How a November Masters tournament will be different this week
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Explain to me how all of this is going to work for the 2020 Masters.
The Champions Dinner via Uber Eats? Will the green jacket still be draped on the winner’s back by last year’s champion? Or will it just be placed on a hanger?
Will I be watching while cursing my losing fantasy football team instead of my recently crumpled NCAA tournament bracket?
Yup. Thanks to coronavirus, this year it really is a “tradition unlike any other,” as the Masters takes place in Augusta, Georgia shortly before Thanksgiving instead of right around Easter.
Such is the sports calendar in 2020.
Our go-to guy for golf podcasts is Brian Taylor of “Real Golf Radio.” He joins me to preview the event this week. Some nuanced changes may be associated with the tournament. The grass on the course may play slightly differently. As Bob Harig of ESPN.com points out, “The Bermuda grass that would normally die out in the winter is not completely gone. The ryegrass overseed gives the courses its usual lush, green look, but from a competitive standpoint, the Bermuda grass that remains will be of interest.”
Harig also said the rough appears a bit longer. And the roar of the galleries associated with Augusta National won’t be present because of a lack of crowds.
Brian tells us which players will be most aided and hurt by circumstances such as those.
The temperature isn’t supposed to be all that different. The forecast is for mid-to-high 70s. That’s normally the case in April, about five or 10 degrees more than this time of year.
But the forecast all week is between 76 and 80 degrees. And rainy. So Taylor gives us some insight as to what that may mean for the field.
Bryson DeChambeau is the favorite to win. Taylor has reservations there. He’ll explain why.
Some other things are different. There’s no Par 3 tournament. And the television coverage windows changed to accommodate the networks and the lack of daylight.
You can watch from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday on ESPN. Then 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on CBS Saturday.
On Sunday, the final round starts at 10 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m., so CBS can get to NFL football games. CBS only has three games in the late afternoon timeslot and none in the 1 p.m. hole. Most games will be on Fox. Even some AFC versus AFC matchups late will move. The Steelers game against the Bengals is one of the contests in the Fox 4:25 p.m. window. So locally that contest will be seen on Fox 53 (WPGH) in Pittsburgh this weekend.
It feels like forever since Tiger Woods won the most recent green jacket. That’s because, well, it has been. He claimed his fifth Masters crown back on April 14, 2019. He’s a 30-1 shot to repeat now. Taylor gives us the lowdown on his chances, too.
Taylor is covering the event remotely for the first time in 20 years. We discuss those challenges in Tuesday’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast. Also, how in a strange way the pandemic may have helped the game of golf at a grassroots level, even if crowds have been absent from big tournaments.
Listen: Tim Benz and Brian Taylor of “Real Golf Radio” preview the Masters Tournament