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      Hideki Matsuyama Charges Into the Lead at the Masters

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      After a 78 minute rain delay the golf course was far more forgiving with significantly slower greens, and Matsuyama will head into Sunday’s final round 11-under par.AUGUSTA, Ga. — The third round of the Masters tournament began Saturday with a gusting wind that bedeviled the field and seemed to make the firm, already crusty Augusta National Golf Club greens more parched, speedy and vexing.Then, just before 4 p.m., a rainstorm with the potential for thunder and lightning sent the golfers scurrying to the safety of the clubhouse. After a 78 minute suspension of play, players returned to a golf course that was far more forgiving with dampened, significantly slower greens. The wind had all but disappeared.Sensing the reprieve, many in the field attacked.Leading the charge was Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, who shot a sparkling 65 by playing his final eight holes in six under par. At 11 under par for the tournament, Matsuyama, 29, will take an authoritative four-shot lead into Sunday’s final round. Four golfers are tied for second: second-round leader Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele, Marc Leishman and Masters rookie Will Zalatoris.If Matsuyama, the 2017 P.G.A. Tour rookie of the year and a runner-up to Tiger Woods at the 2019 Masters, can retain his lead on Sunday, he will become the first Asian to win the Masters. He is the first Japanese player to hold the lead at the end of any Masters round.Hideki Matsuyama watched his chip shot on the 18th green.Doug Mills/The New York TimesMatsuyama said he felt relaxed during the weather delay because the last shot he hit before the suspension of play — a drive off the 11th tee — was his worst swing of the round.“I thought I can’t hit anything worse than that,” he said through an interpreter. “Maybe it relieved some of the pressure. I did hit it well after the delay.”That is an understatement. Matsuyama, who is ranked 25th in the world, put on a superlative display of ball striking that may someday make up much of the highlight reel of the 2021 Masters.Matsuyama began Saturday with six successive pars and caught Rose with a birdie on the seventh hole. Then he poured it on, beginning with his approach to the elusive 11th green that resulted in a converted 12-foot birdie putt. Matsuyama’s tee shot to the tricky par-3 12th settled only eight feet from the hole for another birdie. After three successive pars, Matsuyama eagled the par-5 15th hole when his second shot — a towering, precise 5-iron — landed four feet from the flagstick. His birdie putt on the par-3 16th was even closer, which Matsuyama banged home confidently. The 17th hole was more of the same after two exceedingly accurate shots from the tee and the fairway.Hideki Matsuyama, left, and Xander Schauffele both made eagles on the 15th hole.Doug Mills/The New York TimesThe most nervous moment Matsuyama had on the back nine was when he flew his second shot 20 yards over the 18th green, but a nifty bump-and-run pitch left a tap-in par putt.After the rainstorm, Matsuyama conceded he, “hit practically every shot exactly like I wanted to do.”If Matsuyama wins on Sunday, it would be the second victory for a Japanese golfer on the grounds in the last eight days. On Apr. 3, 17-year-old Tsubasa Kajitani, who is from Okayama, Japan, won this year’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur tournament.“It was fantastic,” Matsuyama said of Kajitani’s victory. “I hope I can follow in her shoes and make Japan proud.”Matsuyama had seven P.G.A. Tour and European Tour victories from 2014 to 2017. He said there were a variety of reasons he has been winless for the last few years, but noted that this year he began traveling with a Japanese coach, Hidenori Mezawa, which he called a “great benefit.”“Things that I was feeling in my swing, I could talk to him about that, and he gives me good feedback,” Matsuyama said. “It’s like having a mirror for my swing. Hopefully now it’s all starting to come together.”A weather warning went out and play was suspended as severe thunderstorms approached.Doug Mills/The New York TimesJordan Spieth waited to putt on the 18th green as inclement weather passed over Augusta National Golf Club.Doug Mills/The New York TimesBefore the weather delay, most of the second-round leaders played inconsistently or downright struggled. Rose, who began Saturday with a one-stroke lead at seven under par, opened with consecutive birdies on the first two holes but then had successive bogeys on the fourth and fifth holes. Rose rallied to shoot even par the rest of the way. Brian Harman, who trailed Rose by one stroke to begin his round, slumped to a 74 that left him at four under par for the tournament.The most roller coaster outing was turned in by Jordan Spieth, who in the second round had moved to within two strokes of Rose. On the seventh hole on Saturday, Spieth sent his approach shot over the green then flubbed a chip shot and hit an overly aggressive bunker shot that led to a double bogey. He was in even worse trouble on the next hole when his tee shot was so far left it appeared he was almost replaying the seventh. Buried in the woods, Spieth lofted an iron shot over a tall stand of pine trees that landed three feet from the eighth hole