It's Masters Week:


Reportedly, the "show me the money, Manzeil" thing was worth a grand with Speith and Homa for the first ace of the tourney. If that was in the tourney he'd get a pair of crystal high ball glasses and a large crystal bowl (engraved, of course.) Like those plates in the earlier video, they make me wonder what they'd pull on a place like E-bay.

I still laugh at "the traditions." Mark Calcavecchia got kicked out this week for using his phone on the grounds. That brings me to another point of why I love watching this tournament: you see fans watching and reacting to the action with their eyes versus phones everywhere.

 
In life I don't like whining, overly-dramatic people. In golf, I despise them.

I look at the leaderboard and I see a cuck and a cheater who is tied with Sam Burns. But damn, that cuck birdied six of the last seven yesterday for his six stroke lead. That's playing golf.

Over the last decade, maybe decade and a half, the winner has been within four strokes of the leader heading into round three. Rory has a six stroke lead. Over the last 100 years, a little over 10 percent of the winners have been six strokes, or more, back from Saturday mornings leader.

So, I'm saying "there's a chance..." it's not the cuck.

Join me in a moment of prayer. "Lord, let the wind blow!"
 


I spent 5 hours on my feet at Augusta before I even saw a golf shot.

Went to the Masters practice round this week...best Tuesday of my life.

We got there at 6 AM. Already a long line at the first gate.

By 7:15 we were through. By 9:00 we still hadn't touched the course.

Here's where all that time went:

1) The merch shop is controlled chaos.

No phones allowed inside. So you're just standing in line making friends with strangers for 30 minutes.

Once you're in, most of the good stuff is behind the counter on display with a number. You walk up and say "I'll take three of number 73 and two of 57."

No price tags visible on most of it. It almost feels like a shopping spree, which is only made worse by the fact that this might be a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

I've never spent more money before 9AM.

2) The course is nothing like TV.

The elevation changes are insane. The first tee drops about 50 feet before climbing back uphill. I had no idea.

The green on 7 is more tilted than you'd ever guess.
The approach on 8 is way steeper than it looks on screen.

The fairway bunkers are so deep that I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy.

3) People make big sacrifices to get to Augusta

At Amen corner, I met two Australian guys who flew in from Sydney.

Their plane had to turn around over Fiji because a passenger went into anaphylactic shock from trail mix.
One had a five-week-old baby at home.
The other had a 20-month-old and a pregnant wife.

They still made the trip.

4) The bathroom situation deserves its own post.

They have attendants in the men's room directing traffic. "Number two? Against the wall. Number one? This line."

There's a dedicated attendant to wiping down the toilets after each person uses it.

No other event moves people around as efficiently as the Masters

5) 16 is electric.

Practice round Tuesday is when they skip balls across the water.

The crowd loses it every time someone tries.
Goes absolutely nuts when one makes it across.

Watched Rory skip one that rolled all the way through the green into the crowd and trickled back out. He tried to play it from there. Almost came back to his feet.

6) The end of the day was the best part.

By late afternoon, most players were off the course. Almost everyone had cleared out from Amen Corner.

We walked back to 12 and it was just... quiet. Peaceful.

Then watched the grounds crew replace divots on the 12 tee box.

They carve out oval-shaped pieces, lay in fresh sod, and hammer it down with a mallet. On every single tee box. Every single day.

That's Augusta.

I also brought my camera for the first time in a while.

I used to shoot golf content on the side, and it felt really good to pick it back up again.
 

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