion was a guest on the Pardon My Take podcast and said he hasn’t given the menu as much thought as some may think.

“The first few weeks it’s all I thought about for some reason,” said Rahm ahead of this week’s BMW Championship at Olympia Fields in Illinois. “After that, I haven’t. I know the dessert.”

Rahm said the menu will include Milhojas, which is a layered pastry dish. He also said the cocktail reception will include a Spanish ham, Jamón ibérico.

“Everything in between I have no idea,” he said, while also noting he has an idea for the wine, but he’s not sure if it needs to be part of the wine cellar at Augusta National.

The 28-year-old Spaniard won the Masters in April by four shots over Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson for his second major championship after previously winning the 2021 U.S. Open. Rahm currently sits atop the points standings as he enters this week’s second of three FedEx Cup Playoff events, where he’s paired with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler for the opening two rounds outside Chicago.

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