“I was told the green had (damage) and the hole wasn’t open,” he told Golfweek of a November round.
Two months after Hurricane Helene left a path of destruction through Augusta, a former Masters Champion spoke about the course conditions.
The past winner played a round at Augusta National Golf Club in mid-November, and told Golfweek, “The trees on the left side of No. 1 looked thin; thinner than normal. And so did the right side of No. 9.”
But the most notable difference wasn’t the alleged missing pines. Upon completing the par-5 15th, the foursome was informed that the 16th hole was not open for play.
“So after we played 15, we went straight to 17.”
Augusta National declined to comment about No. 16.
Just weeks ago, photos were released that showed significant damage to the 16th green, along with a number of trees down.
🚨📸⛳️ #PHOTOS — Drone imagery captured on September 28th shows the damage done to Augusta National Golf Club in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene (via @ed_bodenhamer) pic.twitter.com/ynCNrN4XLp
As for other areas of Augusta National, the past champion said the course “was in great shape.”
According to the past champ, Magnolia Lane “looked the same.”
“The clubhouse had no damage,” he added.
In the wake of Hurricane Helene, Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley announced a $5 million donation would be made towards the Hurricane Helene Community Crisis Fund.
The No. 16 green at Augusta National Golf Club. (Photo: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Network)
“Our Augusta community has suffered catastrophic and historic impact from Hurricane Helene. We currently are assessing the effects at Augusta National Golf Club,” Ridley wrote.
This April, the iconic chip turns 20. When asked about his Nike ball clinging over the edge before toppling in, Tiger Woods said in the aftermath of the 2005 Masters, “All of a sudden it looked pretty good. And all of a sudden it looked really good. And then it looked like how could it not go in, and how did it not go in, and all of a sudden it went in. So it was pretty sweet.”
A decade ago, Jordan Spieth reeled in a left-to-right par putt on No. 16, which Spieth described as, “The most clutch putt I’ve ever hit in my life.”
Thirty years ago, in 1995, Ben Crenshaw birdied No. 16 to seize a one-stroke lead.
A half-century ago, Jack Nicklaus drained a 40-footer, then broke into a celebratory trot around the green. The putt, which announcer Henry Longhurst described as, “The greatest putt I ever saw in my life,” helped Nicklaus fend off Tom Weiskopf and Johnny Miller by a stroke.
It’s that time again to enter the Masters lottery for tickets.
Congratulations! Simply by reading this, you are potentially one step closer being one of the selected few to get a ticket to watch The Masters in 2025 at Augusta National.
The good news, sort of: it’s a lottery system!
The bad news: that means you need luck to be on your side.
So, it’s not the easiest thing to snag a ticket — you’re competing with countless golf fans hoping they get their chance to go to the game’s most prestigious event. But all you have to do is apply and hope for the best.
How do you do it? Let’s break the whole thing down in a few fairly easy steps:
How do I apply for Masters tickets in 2025 at Augusta National?
Simply start by going to Masters.com and create a new account if you don’t have one. Registration is free!
Then, apply for any and all days you want, from practices early in the week to the Par 3 Contest on Wednesday. The catch: you’re eligible to win just one of those days.
What if I win Masters 2025 tickets in the lottery?
You’ll pay for whatever ticket you get, run around your house shouting joyfully and then plan out the perfect meal that will cost you less than your ticket did.
If Scheffler is in need of themes for his next Masters dinner menu, golf fans already know what he should do
Before Scottie Scheffler went out and shot the best second-round score in any major of his career, he got arrested.
A traffic incident at the gates of Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville seemingly escalated quickly in the early morning hours on Friday and Scheffler found himself doing warm-up stretches inside a Louisville jail cell in the event he was able to make his tee time.
Well, not only did the No. 1 golfer in the world make it back to the course with an hour to spare, he carded a 66 to move into the top five on the leaderboard thanks to six birdies on the day.
And he did it all after fueling up with a sandwich the officers gave him while in jail. Considering how well he played after the ordeal, golf fans are convinced there’s only one option for Scheffler next April when he returns to Augusta National to plan the annual Champions Dinner: A prison-themed meal.
Seriously, it seemed like every golf fan came to the same conclusion:
His 2024 appearance inspired pretty much the same reaction as Hovland arrived for his first round wearing an even louder design from J.Lindeberg. Good news for people who think this look is fresh: all items are available for purchase.
Sam Burns’ wife Caroline is due to give birth in just over a week.
