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Every Golf Dad
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2023 Masters coverage: Live updates, news, odds, picks, tee times, schedule, predictions at Augusta National
Follow the latest news and updates as Masters week begins at Augusta National Golf Club
The 2023 Masters has finally arrived, and we are drawing ever closer to the start of play. A joyous occasion for golf fans worldwide, the year's first major championship is marked by a pristine Augusta National course with azaleas blossoming and the best players in the world all gathering in hopes of earning a green jacket. It will be a busy week for the world's elite before a competitive shot even goes airborne. From world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler's Champions Dinner to Tiger Woods' must-see press conference, plenty will happen on the grounds of Augusta National prior to the ceremonial tee shots on Thursday morning.
Scheffler aims to become only the fourth player to successfully defend his Masters championship, while world No. 2 Rory McIlroy enters his 15th Masters seeking to become the fifth man to complete the career grand slam. Jon Rahm hopes to add major No. 2 to his resume, while Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau, Sam Burns and Max Homa all hope to break through. Then you have Jordan Spieth, who appears fit to don the green jacket for the second time in his career, while Collin Morikawa and Brooks Koepka aspire to add the third leg of the career grand slam to their profiles.
Between practice rounds, media sessions and emerging storylines -- all of which will unfold throughout the week -- CBS Sports will be here putting everything under a microscope. Keep scrolling for ongoing updates throughout the week from Augusta National.
2023 Masters coverage, news
- Viewing guide: 2023 Masters TV schedule, coverage plans
- All the predictions: Expert picks for the 87th Masters
- 1-88: Ranking the entire Masters field before play begins
- Pairings are set: Masters tee times for Rounds 1 and 2
- Top three vs. field? Masters odds led by Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler
- Nine storylines: Will Rory finally complete his career grand slam?
- Sleeper picks: Surprises who could emerge as green jacket winner
- Trends: What to consider from last decade while picking Masters winner
- Newcomers: Ranking the seven amateur golfers in 2023 Masters field
Updates
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Brooks Koepka Cruising
Koepka has three birdies early in his round at the Par 3 Contest and legitimately looks like he wants to win the event. Currently three back of the leader Tom Hoge.
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Homa, Spieth and Thomas on the par-3 course
They're mic'd up on ESPN and could be a fun watch. Homa has already compared JT and Sammy Spieth (Jordan's son) while JT has already asked Sammy to stop talking during his back swing.
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Scheffler's walk-off ace
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Finau one of few to give it a go at 13
"I hit a couple more shots than I probably would into that green," said Finau. "For the most part, I've gone for that green in two as long as I hit it pretty much on grass. I even hit it from the pine straw a couple times trying to hit the green. This year is different. We're 35 yards further back. The one thing I haven't heard a lot of guys mention is just that your second shot is from a lot -- the ball is a lot more above your feet than before. The further you hit that tee shot, the less slope you have to deal with. Today I hit a 4-iron. It felt like the ball is about at knee height. Yesterday I hit a 6-iron, and it felt like it was at waist height. That also makes the shot a lot more difficult. You're hitting from further back, but you're also hitting with the ball a lot more above your feet."
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Seamus Power Two Aces
Seamus Power has made two aces during his par 3 round! Could add "Par 3 Contest winner" to his current FedEx Cup top 10 status.
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Cameron Young discusses new caddie
"I'm not Scottie, and Paul's not Teddy," said Young. "We're all different people. I think anything can happen. I don't think that necessarily has any bearing on what happens with us. Could go better than that, could go worse. Who knows? But I've really enjoyed Paul's company. I think he does a great job, and I think he is, like I said, a huge resource to me moving forward."
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Spicy Champions Dinner
It wasn't spicy in the way some may have thought. There wasn't any dramatics between LIV and PGA Tour players, but Danny Willett did share the tortilla soup may have been a taaaad spicy.
"I ate it," said Willett. "But I did look over at Scottie and ask if he was trying to kill us."
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Par 3 Contest
The Finau family has already stolen the show.