for an easy birdie. A chip-in birdie on the 10th hole followed, as did an eagle at the 15th, but those successes were offset by the earlier setbacks, and Spieth concluded with a round of 72, trailing Matsuyama by six shots.Zalatoris seemed the most at ease as the third round began with a string of pars and a nifty birdie on the par-4 third hole. But Zalatoris, 24, did not appear to adjust well to the slower green speeds after the rainstorm, and missed several birdie putt attempts on the back nine to shoot 71.Justin Rose and Will Zalatoris are two of four golfers tied for second place headed into Sunday.Doug Mills/The New York TimesCorey Conners, with a hole in one on the sixth hole, made the biggest early move up the leaderboard on Saturday to finish at six-under-par, just behind the gaggle tied for second.Schauffele, who was grouped with Matsuyama, shot an impressive 68 and still had time to exchange repartee in Japanese with his playing partner. Schauffele’s maternal grandparents lived in Japan and he said he has picked up some of the language.Or as Matsuyama said of his conversation with Schauffele: “We didn’t get a chance to talk a lot, but when we did, we exchanged some good Japanese jokes and had a good laugh.”Matsuyama and Schauffele are paired together again for Sunday’s final round, and are scheduled to tee off at 2:40 p.m. Eastern time. More

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      Jordan Spieth Had a Very Good Day at the Masters

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      A crowd favorite, all eyes were on Spieth as he charged up the leaderboard and put himself in contention with a confident second round.AUGUSTA, Ga. — Jordan Spieth was walking down the 17th hole at Augusta National Golf Club on Friday when a voice from the crowd lining the fairway cried out, “Welcome back!”Spieth turned his head in the direction of the sound, but it appeared as if he didn’t hear it clearly.The salute was repeated, only louder: “Welcome back!”And this time Spieth waved and looked over his shoulder with a smile and a grateful expression that seemed to say: It’s good to be back.It has been seven years since Spieth arrived at his first Masters as a 20-year-old less than three years out of high school. Back then, he played with flushed cheeks and a hop in his step that sent a jolt of youthful vitality through the typically middle-aged Masters galleries. When he took a two-shot lead through seven holes in the final round of the 2014 tournament, Spieth appeared to be on the verge of becoming the youngest major golf championship winner in 83 years.When he tied for second instead, the Augusta National fans were no less smitten. A year later, at the 2015 Masters, he became only the fifth champion to have the lead after all four rounds.On Friday, as Spieth vaulted up the Masters leaderboard with a four-under-par 68 that moved him to five under par and left him two strokes behind Justin Rose, the second-round leader, it was clear that his fans had not forsaken him. Spieth, a three-time major champion, may have not won a tournament from 2017 until last week’s Texas Valero Open, but at Augusta they have been eagerly awaiting his rebound.The number of spectators at this year’s tournament is limited, although there are still several thousand on the grounds, and the biggest throng by far on Friday was following Spieth. It did not hurt that his junior golf friend of nearly 15 years, Justin Thomas, was playing one group ahead of him, which sometimes made possible the viewing of two popular players at adjacent holes.But a round of major championship golf always has a beating heart to it, a core where the energy is focused. For nearly 25 years, if Tiger Woods was in the field, the dynamism always followed him. In Woods’s absence, at least this week, the Masters crowds are longing for the continuation of Spieth’s recent comeback, which has included several promising results in the last six weeks.Asked if he noticed the extra attention of the fans on Friday, Spieth, who is tied for fourth, made a joke about how he finished in more obscurity on Thursday. In the last group of the first round, he finished as the sun was setting.“It was such a slow round that I think people decided not only to have dinner but maybe go to bed by the time we finished,” he said with a snicker.But Spieth, 27, is modest enough not to openly acknowledge that he had a cheering, enthusiastic following. At best, he conceded: “Yeah, we had a lot of people last week, and so maybe — I mean, I didn’t feel that it was any more than yesterday.”Spieth’s appeal is no doubt tied to his past successes at a young age and an unassuming public image, but sports fans also love a comeback story, and Spieth’s fall had grown precipitous. After the 2020 Masters, which was only five months ago, his world golf ranking had dipped to No. 80. He has rallied to 38th, and it has much to do with the same things that made him a brilliant player from 2014 through 2017: his putting and short game.The crowd cheered Spieth on throughout his excellent second round.Doug Mills/The New York TimesOn Friday, Spieth’s move up the leaderboard began with a 7-foot birdie putt on the devilish 10th green that moved him to two-under for his round. He nearly birdied the 11th hole after a brilliant approach shot, then bogeyed the treacherous par-3 12th hole, which had been his nemesis in past Masters.Spieth’s tee shot at the roughly 155-yard 12th caught the upper lip of the bunker protecting the front of the green, making the shot three feet from perfect, and it trundled back in the sand. Spieth’s blast from the bunker left him a short par putt that he missed. He quickly snatched the ball from the cup and tossed it in Rae’s Creek alongside the green.Why blame the golf ball?