Tiger Goes for 6th Green Jacket and Other Masters Storylines

The Masters, “a tradition unlike any other,” breaks away from tradition this November and becomes the final golf major to be contested in 2020. This, of course, was necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the suspension of play on the PGA Tour from mid-March through early June.

The tournament is normally in the leadoff spot among the four majors and contested in early April. But now it will be played in much cooler conditions from November 12-15^th with no fans in attendance at Augusta National Golf Club. The weather and the lack of roars echoing throughout Amen Corner and on the back nine on Sunday are just a few of the storylines for this 84^th edition of The Masters. And, oh yeah, there’s this guy named Tiger trying to win a sixth green jacket and follow up one of the most memorable comebacks in sports history.

Here are just a few of the storylines to watch:

Can Tiger Woods reclaim last year’s magic and repeat as champion?

How improbable was Tiger’s win last year? Consider: His fifth Masters title came 22 years after his first Masters and nearly 11 years after his last major title, at the 2008 U.S. Open. In rallying on the back nine Sunday to defeat Brooks Koepka, Xander Schauffele and Dustin Johnson by a stroke, the then 43-year-old also became the second-oldest winner in the tournament’s history, behind only Jack Nicklaus. The Golden Bear’s improbable win in 1986 at age 46 still echoes through the pines at Augusta National and the sports world.

Thus, the odds are greatly stacked against Woods and a repeat. The 15-time major champion also hasn’t been in the best of form in 2020. Since the resumption of play in June, Woods has only played in six events, his best finish being a T-37^th at the PGA Championship. His most recent form doesn’t raise expectations for a strong showing at Augusta, either. In his last 10 rounds of golf spanning three tournaments, he has only shot in the 60s once (a second-round 66 at the Zozo Championship) and has posted three rounds of 75 or higher.

Of course, Tiger is a different animal at Augusta. In 20 appearances at Augusta National since turning professional in 1996, he has never missed the cut and has 12 top-5 finishes. But he’s also never played Augusta National in November before. Tiger has never been known to be a great cold-weather player—the higher the temperature and the humidity, the lower Tiger goes. The average high for Augusta, Ga., in November is 67 degrees, but the early forecast for Nov. 12-15 is showing temperatures in the mid- to upper-70s, much like April. Should that hold, and Tiger gets off to a good start like last year, figure he’ll be in the mix. (Woods opened with a 2-under-par 70 in 2019, which he’s done six times at The Masters. He won four of those times.) Get off to a cool start, as he’s done in his last few starts, and he could be in jeopardy of missing his first-ever cut as a pro at The Masters. I’m guessing he finishes somewhere in-between. Expect Woods to shoot an opening 72, make the cut right on the number and then rally on the weekend for a top-25 finish.

Will the lack of fans take away from the drama on Sunday?

In 2000, I was lucky enough to attend The Masters as an editor for Golf Magazine. Being the rookie, my job on Sunday was to guard our photographer’s spot among the first row of chairs surrounding the 18^th green. For the ENTIRE day! This way, our photographer could hopefully get the celebratory fist bump or jubilation from the champion when the last putt dropped.

I wasn’t looking forward to this “assignment.” First, I wouldn’t be able to follow any of the other action, and secondly, I would have to give up my spot once the leaders reached the 18^th tee. “That sucks!” I thought. Boy was I ever wrong. I’ve attended many majors as a spectator and a reporter, but I never had so much fun as I did that Sunday. Why? Because of the roars that amplified through the Augusta grounds like Bruce Springsteen’s guitar at a rock concert. That’s how me and my new friends in the surrounding chairs were able to discern what was going on. Sure, we had an assist from the large leaderboard that soars above the trees on the other side of the 18^th green, but it was the roars that we followed more so than the changing of the red numerals on the board. Tiger made a charge on the back nine that day, and it was very easy to decipher a Tiger roar from the others, especially if he made eagle. There’s no other roar like it in golf, and that’s a big storyline in this year’s Masters because there will be no spectators allowed.

There’s no other golf tournament defined by the roars of the crowd, especially late on Sunday, than The Masters. That’s what makes it one of the most exciting 2-1/2 hours in all of sports, and why it’s frequently said that “the Masters doesn’t begin until the back nine on Sunday.” The players feed off that energy, too. Woods entered the back nine in 2019 trailing by two shots, but quickly made up ground when both Brooks Koepka and Francesco Molinari hit it into the water on No. 12 and made double bogey. Woods than birdied 13 and 15 and hit a laser beam to 4 feet on the par-3 16^th for another birdie, suddenly catapulting him into a two-shot lead which he hung onto despite a bogey on 18. 

So an Augusta without the noise on Sunday will be a big downer for both the players and the TV viewing audience. But because Augusta is set up for birdies, eagles, double-bogeys and lots of drama on the back nine come Sunday, my hope is we get what we had on the final Sunday at this year’s PGA Championship. There, at Harding Park just outside San Francisco, seven players held a share of the lead at 10-under par early on the back nine before Collin Morikawa made eagle on the 16^th hole to finally pull away. I didn’t seem to mind the lack of spectators then, but something tells me it will be a bit different for The Masters, because the roars are so much ingrained in the fabric of the place and the telecasts.

So, if not Tiger, who dons the green jacket?

I like Patrick Cantlay. For one, he’s in great form, having come off his first win in 2020 at the Zozo Championship and contending two weeks earlier at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. Let’s not forget that like Tiger and Phil Mickelson (eight combined green jackets), Cantlay, too, is from Southern California, and that last year he briefly held a share of the final-round lead at 12 under following an eagle on the 15^th hole. Cantlay bogeyed 16 and 17 to slip back to ninth place, but considering he made the cut by just one stroke it was amazing that he came so close to donning his first green jacket. I think he gets fitted by Tiger this time around.

For a darkhorse, does a defending Masters champion and three-time major winner qualify? If so, I like Jordan Spieth. Nothing in his recent performances indicates that he’s ready to break out of his prolonged slump, but Spieth’s track record at Augusta National is simply too hard to ignore. In six appearances at ANGC, he’s finished no worse than T-21 and has finished in the top 3 four times! Even as he slumped during the last two seasons, he still contended for a second green jacket in 2018 (shooting a final-round 64 to finish third) and came back from an opening-round 75 to post a respectable top-25 finish in 2019. There are horses for courses and Spieth definitely has the pedigree at Augusta.