Woods great absent, but there are the Honorary Starter Nicklaus, Watson and Player. The best in the race. The outfit of the female world on the sidelines has been studying for some time
The gates of the Ugusta National this morning at 7 am opened in the world for the first round of the dream tournament, the Masters, the first season of season. Punctual every year in the second week of April, the same field, the same race since 1934. The world, who has been traveling and in the queue since dawn, is that of his very loyal Patrons, as Augusta loves to call his audience. Sun and a perfect temperature (not so obvious in the spring of Georgia), an explosion of Azalee and the best players in the world competing on the eighteen more fascinating holes on the planet, are the main ingredients in the rich menu of the day. To be there you do everything and to enjoy it too. The outfit of the female world on the sidelines has been studying for some time (as Jessica, 30 years old), because the Masters for the Patrons is a bit like Ascot, but without the iron rules of the coolest appointment in the United Kingdom (like shoulders covered and lengths under the knee). Here everything is worth (strange, because for everything else in Augusta we move between a thousand rules of conduct). Thus the ladies wear the green Masters (rigorously Pantone 342) with fantasy, intertwining lines, squares and above all flowers in short and long clothes, under large hats in straw, sipping an azalea cocktail in front of the club house or on its own, iconic seating placed somewhere along the field.
the biggest ever
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Everyone has their own plan for the day. Those who have not lost time to lift themselves at the entrance of the mega pro-shop that sells exclusively and only here (golf clothing and objects, prints and also gadgets for dogs), a kind of compulsive race for the purchase that generates about one million dollars per hour, ten per day, about seventy in the week. Those who have focused straight on the tee of the hole one for its unmissable moment, a tribute to the biggest ever, the Honoratory Starters Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Gary Player (140 Masters and eleven green jackets in all) to which the drive is entrusted that starts the tournament. At 7.25 in point. Chills, emotion, a few tears, applause on the open scene for these champions who have given themselves once again, despite the difficulties of age and swing now uncertain.
Missing Tiger
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The former leave immediately after. There is an embarrassment of the choice among many on the field, 95 in all, 21 of them in the first participation. Tiger is missing, a lot. So better follow a team for nine holes or see them all from the same position? The good patron makes his choices, as long as he respects the rules of the temple, who moves without running and, above all, that he has left the cell phone at home. Certainly the most followed today were the latest teams, a concentrate of great golf with Rory Mcilroy, Ludvig Abgg, Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Bryson Dechambeau, Xander Schauffele and other big ones. In the plans of Bobby Jones, co-founder of the field and the tournament, from the beginning there was the intention of offering the public the best experience ever and, since 1949, a Spectators Guide has been available free at the entrance. Not only to emphasize the taxation code of conduct or to educate it as fair applause, but also to suggest the perfect positions to see the most decisive shots. “I wanted to put these reflections on the tournament for our spectators’ tournaments, to help them see the game, as far as possible, from the player’s point of view. I hope everyone can better enjoy the tournament and have a better knowledge of the problems that samples have to face,” said Bobby Jones. So the holes of the Amen Corner and the Green of the 16 (where a magical approach of Tiger is still in the air) were the first to fill themselves with people this morning. Not before, however, of the classic photo in front of the Club House and an instructive stop at the practical field where players and teams warm up before taking the field.
stronger than the Hurricane
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No apparent change (and desired) this year to Augusta holes, who have had to support the evolution of the game and materials over time, especially in the length. “A constant and silent evolution,” Arnold Palmer said four times Masters champion. Despite the enormous efforts of the club to continually improve, everything seems unchanged to the eye of the viewer. Even after the terrible Hurricane Helene (category 4) which hit Augusta last September, with several damage to the arboreal heritage (1,500 fallen trees). The players have noticed, which now see for example, the passage that opened among the pines at hole 10, which could encourage a cut with the first shot. An option that Xander Schauffele has definitive “extremely risky”. Some drivers forced by narrow corridors between the trees, today they have more breath, as Collin Morikawa noticed, especially at two and nine. At 15 the fifth of plants behind the Green has thinned out and the approach is definitely different to the eye, Harris English said. Of course, many trees have been promptly replanted to certain points, but also the most attentive and faithful Patrons to the tournament, today they competed to find the differences with the past years.
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