“I was upset at the hole,” Spieth said. “If any body of water is there I’m going to throw it in the body of water and change to a new golf ball. There’s no fans out there, no kid to throw the ball to or anything like that. I don’t want to look at that golf ball anymore, so it goes into the water.”Any golfer could relate.But the setback at the 12th hole spurred Spieth, who birdied the 13th and 15th holes, both par 5s, and the daunting par-4 17th hole.Afterward, Spieth was asked if he was peaking for a major, as Woods so often did.He shook his head.“Mine feels like steady progress,” Spieth said. “I wish that it felt like everything has been leading up to peaking here, but I’m just trying to have things get 5 percent better than they were last week.”That seemed good enough for now. With a grin, he added: “There’s more good swings than there was a month ago, and there were more than there was a month before that.”For another day at the Masters, Spieth was back, and welcomed back. More

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      At the Masters, Justin Rose Is an Outlier, and Establishes an Early Lead

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      Unlike last year, when the Masters was played in November, a firm Augusta National course fought back, punishing many golfers through the first round, though Rose managed six birdies on the back nine.AUGUSTA, Ga. — A golf course does not have feelings.Or does it?It would be the easiest way to explain the revenge Augusta National Golf Club exacted on the field in the first round of the Masters tournament on Thursday, after the course was routed by many of the same players last year.Five months ago in November, a month when Augusta National is typically just waking from a good slumber, the world’s best golfers arrived to play the 2020 Masters, which was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. The course was somnolent and unprepared, especially since it got good and sloshed by rain the night before the event began.Golf’s elite took no pity on the venerable, if vulnerable, aristocrat of major championship golf courses. Dustin Johnson’s winning score of 20 under par was a tournament record, and 43 players finished the event under par.Apparently, Augusta National has a good memory. In the first round of the 2021 Masters, the course was roused, ready and itching for retaliation.When the last shot was struck on Thursday, Justin Rose was the outlier with a sparkling seven-under-par 65, which included six birdies on the back nine. That score put him in the lead, four strokes ahead of Brian Harman and Hideki Matsuyama who were tied for second after matching scores of 69.But only 11 other players were under par, and Rose, Harman and Matsuyama were the only golfers breaking 70. Contrast that with the first round in 2020, when a tournament record 24 players scored in the 60s and a whopping 53 were under par.Hideki Matsuyama on the 17th tee. He finished the first round with a three-under-par 69.Doug Mills/The New York TimesPerhaps the field should have been forewarned on Tuesday when Fred Couples, the 1992 Masters champion playing in his 36th Masters, said the Augusta National conditions were the most difficult he had seen in decades. Asked about the greens, which have been drying out all week, Couples said, “If they get any firmer, look out.”The prophecy, aided by swirling winds, came to life on Thursday around the grounds. Jordan Spieth, a former Masters winner, was on a run up the leader board at the midpoint of his round until an errant tee shot on the par-4 ninth hole, followed by a recovery shot that ricocheted off a tree, eventually led to a three-putt and a garish triple bogey. Spieth rallied with an eagle on the 15th hole and consecutive birdies on the 16th and 17th holes, to finish with a one-under-par 71, which left him tied for eighth.The reigning United States Open champion Bryson DeChambeau shot a four-over-par 40 on the front nine, then had an up-and-down final nine. His four-over-par 76 left him in a tie for 60th.After his round, DeChambeau had a lament shared by golfers who have yet to master Augusta National’s subtleties, most notably having to hit approach shots from a downhill lie to an uphill green. Asked how often he sees such a shot on the P.GA Tour, DeChambeau answered: “Not very often, just at Augusta. That’s why I don’t have a problem anywhere else.”Rory McIlroy had an eventful first round and finished with a four-over-par 76.Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, via Associated PressRory McIlroy, who needs a Masters title to complete the career Grand Slam of all four major golf championships, shot an eventful four-over-par 76. McIlroy not only had six bogeys, he also plunked his father, Gerry, in the back of the leg with a wayward second shot on the seventh hole.The elder McIlroy appeared to be fine, walking away after his son’s golf ball caromed off him. Afterward, McIlroy said he was aiming at his father because he was standing in a good spot. Gerry McIlroy later joked that he wanted an autograph from Rory, which is a customary thing for a player to give a fan who is struck by a shot.