As former LSU golfer [autotag]Sam Burns[/autotag] competes at Augusta National this week for the Masters, he may be a little preoccupied with something else.
Burns’ wife Carolina is pregnant with a due date just over a week out. According to Golf Digest, Burns has vowed that he will withdraw from the Masters to be with her if she were to go into labor during the event.
He’s not the only one facing a similar predicament. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler — the heavy favorite to win at Augusta again this week — has also promised to withdraw if his wife Meredith, who is due by the end of the month, were to go into labor.
“It’s going to be pretty wild. I don’t think it’s hit either of us quite yet but it’s an exciting time for us as a family,” Scheffler said earlier this year. “It’s been a pretty exciting last seven months or so and we’re looking forward to hopefully getting the baby out of there nice and healthy and with a healthy momma, and then we’ll go from there.”
Burns turned pro in 2017 and has since won six events on the tour, ranking as high as ninth in the world during his career. He’s still searching for his first major title, and he finished tied for 29th in last year’s Masters.
Contact/Follow us @LSUTigersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Louisiana State news, notes, and opinions.
Follow Tyler to continue the conversation on Twitter: @TylerNettuno
Here’s why Tiger Woods won’t be wearing Nike at The Masters.
When Tiger Woods makes his much-anticipated return to the putting greens at Augusta National Golf Club on Thursday, he won’t be wearing the iconic Nike swoosh logo that he’s donned for so many years. It’s very likely that fans may be wondering: What happened with Nike and Tiger?
Red — A tribute to his mother’s heritage and his power color
It started with a passion. The passion of competing. Of competing against ourselves. The field. The course. Life. Out of that passion, @SunDayRed rises.
With The Masters in full swing and golf on everyone’s minds, do any Duke baseball players think they could break 100 at Augusta National? The team posted a short social media clip with the answer.
Duke’s baseball team has three games this weekend, but the entire sports world has golf on its mind during Masters week.
The first men’s golf major is finally here at the iconic course in Augusta, Georgia, and the Blue Devils leaned into the fun by asking some players on the baseball team what they would shoot in a round at Augusta National.
Most of the Duke players interviewed weren’t very optimistic. Six of the eight Blue Devils in the video said they’d shoot something in the triple digits, with freshman AJ Gracia having maybe the most relatable answer.
“At least 100,” Gracia said instead of trying to zero in on an actual score. “At least.”
Two Duke players seemed a little more optimistic about their chances, however. Catcher Alex Stone thinks he can shoot in the mid-90s (though he did emphasize that no one on the roster would be any lower than that). Chase Krewson agreed that he could break 100.
Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for tapping in with us today. We appreciate you here.
It’s about that time, people. The tradition, unlike any other, has returned. The Masters is back and Tiger Woods is in it again. He’s been a fixture in this tournament for so much of our lives. For most of it, we’ve expected him to dominate.
Sure, he’s old. But he’s still Tiger Woods. And he told us, “If everything comes together, I think I can get one more.”
He’s earned having that mentality with his long history of dominance on this course. Of course, Woods believes that. Why shouldn’t he? This is the same guy who Augusta altered its course for back in 1997. I’m always going to give that guy the benefit of the doubt. Plus, we’ve seen what it looks like when everything comes together for him. Just go back and watch clips from his incredible 2019 run at The Masters that still feels so improbable today.
But we’ve got to be realistic. As much as we want to believe in this guy, rooting for Tiger Woods at The Masters in 2024 is simply hoping he can complete the course these days.
While that 2019 Masters run does exist, it feels like centuries ago. When you look at Woods’ recent history, things aren’t so rosy.
That’s why Woods simply making the cut would be an accomplishment. A good 36 holes from Tiger would be great. If he can finish the tournament? Whew, boy. We’re cooking with gas there.
The reality is that this Tiger isn’t that superhuman Tiger we’re all used to—he’s a bit closer to you and me these days. That’s OK. That’s life. That’s what makes him even going for it here so special.
Let’s hope he can give us a few special moments here to cheer for. We don’t know when it’ll be the last one.
It seems that those questions have been answered. Well, at least they were for federal investigators, anyway.
Mizuhara is reportedly in negotiations with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to theft, according to the New York Times.Ohtani has been cooperating with the federal investigation into the theft and an MLB investigation that seemingly puts him in the clear.
