Charlie Rymer at The Masters: 3 Burning Questions
Will Tiger Woods tee it up Thursday? How has the golf course changed for this year? Who will emerge victorious on Sunday? Charlie Rymer is on assignment once again at Augusta National, and offering up his take on these questions and more.
By Charlie Rymer
It’s finally arrived. Masters Week is here. The center of the golf universe. I’ve been blessed to attend pretty much every Masters since I was 6 years old. And that’s a lot of Masters. This year seems super special as we emerge from a pandemic world. All of the patrons are back. The buzz on property is back. I can’t wait for the weekend roars to be back.
There’s no feeling in golf like hearing an Augusta roar from 12, 13, or 15 green come rolling up the course toward 18 green. You can feel it before you hear it. This is my 14th straight year to receive a media credential, and I’ll be doing radio work for Westwood One Sports. Working in radio is a lot like working in television. The main difference?
In radio, you don’t have to shave. I think I’m better suited for radio.
Let’s hit the main story lines.
Is Tiger gonna play this week? Well, if I knew the answer to that I’d be in Vegas right now. I don’t even think Tiger knows if he’s gonna play. The only thing that’s certain is that Tiger wants to play. That tells me he eventually will. And I hope it’s this week.
From what I’ve seen, he’s physically capable of playing as far as the swing goes. What many folks don’t realize is that Augusta is a tough walk. It’s right seven miles and has a ton of up and down. You have to play a lot of shots from uneven lies. I think Tiger can walk seven miles and hit golf shots off flat land like where he plays at his home in Florida. But Augusta is a different kind of beast.
My guess is that he plays and makes the cut. But I’m thinking that he might be worn down by the weekend. As for his future in golf? I think we’ll see him at big events for years to come. His schedule will be limited. But a little Tiger is better than no Tiger. He just brings so much energy to events. Will he ever win again? I’d never bet against Tiger Woods to do anything. The good news is that the events he does play reward experience more than regular season events.
How has the golf course changed? Wherever you play golf it’s likely that when changes or repairs are made it’s three to five years before those changes “grow in” and match up with the rest of the course. That’s not the case at Augusta National. These people use magic. Well-funded magic. The biggest changes are at 11 and 15. Both holes have added some distance, shifted the tee box to create a different angle, and re-contoured the fairway to better reward drives struck on the proper line. The idea is that players drive the ball so well with modern equipment that adjustments need to be made to compensate. For the most part I buy in. These changes are obviously well thought out and perfectly executed.
A few other greens have reportedly been rebuilt as well. That’s typical for Augusta. Bentgrass greens have a life cycle of roughly 20 years. They are laser measured to the millimeter. Dug out. Rebuilt to the original specs (or not … it’s up to the competitors to discover). And when the tournament starts Thursday, all of these changes will match up with the rest of the course and look like everything has been exactly the same for 100 years. Magic.
Who do ya like? Who do ya like? Who do ya like? I’m going with Dustin Johnson. The Masters and U.S. Open champion comes in having not played his best golf going back a year or so. I spoke with him a few weeks back while he was in Myrtle Beach hosting his World Junior Golf Championship. He spent plenty of time with his longtime coach, Allen Terrell, behind the scenes off limits to everyone (even me) at the Dustin Johnson Golf School. Those guys were grinding. They speak the same language … mostly deep grunts. The grunts that day were much deeper and longer than normal. DJ did tell me that he’s not far off and they’re just trying to get back to basics. And Dustin Johnson’s basics are pretty good.
Apparently the work paid off, because DJ made a nice run at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin after putting in the hard work in Myrtle Beach. I think that spark from Austin after the grind in Myrtle Beach is gonna lead to a second Green Jacket for Dustin Johnson.
Enjoy The Masters everyone!
