6 Masters Thoughts

1. I don’t know how many people watched it, but Jon Rahm’s presser on Tuesday was … uncomfortable. My amateur psychoanalysis (what else would you have subscribed for?): Rahm, who suffers zero fools, feels a bit like a fool himself. He has basically said that he thought he was going to be the unification link between LIV and the Tour, and now he’s sitting at a press conference at Augusta National in a hat with a logo of a cyborg cat on it. He must — on some level — feel like he got got.

Rahm is brilliant and a good steward of the game, which makes him … different from some of the other guys who went to LIV. Now? He seems to having a difficult time reconciling what he’s feeling (shame? foolishness? silliness?) with what he thinks he should be feeling as the defending Masters champ.

2. Rory, Tiger and others were walking through course changes on Tuesday — tees moved here, greens restructured here etc. — and I found myself thinking about how strange it is that the playing field in golf is constantly being reshaped. What if the NCAA changed the contours or size of its fields. OK, bad example (normal sport). What if the NBA and NFL tinkered with the edges of their fields of play and venues? That would be so strange!

How are you feeling about this year’s AFC Championship, Mr. Allen.

Well great now that I figured out the angle James Cook can take when he’s running up the newly redesigned elevated 40-yard-line.

3. I think it’s normal to feel some discomfort when athletes start talking about their faith. It often feels like something that should be … separate from everything else.

However.

I think it might be time to start talking more about how Scottie Scheffler’s faith in God is intertwined with his success as the best player in the world. You may or may not have seen his answer on Tuesday about what defines him, and it may or may not make you feel a certain way. But what I think is indisputable is that the peace established in his life is paramount to his performance.

When the outcome of a thing that you do is mostly disassociated from your identity as a person, you are naturally going to have a more peaceful disposition. And I think we can all agree that a more peaceful disposition almost always leads to better golf.

I am not saying that Scottie loves Jesus so that he can win the Masters. I’m saying that his contentment with who he is and what he believes makes it easier for him to lead a life of joy and freedom, which often precedes success. Whether you do or don’t believe in God, this seems like a fairly straightforward truth for Scottie, and I think it’s worth discussing more often as it relates to him and the game that he plays.

4. The most dissected photo in golf was released on Tuesday evening.

Initial thoughts.

DJ …
I’m just not sure anything other than a white shirt is the play here.
Spieth with the purple shirt-purple tie combo checks out. It is the physical representation of what he actually is: an uninhibited lover of chaos disguised as a Masters champion.
Faldo is low-key a unit.
I’m into the white shirt-pink tie combo. I think it’s good. Rahm looks excellent.
“Most likely to be wearing a clip-on” is a fun game.
Adam Scott looks perfect. I told somebody today that everybody should ask Adam Scott what he is wearing and just attempt different variations of that. How does a man who has his golf swing also dress this good?
I think Fred Ridley might legit be the only person who knows how to knot a tie.

5. Infirmary alert: Viktor Hovland referenced reading, as a 15-year-old, the articles of a gentleman named Kelvin Miyahira, who teaches out of Hawaii and, according to his website is the “world’s leading anatomical researcher of the golf swing. He has a thorough understanding of the human body and analyzes the golf swing from a qualitative biomechanical perspective.”

I’m afraid our boy may be in too deep!

6. A couple of things I think I think …

• That we’re getting robbed of a great golf course with Thursday rain. Robbed! Spieth was beside himself on Tuesday talking about what the course would be like with two more days of sun.

• That Rory talking about the need for better course discipline is 👀👀👀

• That Si Woo, Lowry, Cam Young, Sahith, Zalatoris and Henley are all 45-1 or longer, and that I love all of them this week.

• That Spieth getting into the nuances of ANGC on Tuesday and letting it rip on green speeds from 2014 (!!) was sweet. He might be my “who should you pair with Phil for a LeBron-JJ Redick pod?” answer.

Don’t do it!

• That it was awesome when I asked Scottie and Spieth what about ANGC or the Masters brings them joy, and they both said hitting the shots. These guys go to so few places where you can hit great golf shots. It’s a lot of driving and pitching and stock numbers and swings. Here you can hit shots. It says a lot about the magic of this course but also — and I don’t want to get into it right now but still — the need for equipment doesn’t fly to the moon.

• That this week is going to make up for three months of pretty mediocre outcomes.

• That Ludvig is more special than I’ve been giving him credit for.

• That Sergio blaming the media for the state if pro golf is amazing. Amazing!

• That I wish Sergio had these glasses ready for Bryson on Monday.

2024 Masters x Fireballs solar eclipse glasses

• That you should watch this essay from KVV.

• That I think I finally found the perfect Twitter response.

First, Spieth’s hands are insane.

I’ve never seen this photo before, but … what?!