Missing the Masters and What It Represents

I don’t play golf.  I did give it a shot back in my 30s.  Would play 9 holes with a few buddies at Cedar Creek in Bayville and then have a beer or two.

I wasn’t too bad on the greens but had a lot of trouble getting there especially off the tee.  Had a terrible swing which a lesson or two did not really help.  My final attempt came one day in Myrtle Beach when on the first or second hole I hit about 4 shots in the water and followed that up by tossing that club into the water as well.

I headed to the clubhouse and outside of miniature golf have never played again and never will.

I mention this because somewhere at the very top of the list when it comes to my favorite sporting events is The Masters which should have been getting under way today at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.  Of course it is not, another sporting casualty of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 84^th edition of golf’s marquee event is now scheduled for November 12-15 and it simply won’t be the same, falling in the middle of what hopefully will be football season.

What I love most about The Masters, which by the way remains atop my bucket list of things I would like to attend, is the timing of it.  It comes the second weekend of April and everything about it signals a beginning.  Even though it’s spring here we are often just starting to see signs of the changing of seasons.  However we watch the Masters and the grass is so green it looks like it was painted on.

Of course there are the azaleas, usually in full bloom which makes for an incredibly colorful background.  Even if some of what we see and hear is done for production purposes, including what might be piped-in sound effects of birds chirping, I really don’t care.  Watching golfers wearing bright and bold colors against that backdrop is simply invigorating.

Of course you also have to add that like with NASCAR’s Daytona 500, the Masters is the sport’s first major event of the year and its biggest.  You likely have forgotten who won last year’s US Open, PGA Championship and British Open but it won’t take much of a hint to remind you of Tiger Woods improbable Masters triumph which to me was one of the highlights of the entire year in sports.

I don’t know how green the grass will be in November and I guess the azaleas will be bare but I’ll be watching anyway but it just won’t be the same.

Stay healthy my friends!