The Quadrilateral: Considering Tiger's Major Future

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Another year, another back surgery for Tiger Woods.

Daniel Rapaport with what details are known and Tiger’s hopes of a 2021 Masters return.

Because it’s never too soon to wonder if we’ve seen Tiger’s last major run, I, Mr. Sunshine, offer the best opportunities for Grand Slam glory over the next few years.

The latest Quadrilateral that’s still 100% free for a while, so check it out and past letters if you love the majors.

What Do We Know About HBO's Tiger Doc Premiering Sunday?

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We know it’s in two parts debuting Sunday January 10 at 6 pm on HBO and HBO Max.

We know Tiger isn’t thrilled about it and did not cooperate (or play in Turner’s The Match 3).

And it’s based on Armen Ketayan and Jeff Benedict’s book.

Ian Casselberry of Awful Announcing on what to expect:

Part 1, which premieres Sunday night (Jan. 10) at 9 p.m. ET, chronicles Woods’ development as a golf prodigy, taking up the game under his father’s tutelage while he was still a toddler. The first 90 minutes follow his rise from amateur star to a professional who changed golf upon winning the 1997 Masters and became a cultural phenomenon.

Ultimately, this opening part of the documentary covers the relationship between Earl Woods and his son, how he practically engineered and conditioned Tiger into becoming a dominant golf machine. Yet being raised with the focus on becoming an all-time great in the sport — and perhaps a transcendent global figure — deprived him of formative experiences in childhood and adolescence.

Woods’s first girlfriend, Dina Parr, is interviewed extensively and arguably the most powerful moments in Part 1 come from home videos she took while they were together, showing Tiger genuinely smiling and having fun with friends rather than pleased with his success on the golf course.

The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch sums it up this way:

If you are looking for a comparison to ESPN’s mega-successful “The Last Dance,” look elsewhere. “Tiger” doesn’t have the close to the scope of “The Last Dance,” nor the personal insight from the main subject. But it travels into the darkest areas of Woods’ story far more than “The Last Dance,” which was co-produced by Jordan’s Jump 23 company. It is an attempt — and I’d call it a successful one — to offer a psychological portrait of Woods. The film examines the father-son relationship of Earl Woods and Tiger Woods; the infidelities of both father and son; Tiger Woods’ search for his own identity amid those around him creating identities for him; and, of course, an examination of the greatness of Woods as a golfer.

James Colgan at Golf.com on the producers’ approach:

Heineman and Hamachek (alongside executive producers Alex Gibney, Sam Pollard, Stacey Offman and Richard Perello) instead relied on several thousand hours of archival footage and 50-60 hours of interviews with more than two-dozen subjects. The directors also leaned on Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian’s 2018 Tiger Woods biography (Benedict and Keteyian receive executive producer credits for their contributions to the film).

“There was a constant drive on our part to make sure that even though we didn’t have Tiger, we gave him a voice, and we let the people who knew him well put us inside of his mind,” Hamachek told GOLF.com “What we really wanted to do was reach out almost exclusively to people who knew Tiger and his family intimately.”

The trailer:

#CringeContent: PGA Tour, Betting Sites Continue To Exploit An 11-Year-Old Boy And Folks Have Seen Enough

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The PGA Tour Instagram page

The PGA Tour Instagram page

It’s never good when Instagram commenters are the arbiters of taste and standards. But that’s what is happening as various outlets pad year-end numbers and take bets off of an 11-year-old boy.

The PGA Tour’s 23rd Charlie Woods post in a week has finally started to prompt the inevitable questions about where to draw the line from commenters. Here is the latest post and just one selection of the many comments suggesting the exploitation in the name of activation, views, growing the game or family values.

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The PGA Tour’s official account has featured 23 posts on Charlie during and after PNC Challenge week. When they keep showing up 3 days after the final round it’s clear no line will be drawn.

For context: in contending during and winning the Masters, Dustin Johnson was worthy of 21 PGA Tour Instagram. He, however, is a (A) an adult (B) a member of the PGA Tour (C) compensated in multiple ways for the use of his likeness.

Included in the chorus of critics of today’s post was Tour player Dylan Fritelli. The 2019 John Deere Classic winner hopes the “media/people” will respect the young lad and his privacy, even though it’s the PGA Tour social media account still pushing the story as other sites have finally backed off.

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And then there are the betting sites.

Christopher Powers reports at GolfDigest.com in a story titled, “You can now bet on Charlie Woods' chances of winning a major, proving we've all lost our minds”:

The website sportsbettingdime.com sent out its Charlie Woods futures odds on Monday morning, proving we've officially lost our minds. According to SBD, Charlie is 825-1 to win a major by the age of 25, this despite not knowing if he even wants to take up a career in professional golf.