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Fred Ridley outlines new qualification for 2024 Masters
"Beginning in 2024, the reigning Division I Champion will be a listed qualification category to receive a Masters invitation," said Ridley. "In addition, future NCAA Division I Women's individual champions will be invited to compete in the Augusta National Women's Amateur. These additions to our qualifications are in recognition of the impressive quality of today's collegiate game, and in continued respect to Bobby Jones who believed in the importance of the best amateurs in the world competing at Augusta National. Beginning next year, the Masters Tournament invitation criteria will also include two revisions based on recent changes to the PGA TOUR."
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Weather Update
It's extremely hot at Augusta National today, which is extremely not how it's going to be on Saturday when it's 55 degrees and windy. It's been a very strange weather week at Augusta National already, and plenty more weirdness is on deck. How that affects the Masters (if that affects the Masters) remains to be seen, but it's something worth keeping an eye on.
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Awesome pairing
I have loved to see the friendship of Min Woo Lee and Collin Morikawa grow over the last few weeks. The two were buddy-buddy in Austin during the WGC-Dell Match Play and are playing Augusta National together on Wednesday. I wouldn't be surprised if both have really great tournaments.
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Fred Ridley in the press building
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Practice round pairings on Wednesday
- Scottie Scheffler, Sam Burns, Tom Kim, Bernhard Langer
- Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy
- Tony Finau, Jon Rahm
- Phil Mickelson, Harold Varner III
- Billy Horschel, Matt Fitzpatrick
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Spieth's record at Augusta
I shake my head every time I see this knowing he only has one green jacket when it could easily be two or three.
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What's on tap for today
There are two main events at Augusta National Golf Club today as players make their final preparations for the tournament. The first is the Par 3 Contest which will kick off at 12 p.m. ET. The second, and maybe more importantly, is Fred Ridley's appearance in the press building where he will discuss the state of the game, potentially the ball rollback and much more.
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The Enormity of the Masters
I've been struck this week by how much the LIV-PGA Tour stuff has been overshadowed by the Masters. Perhaps this is obvious and was always going to happen, but the LIV talk has been completely overshadowed by the importance of this tournament. Two players -- maybe the two most important players to this discussion -- spoke about this very thing on Monday and Tuesday.
Rory McIlroy: "I think this tournament is bigger than all of that. Look, it's a narrative and a storyline, but the Masters and the four major championships sit above all that noise, and that's the way it should be this week."
Cam Smith: "I do miss certain tournaments, certain golf courses. I'm looking forward to this week playing against the guys for sure."
McIlroy's quote was more explicit, but Smith was essentially saying the same thing, and that was this: Because of what is happening with LIV and the PGA Tour, the Masters has (and other majors have) become even more important than before. That's a pretty cool thing for the Masters and makes the looming tournament feel that much more meaningful.
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Brooks and Friends
I bet Brooks Koepka hasn't been (by far) the shortest guy in his group very often throughout his career.
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Defending champ speaking
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Justin Thomas makes a change
JT has putt a new putter grip on the wand this week. It has been a noticeable weak point in his game in 2023 and perhaps will aid him in grabbing his third major.
"Yeah, it's a grip -- actually I played with Rory last week, and he had it," said Thomas. "And I've seen it. It's very similar to a grip I've used and won with quite a bit. And my dad had it as well. We played on Sunday, and I picked his up and I said this does feel pretty good. I've traveled with an identical backup every single week, and I just threw it on there to see how it felt, to be perfectly honest, and feels pretty good, so why fight it."
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Round 1 times posted
Some notables below
- 10:18 a.m. -- Tiger Woods, Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele
- 10:30 a.m. -- Adam Scott, Patrick Cantlay, Kurt Kitayama
- 10:42 a.m. -- Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Cameron Young
- 10:54 a.m. -- Hideki Matsuyama, Cameron Smith, Sungjae Im
- 1:12 p.m. -- Dustin Johnson, Corey Conners, Justin Rose
- 1:24 p.m. -- Matt Fitzpatrick, Collin Morikawa, Will Zalatoris
- 1:36 p.m. -- Scottie Scheffler, Max Homa, Sam Bennett
- 1:48 p.m. -- Tom Kim, Rory McIlroy, Sam Burns
- 2:00 p.m. -- Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Tony Finau
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Watch Tiger live
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Tiger in the press building
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Rory echoes Freddie Couples' thoughts on Tiger
Playing with Tom Kim, Freddie Couples and Tiger Woods yesterday, McIlroy got a front-row seat to Tigers' status. By all accounts, the Big Cat is striking it well -- it's just a matter of being able to walk Augusta National.