“I think he just needs to go and put some ice on,” Rory said, referring to his father with a grin. “Maybe I’ll autograph a bag of frozen peas for him.”Rose opened his round with a one-under-par 35 on the front nine but then blitzed the closing holes with birdies on the 10th and 12th holes, two of Augusta National’s biggest challenges. Rose birdied both par 5s on the back nine, as well as the par-3 16th and daunting par-4 17th hole.His performance was especially impressive because he had not played a competitive round of golf in a month, having withdrawn from the Arnold Palmer Invitational in early March with a back injury. In the end, the layoff may have been beneficial in a variety of ways. For one, it lowered Rose’s expectations for the Masters, something he acknowledged on Thursday evening.“You can just run off instinct a little bit,” Rose, the 2013 United States Open champion, said. “Obviously I’ve competed in these big tournaments quite a few times, and I’ve got one of them to my name, but we’re looking for more.”He also used the time off to spend more time working with his old swing coach Sean Foley, who Rose reunited with late last year. The two first began working together in 2009 and had a brief, recent separation, which is common in the golf world.“Everything I’ve achieved in the game of golf I’ve done it with Sean by my side,” Rose said, adding: “I was tailing off a little bit with my own game through 2019, and I think the lockdown, just being left to my own devices for a little bit too long was probably not a good thing.“So it’s great to be back with Sean, and I trust him implicitly. He knows what works for me and my game.”Four players were five strokes behind Rose at two under par: Patrick Reed, Webb Simpson, both former major champions, and Will Zalatoris and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.“With how difficult it was out there today, with how firm and fast this place played, and the wind picking up,” Reed said. “I’ll definitely take a round of two under par. ”Simpson echoed Reed’s sentiments.“Guys are going to shoot themselves out of the golf tournament on Day 1 in these conditions,” he said. “I knew it would be tough today, but I didn’t know we’d be dealing with gusty winds like we were. So I’m very happy with my score.“I think it’s been five years at least from last time I remember it being this firm, this rough. But it’s fun, too. This golf course is more fun this way because you really have to think, you really have to use the slopes. Otherwise, you can put yourself in some really bad spots.” More

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      How to Grip a Putter: 9 Ways the Pros Use

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      The claw. The two thumbs. The alternative reverse overlap. Every golfer at this week’s Masters Tournament has a preferred way to putt and a reason for doing it.AUGUSTA, Ga. — Accurate putting is widely considered the most pivotal golf skill, and the most intractable. While golfers generally hold their clubs the same way for a full swing, when it comes to rolling a little white ball into a hole roughly four inches wide, even the best players in the world contort their hands and arms into exotic grips to calm their nerves and foster consistency.Here are nine ways that top golfers at this week’s Masters Tournament try to solve the eternal puzzle of putting:Lee WestwoodThe ClawDoug Mills/The New York TimesLee Westwood: The ClawPopularized about 25 years ago, the claw grip, in right-handed golfers, features a right hand that does not merge with a stabilizing left hand at the top of the putter, as was done in conventional grips for decades. The right hand branches out on its own, with the putter pinched claw-like between the thumb and forefinger, which can purposely make the right hand more passive in the stroke.Bryson DeChambeauThe Arm LockDoug Mills/The New York TimesBryson DeChambeau: The Arm LockA college physics major whose early nickname on the PGA Tour was “the mad scientist,” DeChambeau was ranked 145th in putting on the PGA Tour until he converted to the arm-lock method and improved his putting ranking to 28th. It’s all about keeping the proper angles: DeChambeau turns his elbows outward in opposite directions and his wrists inward. Simple.Jordan SpiethThe Left-Hand LowDoug Mills/The New York TimesJordan Spieth: The Left-Hand LowThe left-hand low grip is likely the most widely used nontraditional way to grip the putter for right-handed golfers. It puts the left hand below the right hand and in an authoritative position to control the path of the putter head instead of a golfer’s dominant right hand. Interestingly, in Spieth’s case, he is naturally left-handed even though he plays golf right-handed.Matt WallaceTwo ThumbsDoug Mills/The New York TimesMatt Wallace: Two ThumbsWallace has his palms facing each other with both thumbs on the top of the putter shaft and the index fingers placed along opposing sides of the putter. In theory, this creates symmetry and permits the hands to hang straight down, rather than one above the other in a conventional grip. The shoulders remain level, which makes it easier to develop a (sometimes) preferred pendulum putting motion. Also known as the prayer grip.Phil MickelsonLefty ClawDoug Mills/The New York TimesPhil Mickelson: Lefty