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    At the Masters, Champions Past, Present and Future

    Seventy-five years ago this past week, Sam Snead won the Masters Tournament and became the first champion to receive one of Augusta National Golf Club’s green jackets.Until he died in 2002, the jacket was his to wear every time he returned to Augusta. These days, it is a sartorial symbol of how, beyond a freighted history and marvelous azaleas and golf’s geopolitical machinations and gallery roars that ripple from Amen Corner to the clubhouse, Augusta National is more enchanted by champions than most places.Since the start of the month, Lottie Woad has captured the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Eight children were named champions of a junior golf competition after playing at Augusta. More than 30 past Masters winners gathered for dinner to honor Jon Rahm, last year’s champion, and Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson hit tee shots to start this year’s tournament. Many of their brethren played afterward, because they are allowed to for life. On Sunday, someone — perhaps someone new, perhaps someone already admitted to the locker room reserved for past champions — will win the 88th Masters.There may be no place in men’s golf where hope, dazzle and ambition are as abundant as Augusta.But this past week, all of the possibilities seemed to be on greater display than usual. There was the solar eclipse on Monday, when fans peered skyward, just as Ben Crenshaw and Nick Faldo did here, too. Later on, Tiger Woods, 48 years old and two years removed from the last time he finished a major tournament, made his record 24th consecutive Masters cut. But he faded on Saturday. Higher up the leaderboard during the third round, players like Ludvig Aberg, Nicolai Hojgaard, Max Homa and Xander Schauffele hunted for their debut major title, while Bryson DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa and Cameron Smith looked to build on the magic that had made them champions elsewhere not all that long ago. Scottie Scheffler occasionally stumbled but was still at once contending for another Masters victory and wondering if he could lock it down before the birth of his first child.Golf enthusiasts often regard a trip to the Masters as the stuff of dreams. It certainly is for players. The Masters represents a shot at becoming one of those champions written into history, with the green jackets and the possibility of forever enchanting Augusta.Spectators cast their eyes skyward to witness Monday’s solar eclipse.Winners of the Chip and Putt competition.Honorary starter names are placed at the first tee.Scottie Scheffler, left, hits out of the bunker as Stewart Hagestad, right, hits out off the bunker on the 12th hole during a practice round.Tiger Woods looks at his tee shot on the third hole.Bryson DeChambeau, center, carries a Masters sign along the 13th fairway.Luke List watches his shot on the seventh hole.Danny Willett reacts after making a birdie.Collin Morikawa stretches as he walks along the 15th fairway. More

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    Ben Crenshaw Is Not Done With the Masters

    He played it as an amateur in the 1970s, won it twice and will once again be telling tales at the Champions Dinner.In the history of the Masters, Ben Crenshaw’s name is writ large.He was the low amateur, meaning the amateur who plays the best that week, in back-to-back years, 1972 and 1973. In 1984, he won the tournament, besting Tom Watson by two strokes. But it’s his 1995 victory at age 43 that’s one for the history books.Just days after his coach and mentor Harvey Penick died, he paired again with Carl Jackson, the Augusta National Golf Club caddie, to win by one shot. When the final putt dropped, Crenshaw draped himself around Jackson in an emotional embrace on the 18th green.Crenshaw, 70, hasn’t played in the tournament since 2015, but he has become a guiding presence at the annual Champions Dinner. He is also among the top golf course architects. He and his business partner, Bill Coore, have designed or renovated a half dozen courses rated in the top 100 in the world.Ahead of his 50th Masters, Crenshaw spoke about the course, the players and the history. The following has been edited and condensed.How has the experience of the tournament changed over the years?With modern golf, I’m amazed how Augusta National has striven to keep up with the times. They have stretched the length of the holes almost as much as they possibly could in a lot of instances. But the actual intent of playing the golf course is very much the same. You still want to drive the ball into a position so you have the best angle into those greens. In our day there was no second cut [of the higher grass just off the fairway that was instituted in 1998] — it was cut grass everywhere you looked. The ball would keep running. It was very strategic in that regard. There were a lot of instances where an errant tee ball could run into trouble.Augusta National will play 7,510 yards this year, 300 yards longer than the average PGA Tour course. Still, it’s the greens, not the length, that challenge the best players. What are they like?The greens are remarkable in the way they play. It’s the contours of those greens and what can happen to the ball. From a player’s standpoint, Augusta National is very much about the approach shot to the green. But you learn the course over time. You don’t go directly to the flagstick. You play over there to get where you’re going. When a player is trying to practice and learn the golf course, you’ll see the newcomers go to many spots around the greens and hit these chips and little short shots. You can’t practice them enough. I’d hit them from various spots; I’d hit it somewhere I hadn’t been.Ben Crenshaw had an emotional reaction to winning the Masters in 1995 by one shot. Phil Sheldon/Popperfoto, via Getty ImagesSo distance matters less?Let’s face it, much of the emphasis is on how far people can hit the ball and what advantage they have. That’s true. But if you look over the champions list there are so many people with varying distances off the tee. It will always reward the long hitter who hits it where it should be.You were the low amateur in the ’70s, and a winner in the ’80s and ’90s. What challenged you over the decades?The course goads you into taking chances. You know if you don’t bring that shot off, you always suffer the consequences of missing by a very small margin. If you miss a spot on the green, the ball might go 60, 70 feet away from where you want it to go. No one can play safe and win at Augusta. You’ve got to take chances to score. Nothing gives you more confidence than when you hit a good shot. It puts the excitement in the game. There was nothing like being in contention at Augusta and hearing the crowd.What’s the conversation like at the Champions Dinner?When we’re at the dinner we all look around the table and we’re seeing different eras of golf. The conversation among the champions is always how they played, who you were chasing, who were your pursuers, what chances did you take. There’s a thread woven through all of us that we’re very fortunate to be in that room. You always want to ask Jack Nicklaus or Gary Player or Vijay Singh: “You faced this shot, and you knew you had to take a chance there. Did it come off as you planned?” We faced the same challenges, and we got through it. More