Things are still confusing, though. We don’t have any answers to how on Earth Mizuhara managed to move such massive amounts of money from Ohtani’s accounts without being caught.
Once details of this investigation are revealed, we may get the answers we’re looking for. Until then, we’ll just be confused.
SO. MUCH. CAITLIN. CLARK.
Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Caitlin Clark hasn’t even been drafted yet and she’s already a huge part of the WNBA’s plans for this season. We’ll see a lot of her on TV this year — more than we’ll see the defending WNBA champs, the Las Vegas Aces.
Meg Hall has more here:
“On Wednesday, they released their television broadcast schedule for the upcoming season, which will have several games shown on networks like ESPN, ABC and CBS but will also spotlight the Indiana Fever with 36 nationally televised games. That’s more than the defending champion Las Vegas Aces (35 games) and the runner-up New York Liberty (31 games). That’s also a 35 percent increase from the 2023 season when the Fever had 22 games on national television.”
I’ve got to be honest, folks. This is ridiculous. To be fair, all of them aren’t on ESPN. Some games will appear on Ion and NBA TV. You can argue that those games might not count. But still, man. This is a lot of Caitlin Clark. It’s easy to see why players like Diana Taurasi will go so hard at her. The league is doing all this for Clark and she hasn’t done anything yet.
Good luck, Caitlin. You’re going to need it this year.
Welcome to the greatest annual weekend in golf as the 2024 Masters gets underway from Augusta, Georgia. Before you start feasting on Pimento sandwiches this weekend, let’s take a moment to look back at Notre Dame’s record holder at the world’s most famous golf tournament.
When you think of Notre Dame athletics you likely think of football stars like Joe Montana and “Rocket” Ismail, a dynastic women’s basketball team, maybe some solid basketball squads Digger Phelps and Mike Brey put together over the years, or perhaps even the reigning national championship men’s lacrosse team.
Golf is perhaps among the last sports you associate Notre Dame with being great at.
Now the Fighting Irish may not have Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus in their golf record books, but they do have 1970 Masters Champion, Billy Casper.
Casper was one of the best golfers in the world at his prime as he won 51 times on the PGA Tour, the seventh most all-time. 27 of those victories came between 1964 and 1970 which were two more than Nicklaus during that time and six more than Arnold Palmer and Gary Player combined to win in that window.
Casper was also a short-lived Notre Dame athlete, attending the University for one semester on a golf scholarship. He chose to leave college and pursue a career as a professional golfer and as you know by now, that certainly was a wise choice by him.
Casper won that 1970 Masters in a playoff over Gene Littler which led to his record performance at Augusta 35 years later.
How so?
Remember with The Masters, when you win you get a lifelong invitation to keep playing in the tournament regardless of your age or skill set, even if some are encouraged to stop doing so on occasion.
Casper continued to play in the tournament up until 2005 when he played his final round of competitive golf at Augusta.
Casper, who was 73 at that time, was perhaps more than just a little bit past his prime.
You won’t find it in any record book because he never actually turned in his first-round scorecard in 2005, but Casper shot what would be a record-high for a single round at The Masters with a score of 106.
His scorecard that round read as follows: 6-5-5-5-6-5-5-6-6-7-7-3-6-4-6-14-5-5=106
If you’re familiar with Augusta you’re aware that the 16th hole is a par 3 and you’ll notice his 14 on that hole alone. As could possibly guess, had it been an official round Casper would also hold the record for the highest score on a single hole. Since it wasn’t three other golfers are tied for the record high by scoring a 13 on various holes over the years.
Casper never turned in his scorecard that April 2005 afternoon however so his Masters record isn’t technically even an official one, but we won’t let technicalities get in the way of a good story.
Now, who said Notre Dame’s golf isn’t loaded in tradition?
With Sam Bennett tearing it up at The Masters, let’s look back on 10 other amateur golfers to succeed in Augusta.
Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on April 7, 2023. It has since been updated
Augusta National can test and break even the best professional golfers on the planet. Yet every once in awhile it seems like an amateur who gets into the field at The Masters starts sneaking their way up the leaderboard and into contention.
In 2023, it was Sam Bennett who found himself eight under par on Friday and in third place. As the gates of Augusta open to the public yet again this week, here are the 10 best performances by amateurs at the famed course.
[afflinkbutton text=”Watch the Masters on Fubo” link=”https://www.fubo.tv/welcome?irad=343747&irmp=1205322&subId1=FTW&subId2=Masters&subId3=2024″]
