Tuesday At The 2024 Masters
The Defending Champion returns. Plus several players discuss a wide a variety of topics, groupings are announced, Thursday's grim forecast is updated and the best of Masters merch.
This was a Masters Tuesday the splintered men’s game sorely needed. Peaceful but insightful. Cloudy but comfortable. And largely free of anything derailing excitement for the 2024 Masters. Well, there is that forecast. Which will be addressed after we hear from defending champion Jon Rahm and several players. Tiger Woods seemed in great spirits and hoping his body cooperates, Sergio just can’t help being his pitiful self, and the Texans Scheffler and Spieth regaled press in wonkery the sport could use more of.
All of the pressers are now airing live on the Masters YouTube page and can be viewed there.
Oh, and we have The Quad’s annual look at Masters merchandise. You didn’t think I’d forget?
Fore, please.
Jon Rahm Returns
Defending Champion Jon Rahm returned to the scene of his four-stroke win over Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka, answering a heavy assortment of questions and delivering similar answers to those he gave in a recent conference call.
Decked out in LIV and Legion 13 GC logos, Rahm discussed the Green Jacket’s year in his closet, throwing out a World Series pitch in it, his LIV decision and recent remarks that he hopes 72-hole LIV events somehow overcome a host of massive differences between the Saudi-backed league and the PGA Tour. And naturally Tuesday’s forthcoming Champions Dinner was front of mind.
Highlights from the session:
On a lighter schedule coming in this year: “I feel physically better than I did last year. But then once competition starts, it doesn't really matter. Once the gun goes off, whatever you feel is out the window; you got to go out there and post a score. So it wouldn't be the first time. It wouldn't be the first time we hear somebody not feeling their best and winning. The first one that comes to mind is Ben Crenshaw after he lost his swing coach and to come back after being at the funeral and win it.”
On a year with the jacket that must now remain at Augusta National: “I kept it in my closet in a spot where I would walk by it every single day, and obviously inevitably every once in a while you put it on and take it off and put it back there.
On his best memory wearing the jacket: “The most memorable one for me has to be the first pitch. Just doing the first pitch in the World Series is quite unique. Sort of having to compete for the jacket is about as nervous as I've ever been related to that jacket, having to be in front of all those people trying to not make a fool of myself. I'm going to regret not wearing it more often and just taking it everywhere for just -- for whatever, just because you have it.”
On whether playing 54-hole limited field events might soften him coming into this year. “if you haven't experienced being playing in a tournament, you can't really understand. I understand there's less people. I understand the team format's a little different. I understand we're going shotgun and things are a little bit different to how they are in a PGA Tour event. But the pressure's there.”
On not knowing the time for the Champions Dinner start. “I almost made the mistake of not being on time because so used to not having anything to do on Tuesdays that I scheduled my practice round a little too late yesterday and had to start backtracking to a few people. So I'm hoping I can be there on time today.”
Groupings!
You can follow the link here to the official site to see 2024’s groupings in a larger font.
The tournament also announced who will be a part of Thursday Featured Group coverage available on Masters.com and other streaming services.
Thursday Featured Groups Schedule
10:30 a.m. Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick, Nick Dunlap
10:54 a.m. Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland, Cameron Smith
1:24 p.m. Tiger Woods, Jason Day, Max Homa
2:00 p.m. Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa, Tommy Fleetwood
Quotable
Tuesday’s sessions produced decent intel about how players are preparing or feeling about their game. First timers with high hopes sounded especially humble about their chances, while Tiger Woods made clear he’s happy to be here but also hopes to contend. And Sergio did what he does best.
Viktor Hovland on the state of his much-discussed short game. “I just have not spent any time on the short game at all kind of the last few months because I've been prioritizing the long game stuff. When you're not hitting your best, you're putting more pressure on the short game out there in the tournaments and I've definitely short-sided myself quite a bit recently, so I'm sure the stats look a little bit worse than they feel like they should be.”
Hovland on his search and coaching status. “I'm still kind of looking for some opinions out there, but I feel like I'm on a good track right now and we'll see where that takes us.” 🤨
Rory McIroy on playing more coming into this year’s Masters. “I'm a little more in tune with where my game is and where my misses are. Once you play a lot, you learn how to manage your game a little bit better instead of if you haven't played that much and you're a little rusty. And I just think that patterns emerge the more that you play. I feel like I've got a big enough sort of data set of rounds to sort of know how to manage what I'm doing right now.”