ClawMickelson is right-handed in most things he does other than golf, and his right hand, with a pointed index finger (sometimes called a pencil grip), becomes the top part of his version of the claw grip. The left hand is in the guiding position. Mickelson values the claw because it makes it easier to have “a longer, smoother stroke” on the fast greens of the Masters and tour events.Tiger WoodsThe Reverse OverlapDoug Mills/The New York TimesTiger Woods: The Reverse OverlapAlthough Woods is not at this year’s Masters, a photo from the 2020 tournament shows Woods using what is perhaps the most common putting grip in golf. He has rarely strayed from the revered reverse overlap. His left forefinger lies across the right hand, settling between the third and fourth fingers. Woods says the best part of the grip is the unity it brings to both hands.Brooks KoepkaAlternative Reverse OverlapDoug Mills/The New York TimesBrooks Koepka: Alternative Reverse OverlapKoepka, a four-time major champion, has adapted the reverse overlap by extending his right forefinger rather than curling it around the shaft. One intended advantage of this style is that the angle of the right wrist can remain the same through the stroke so that the putter face does not waver open or closed and cause an inconsistent ball path.Adam ScottLong Putter ClawDoug Mills/The New York TimesAdam Scott: Long Putter ClawScott is the only Masters champion to have used the older version of a long putter, which could be anchored against the chest. Revised rules forbid the top of the putter touching the body frame, but Scott has adjusted with a right-hand low claw grip. He also tends to leave the flagstick in the hole while putting, which is not common.Justin RoseModified ClawDoug Mills/The New York TimesJustin Rose: Modified ClawRose likes to think of his left arm as the driving force of his stroke, and he frequently practices putting with his left hand only. His version of the claw has his two right fingers over the top of the shaft instead of resting on the side. Asked why he prefers this grip, Rose had the most basic, succinct answer of all: “It feels simpler.”

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      Here Are The 5 Golfers to Watch at The 2021 Masters Tournament

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      Tiger Woods is out with injuries, and Dustin Johnson is back to defend his title. Here are five more golfers to keep an eye on.When the best golfers in the world tee off at Augusta National Golf Club this week, the Masters will seem, to a large degree, like the Masters again. The azaleas should be blooming, and there will be fans, if only a limited amount, on the grounds.That was not the case in 2020. Because of the pandemic, the tournament was held in November instead of its traditional spot in April, and it was played without the boisterous galleries.Dustin Johnson, the top-ranked player in the world, won by five strokes with a record score of 20-under 268. Tiger Woods, the 2019 champion, tied for 38th. Woods won’t be playing at the Masters. He is recovering from injuries from a February car accident in California.Johnson, vying for his third major title, will be one of the favorites, along with Justin Thomas (No. 2) and Jon Rahm (No. 3).Here are five other players to keep an eye on.Bryson DeChambeauThere doesn’t seem to be a golf course that can neutralize DeChambeau’s distance off the tee. He’s averaging 320.8 yards, the best on the PGA Tour.It will serve him well at Augusta National. He should be able to easily reach the greens in two shots on the par-5s, which provide the best scoring opportunities. His power isn’t the only impressive part of his game. DeChambeau, ranked No. 5, has been able to make a lot of crucial putts.Before last year’s United States Open at Winged Foot, it wasn’t certain whether the way he planned to attack the course would pay off; the fairways were narrow and the rough was thick.No problem. DeChambeau, 27, won by six strokes and was the only player to finish under par.DeChambeau hasn’t had much success in his previous four appearances at Augusta. His best finish was a tie for 21st in 2016, just before he turned pro.Michael Reaves/Getty ImagesTony FinauSooner or later, Finau, 31, is going to break through on the big stage. Augusta National could be the place.Finau, too, hits the ball a long way. He is 15th on the tour in birdies and 11th in eagles. The course seems to suit him well. In his three starts, he has two top 10 finishes, including in 2019 when he tied for fifth, two shots behind Woods.Since 2017, Finau, ranked No. 13 in the world, has recorded 37 top 10s without a victory. His lone triumph came at the Puerto Rico Open in 2016.He came close to his second victory in January and February. He finished second in the Farmers Insurance Open and the Genesis Invitational. He shot a final-round 64 at the Genesis, but lost in a playoff to Max Homa.Finau has played well in the majors. In his last 11 appearances, he has recorded seven top 10s.Michael Reaves/Getty ImagesPatrick CantlayCantlay, 29, seems to always be in the hunt. In his last 10 starts, he has finished in the top 20 eight times. The only hiccup was a missed cut at last month’s Players Championship.Like Finau, he makes a lot of birdies. Heading into the Masters, he ranks fourth on the PGA Tour this season, with 4.68 birdies per round. He’s 13th in scoring average at just over 