"He looks good," said McIlroy. "You know, if he didn't have to walk up these hills and have all of that, I'd say he'd be one of the favorites. I mean, he's got all of the shots. It's just that physical limitation of walking 72 holes, especially on a golf course as hilly as this. But again, as we all know, we never count Tiger out, and he can do incredible things. But you know, you watch him on the range and you watch him hit chips and putts, and he's got all the aspects of the game that you need to succeed around this place. It's just the toll it takes on his body to compete over 72 holes."
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Rory categorizes his (relative) struggles at Augusta
I believe (don't hold me to this) our very own Kyle Porter asked Rory to categorize his struggles (or at least another Kyle did).
"I would say the majority of mental or emotional struggles rather than physical," said McIlroy. "I've always felt like I have the physical ability to win this tournament. But it's being in the right head space to let those physical abilities shine through. Going back to Gary's question a few moments ago, it's been tentative starts, not putting my foot on the gas early enough. It's been -- I've had a couple of bad nine holes that have sort of thrown me out of the tournament at times. So it's sort of just like I've got all the ingredients to make the pie. It's just putting all those ingredients in and setting the oven to the right temperature and letting it all sort of come to fruition. But I know that I've got everything there. It's just a matter of putting it all together."
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Rory on the need for a fast start
"I think the way that -- excluding the back nine on Sunday with some of the hole locations, I think it's a very difficult course to chase on," said McIlroy. "You start to fire at pins and short-siding yourself and you're missing in the wrong spots, it's hard to make up a lot of ground. You know, once you get off to a good start, you can -- you know, what's the biggest thing here in Augusta? Greens in regulation, hitting greens. If you get off to a good start, it's way easier to get into that mindset when you've been off to a fast start. Yeah, say you shoot a couple over that first day, then you start having to chase just to make the cut or try to get yourself back in the tournament, that's when this golf course can really sort of step up and bite you. I think that's part of the reason."
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Augusta National grass length (yes, really)
For those of you in need of the minute details of Augusta National. This could change as thunderstorms and weather rolls in as the week progresses.
The following represents the height of cut of grass on the golf course:
Tees: 5/16"
Fairways: 3/8"
Second cut: 1 3/8"
Collars: 1/4"
Greens surrounds: 5/16"
Greens: 1/8"
All mowing is subject to weather conditions and growth.
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Big media day
Tuesday is reserved for the top players in the game talking in the press building. Here's the schedule for today:
- 9:30 a.m. -- Rory McIlroy
- 10 a.m. -- Jon Rahm
- 10:30 a.m. -- Tom Kim
- 11 a.m. -- Tiger Woods
- 1:30 p.m. -- Justin Thomas
- 2 p.m. -- Matt Fitzpatrick
- 2:30 p.m. -- Max Homa
- 3 p.m. -- Scottie Scheffler
- 3:30 p.m. -- Patrick Cantlay
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Here's the Straka quote on his ace that I thought we might get (see below): "Yeah, every time you come it's a special event, and then obviously this year the one thing that's going to stand out, I don't think I can top that hole-in-one. That'll be a memory I'll keep forever, and yeah, just really pumped about it."
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Thoughts on 13
Every player has been asked about the par-5 13th, so I figured I'd put my thoughts out there. The expected soft conditions could make the decision to go for it with a player's second shot all the more difficult. A more susceptible green complex will likely be present meaning fairway woods and long irons have a better chance to hold the putting surface. In the other end of the spectrum, the spin on full wedge shots will need to be controlled. I am sure these guys will lay up more often, but this give-and-take could be something to look at, especially over the weekend when the rain is present and so are the nerves.
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