Fred Couples on, well, many things after a Tuesday morning practice round with Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas. “Tiger is hitting it pure. JT is bombing it. The golf course is absolutely stunning. For me personally, it might be better off if we play in the rain because I did well last year in the rain. But it's firm and fast, and it's really, really nice. Really nice.”
Jose Maria Olazabal on Vijay Singh’s suggestion to lengthen the 12th hole. “Just leave it like it is. I think it's a fantastic hole, great hole. It's a short hole. But it's a devilish hole. It's very hard to hit the green. The green is at an angle. It's not very deep. It's only like 10 yards in the middle, about what, 14 on the left and 12 on the right. You know, I don't think we need to do anything about that hole. I think it's a fantastic hole. When the wind blows, it's a nightmare of a hole.”
Tiger Woods on experience at Augusta National. “There's a lot of knowledge that goes into understanding how to play it. And, granted, every tee box has been changed since the first time I played. Every green has been changed. But the overall configuration of how they roll and how they move and the angles you take, that hasn't changed.”
Woods on the expanded upper portion of the sixth green. “I think there's more room on that shelf. It doesn't feel like that you're crowded with two people on top of that shelf.”
Sergio Garcia on the state of golf. “I think the game is in a perfect spot. The professional game, maybe it's a little more separated, mostly because of the media, not so much because of the players. But I think the game itself is in a great spot.” 🧐
Wyndham Clark on his first Masters and how it’s different from a normal event. “It's amazing how just friends and family and random people I see back home in Scottsdale, people just saying, ‘man, good luck at the Masters,’ and bringing up the Masters, where when I'm going into a regular PGA Tour event, they're not necessarily saying that…then I just would say that the overall ambiance is amazing here. The patrons are so good at kind of respecting the golf but yet still being great showing excitement when we hit good shots, but then being respectful when we're playing.”
Brooks Koepka on maintaining the same game plan for the course. “It's all about angles, certain pin locations being in a certain spot. I don’t know, sometimes occasionally they throw a new pin location, but usually they're pretty similar to where they have been over the last few years. And you know if on 13, if it's a back left, if you're laying it up, lay it up a little further left, it's a little flatter, but every other pin you're going to the right. Just little stuff like that.”
Koepka on the 2023 incident involving flashing five fingers to signify to Gary Woodland what club he hit and whether such a violation (not called) should go away. “I mean, everybody's exchanging information all day long. Looking in guys' bags, caddies are signaling all day long. But who knew, I think I was just foreshadowing what was going to happen.” 😳
Jason Day on contending and coming so close in the Masters on whether the place owes him one. “Golf doesn't owe anything to me. I owe a lot to golf, and especially this place here, as well, because of just the opportunity that I've had. I've just got to not think about it, not get too worked up about it. To be honest, just trying to get my ball going straight where I need it to go, so that's kind of taken most of the pressure off my head.”
Scottie Scheffler on receiving insight into Augusta National from longtime caddie Carl Jackson. “I sat in the back of the caddie house with Carl. Ben had suggested that I just sit down with him for a few minutes. And, yeah, he gave me a yardage book that had some of the -- where he -- I think he called it grain is, where some of the slopes are. And it's just a yardage book that has some arrows in it. I'm not going to tell you where the arrows are pointing. But it's something that I'll kind of review at night and I always look at it in the lead-up to the tournament just because there is kind of some weird stuff that goes on around the golf course.”
Jordan Spieth on the impact of Masters patrons not having cell phones with them. “What's really cool about it is you just feel that everyone's very, very present. They're not focused on if they got the right shot that they're sending and maybe they don't even know where your ball went, right? And here the patrons are -- just like at the Open Championship, they're just highly educated, they're very involved, they're very present. So you end up having those kind of roars and stuff that may be similar but might not be, you know, with the phones out.”
Check out The Masters YouTube page to see the streamed versions of today’s press conferences.
Thursday Forecast Remains Less Than Ideal
Tuesday’s update continues to call for a significant opening day storm, with the timing for thunderstorms and dangerous wind gusts coming into focus.
From on-site forecaster Stewart Williams:
“Wednesday will be another mostly cloudy day with a slight chance of showers before rain and thunderstorms arrive early Thursday and continue throughout the morning. A cold front is expected to pass through by early afternoon Thursday with a lull in the activity anticipated for a few hours behind the front. Scattered showers and isolated storms will drift back into the region during the late afternoon and into the evening hours. Wind gusts of 40-45 mph will be possible between 10AM-2pm as the front passes through the region.”
Hey look, the weekend still looks great!