70.Cantlay played extremely well at the recent World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play tournament. In his first two matches against Brian Harman and Carlos Ortiz, Cantlay recorded 14 birdies and an eagle. He failed to make it to the round of 16, losing in a playoff to Harman.Ranked No. 10, Cantlay trailed by only a shot heading into the final two rounds of the 2020 Masters. He faded over the weekend to end up in a tie for 17th. In 2019, he tied for ninth.Michael Reaves/Getty ImagesJordan SpiethUntil recently, it would have been a stretch to suggest that Spieth, 27, would be a factor at Augusta National. He hadn’t won a tournament in more than three years. Before 2018, he won 11 times, including three majors.The drought is over. Spieth captured the Valero Texas Open on Sunday by two strokes over Charley Hoffman. It was his first victory since the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.Spieth has played very well since February. He posted top 10 finishes in the Waste Management Phoenix Open, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Arnold Palmer Invitational. The only negative was that he did not perform well enough on Sundays. That wasn’t the case in Texas. He shot a 66 in the final round.What’s important, as always at the Masters, will be the ability to negotiate the treacherous greens. Spieth has handled the challenge well.His record in the tournament has been outstanding. He won the 2015 Masters with a score of 18-under 270. He has finished in the top three on three other occasions, including in 2014 when he was only 20.Michael Reaves/Getty ImagesSergio GarciaIn his last two starts — at the Players Championship and the Dell match play tournament — Garcia, 41, flashed some of the magic that has made him such a dynamic player for more than two decades.In the Players, he shot a 65 in the first round and was still in the hunt in the final round until he faded and tied for ninth. At the match play tournament, he made it to the quarterfinals before losing to Victor Perez.His walking off with a second green jacket — he won the 2017 Masters, his only major title — still seems like a long shot, but his recent play makes him a more viable contender. He is still a very good ball striker. The challenge for him, as usual, will be to make enough critical putts. More

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      Without Tiger Woods, the 2021 Masters Leaderboard Is Wide Open

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      As Augusta National faces life without Woods, possibly even beyond this year, several young golfers look ready to usher in a new era.AUGUSTA, Ga. — The Masters tournament, after an aberrant autumn appearance five months ago, returns this week to its customary place as a ritual of spring, and golf fans will find familiar the sight of vibrant azalea bushes and blooming magnolia trees. But beyond aesthetics at the Augusta National Golf Club, this year’s Masters may be at a crossroads, when golf’s most tradition-bound event turns a new page.Slightly more than a year ago, the energy driving the golf world was a fervent zeal to watch Tiger Woods defend his seismic 2019 Masters victory. Now, the next chapter of the Tiger era at the Masters remains wholly undefined. Because of the serious leg injuries he sustained in a February car crash, Woods will not compete at the Masters, something that has happened three times since 2014.This absence, however, is altogether different.Woods’s future as a competitive golfer is unclear, and the Masters marches on without the person at the cynosure of the tournament’s dominant narrative for nearly 25 years.“You can’t go to Augusta and not think about the guy,” Curtis Strange, a two-time United States Open champion who is now a broadcaster for ESPN, said last week of Woods. “He changed the game as we knew it right in front of our very eyes at Augusta.”But the void that Woods’s absence creates at the Masters could serve to underscore the most dramatic transformation in men’s professional golf: a changing of the guard at the top of the weekly leaderboard. New, younger personalities have stormed into the spotlight vacated by Woods, 45, and some of his contemporaries, like Phil Mickelson, who will turn 51 in June. The game has seen an infusion of not just youth, but players with back stories alluring enough to ease the transition.Bryson DeChambeau has been a dominant force in golf for several years.Mike Ehrmann/Getty ImagesFor example, a year ago, Bryson DeChambeau was still an eccentric curio on the PGA Tour, known more for his quirks than his accomplishments. In 2020 and continuing into this year, DeChambeau, 29, has been the dominant force in golf even when he is not on the course. With an intense fitness regimen and hard-swinging power game that launched prodigious drives, DeChambeau forced his rivals to reconsider everything, including their course strategies and their diets. Moreover, he captivated golf fans as a new breed of golfer in an age-old sport — daring, showy and charismatic.DeChambeau also backed up his boasts of reinventing golf by bludgeoning the 2020 United States Open field, and a venerable golf course, to claim a runaway victory that verified his status as a phenomenon. DeChambeau has not gone away, with one PGA Tour victory and a tie for third place at the Players Championship last month. It’s true that DeChambeau conspicuously failed to overpower Augusta National in November, but the golf course in the firm conditions of spring — as opposed to the soft fairways that greeted competitors in November — will give him another opportunity to prove that his brawny style can prevail.“He’s certainly got the talent, and maybe learning from the November experience will be very beneficial for him,” Nick Faldo, a three-time Masters champion and now a CBS broadcaster, said of DeChambeau last week.DeChambeau, who has never putted well on Augusta National’s slick greens in four previous Masters appearances, is not backing down.“I’m definitely hitting it a lot further than I was in November of last year,” he said in March, looking ahead to the Masters. “So there are some places that I will look at taking a line that’s going to be a little different than last time.”DeChambeau, the world No. 5, is not the only golfer under 30 years old among the top contenders this week. Thirteen of the top 25 ranked golfers, including four of the top five, are in their 20s. Many come with pedigrees, like world No. 2 Justin Thomas, 27, who last month added a Players Championship victory to go with the P.G.A. Championship he won in 2017. Ranked fourth worldwide, Collin Morikawa, 24, already has a tour victory this season and won last year’s P.G.A. Championship. Jon Rahm, 26, is the world’s third-ranked golfer and has had five top-10 finishes in his seven events this year. Xander Schauffele, 27, is No. 6 in the world rankings and tied for second in the 2019 Masters.There are factors working against a new generation of players leaping to the forefront of golf’s most-watched event this week, notably the accepted canon that a Masters champion must have acquired a wealth of practiced knowledge about the Augusta National layout to win. But the current crop of young players may be fast-tracking the learning curve.Or as Zach Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion, said last month in a telephone interview: “You can have plenty of experience at 27 years old. There could be four Masters champions in a six-year span that are under 30. That would not surprise me in the least.”Jordan Spieth, top left, has his driver worked on during a practice round.Doug Mills/The New York TimesJordan Spieth, who won the 2015 Masters when he was 21, is another young golfer whose recent form makes him a candidate to be slipping on a green jacket after the final round on Sunday. Spieth has won three major golf championships, but had gone nearly four years without a tour victory until he won the Valero Texas Open on Sunday. Spieth’s revival has put him back in the mix, and he insists that his age group is positioned to make a run at several Masters championships. He did not rule out crowning a champion who was playing in his first Masters, something that has not happened since Fuzzy Zoeller won the tournament in 1979.“I wouldn’t be surprised going forward if you end up getting a first-time winner at some point or a number of young guys that are able to do it,” Spieth said last week.Spieth said Augusta National’s extremely hilly terrain, a feature that is hard to grasp from watching the event on television, might especially benefit younger players.“Honestly, it’s a tough walk, it’s one of the toughest walks on tour,” Spieth said of Augusta National. “Physically, it can take a toll. So you would think that guys that are in their mid-20s would be in the best position physically.”Other less-than-household names within golf’s youth movement may have escaped the attention of casual golf fans but are nonetheless worthy contenders this week. Foremost in that group is Sungjae Im, 23, of South Korea, who was the PGA Tour rookie of the year in 2019 and tied for second in his Masters debut last year. No Asian has won the Masters, although that has not stopped Im from dreaming of a Korean-style menu that will be served at the annual champions-only dinner the year after he wins the tournament.“Marinated ribs, of course,” he said in November with a grin.There are few Black players in this year’s Masters field, although Tony Finau, who finished tied for fifth in 2019 and is the world’s 13th ranked golfer, is among the contenders for the title. Vijay Singh, the Masters champion in 2000, is also competing.Change, like the passing of a torch from generation to generation, is in the air at the Masters despite the tournament’s reputation for time-honored traditions. And golf fans may already be warming up to the makeover taking place at the top of the leaderboards.With the television viewership declining for other sports lately, the ratings for PGA Tour events this year have increased by 10 to 20 percent, and some in golf credit the surge to the increasing prominence of what Jim Nantz, the longtime CBS broadcaster, called “the new brigade.”“We’ve arrived at a point now where we don’t have to rely on just Tiger,” Nantz said last week. “We all know how enormous his presence is — maybe he comes back one day, that’s not what we’re addressing here. But how does the sport transition to a time when he is not at the top of the game?”Nantz continued: “There are so many interesting figures now that are competing at the highest level of our sport and them being certified as great players, people are going to watch more often.”Dustin Johnson, left, and Rory McIlroy walk with their caddies during a practice round at Augusta National.Doug Mills/The New York Times More

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      Spieth and Fowler: Golf Prodigies Seek a Way Back From the Wilderness

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySpieth and Fowler: Golf Prodigies Seek a Way Back From the WildernessNot so long ago Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler were ascending PGA Tour stars. Now they feel each other’s pain and trade notes. Can they get their grooves back?Jordan Spieth, left, and Rickie Fowler during a practice round before the Charles Schwab Challenge last year.Credit…Tom Pennington/Getty ImagesMarch 3, 2021, 7:04 p.m. ETORLANDO, Fla. — It is remarkably difficult to be great at the highest level of golf at a young age. It is even harder to fail at golf after early triumphs.For the past year, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler, wunderkinds from the same generation who became close friends, have been living with the good and the bad of their precociousness.It is a peculiar type of purgatory because it is so public. “The hardest part,” Spieth said Wednesday, “is that it’s almost impossible to struggle in silence, in darkness, to get your work done in the dark.”Once among the game’s most spotlighted attractions, Spieth ranks 62nd in the world, even after a recent comeback. Fowler, equally popular, has slumped to 65th.The two now strive to quietly, even secretly, rebuild their golf games, but their celebrity denies them a necessary haven from scrutiny.“There’s just going to be so much noise around and so much emphasis on results versus the true understanding of what your end goal is and how much time that can take in golf,” Spieth, 27, said of the restorative process.Basic competency at the game deserts every golfer periodically, and it’s no different for the world’s best players, although their definition of basic competency is quite different. But a bewildered recreational golfer and a confused, 90th-ranked PGA Tour pro are the same in this way: Each can disappear to the unobserved end of the practice range to try to reclaim — or more likely revise — a swing gone wrong.When something similar happens to a three-time major winner like Spieth — or to Fowler, a Players Championship winner who has finished second at the Masters, the British Open and the United States Open (and third at the P.G.A. Championship) — there is no escaping to a private spot for a mental and physical rebuild. Instead, the fits and starts of reinventing their golf games are chronicled and evaluated day by day, double bogey by double bogey.Which is not how anyone escapes from golf hell.“It’s tough for all of us that are involved, from my caddie to my wife — she’s having to deal with me at home,” Fowler, 32, said Tuesday near the practice range for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which begins Thursday. “I’m trying to be the best husband that I can, not bringing golf back home, but when you’re out on the road that long, on the grind and putting in the work at home, it’s pretty much been all golf.”Fowler’s biggest hobby away from golf has been fishing. His slump has curtailed that as well.“A lot of people have asked, ‘Have you been able to fish much at home?’” he said. “But not really, no, because the days that I have off I just take completely off. Everything else has been workout, therapy and golf.”Fowler, as optimistic a player as there is on the PGA Tour, smiled. It is his go-to reaction. But even he had to concede, “It’s frustrating.”For Spieth, whose world ranking dropped to 82nd at the end of last season, troubles with his golf game emerged in 2018-19. First he tried just to find his way back to the promised land, a place he had inhabited as a 20-year-old, when he was three strokes away from becoming the youngest Masters winner ever. In time, as Spieth failed to return to the winner’s circle, myriad issues were cited: his alignment, his putting, his confidence, his ability to finish on the weekends of tournaments.Away from the golf course, Spieth worked as furtively as he could on a subtle but consequential swing modification, and on something simpler: consistency. In his last three tournaments, he has been rejuvenated, tying for fourth, third and 15th, his best three-event stretch since mid-2019.That rally has led reporters to ask if Spieth has tried to counsel Fowler, who in his last 10 events dating to October 2020 has missed the cut four times and finished outside the top 25 four other times.Spieth said the two had talked with each other, and he acknowledged that there were similarities between his struggles and Fowler’s. But in many ways, Spieth said, it still comes back to the notion that change is hard in golf, even for those once called prodigies.“He’s trying to make changes with an end goal to be more consistent and better than he ever was — and they’re significant changes,” Spieth said. “So it’s not going to be easy. You can’t just continue to compete and win while you’re trying to make big changes. These guys are too good out here.”But Spieth has faith in his buddy, the former shaggy-haired young wizard who turned pro when he was 20.“He’s got a lot more people in his corner than are not and that believe in him, and he believes in himself,” Spieth said.Fowler vowed not to be distracted by the focus on what he called “his valley.”“It’s a matter of time,” he said. But he added, “I’m ready to be past that.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More