And thanks to reader Grillo for this horrifying option from betting site Bovada:

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PNC Challenge Averages 1.5 Million Viewers, LPGA's CME Up Too

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The 2020 PNC Challenge (aka parent-child, child-grandparent, etc…) delivered better ratings news than the run of recent fall events, reports ShowBuzzDaily. Boosted by Charlie and Tiger Woods, the event drew a .88 (typo above) and an average of 1.5 million viewers or so both weekend days.

That’s a nice bump from last year’s playing on the same weekend as the Hero World Challenge in early December. The event doubled its audience from 2019 and more than doubled the audience size of the last fall PGA Tour event of 2020, which also aired on NBC.

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The news was also solid for the LPGA Tour’s season-ending event. Played in late November 2019, the CME Group Tour Championship drew a .30 and average of 395,000 viewers. Those numbers jumped to a .47 and average of 686,000 for Sunday’s early start won by Jin Young Ko.

The weekly numbers also include Monday’s U.S. Women’s Open final round rating of a .19, barely higher than rounds one and two of the 2020 CME.

Charlie Woods Is Really Amazing And So Is Some Of The Excessive Social Media Coverage From His Grand Debut

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Eleven years old, the son of a legend and upstaging dad while he still can play?

The entire spectacle of Charlie Woods’s PNC Challenge was incredible. From the matching body language we know so well to the epic mini-Rory swing to the composure to deliver incredible shots proved to be spectacular December viewing.

The shot that will live in golf infamy for all of the reasons cited above:

Bob Harig at ESPN.com took the best angle possible on the story, wondering if young Charlie might give Tiger the extra spark he missed in 2020.

Elsewhere, the coverage veered into excess and the kind of drivel you’d expect from social media accounts run by folks aiming to “skew young”, most notably the PGA Tour and Golf.com. Stuff like this dominated their weekend flood of Charlie posts:


Lee Westwood, recent Race to Dubai winner, called out the PGA Tour’s account Saturday night after the Tweeting onslaught:

NBC rode the lad harder than George Wolff on Seabiscuit in the Big Cap, but the coverage was largely tasteful. Mildly distasteful was NBC sticking Charlie and Tiger’s first tee shot behind the Peacock Premium paywall to pimp their latest streaming venture, but that’s ultimately a minor offense compared to what was witnessed on social media.

GolfWRX breathlessly started trying to figure out what was in Charlie’s bag—noted early on they could confirm 14 clubs, eventually posting his specs and brand of choice. I will not be providing that link.

I get that there is enthusiasm for the lad’s game. There is a shared communal excitement at the sight of a young golfer so impressively talented and already better than most of us. But coupled with the modern day need to express excessive enthusiasm like pre-teens squealing at a K-pop concert, it’s embarrassing. With ads being sold, clicks counted and “activation” points with senior leadership as contracts are up for renewal, it’s understandable why restraint goes out the window. But not forgiveable.

A random sampling of adults:

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And just look at the absurdity of Golf.com’s stream at a couple of different points—including as I type this post late Sunday night—with a continuing stream of automated posts and other shameless profiteering in one last bid to prop up the 2020 numbers. This is from earlier in the way with a nice pause in the squeezing Charlie stream to hawk merch:


Adam Schupak was on site for Golfweek and while he filed plenty of Tweets about the Woods’, he also heard about or saw the “crazy talk”, writing:

The Twitter-verse was abuzz at the sight of Charlie’s swing and warm-up session on the range Thursday next to Tiger before their pro-am round as if they’d seen the second coming. Cue the crazy talk that Charlie was going to revolutionize the game while breaking all of his dad’s records.

Simmer down, people. Charlie’s action shows raw promise and it’s evident that he not only has his famous father’s golf genes but his ‘feels,’ and perhaps most importantly, a love for the game. But let’s cool our heels. Let’s allow this weekend to be about a father and son bonding on the golf course.

The reaction across the Atlantic to the exploitative ways was noticed, generally found to be shocking in its exploitative ways, and debated on Twitter extensively.

Michael McEwan crystalized his thoughts at Bunkered, writing:

It troubles me that this needs to be pointed out but devoting so much attention to a pre-pubescent, primary school-age child is not normal behaviour. Unhealthy? Yes. Unnerving? Oh, yeah. Irresponsible? Uncomfortable? Creepy, even? No doubt. But not normal.

Some will say it goes with the territory, that boundless intrusion is the price to pay for being Tiger Woods’ son. Certainly, and as he will soon discover, Woods Jnr’s parentage is both a blessing and a burden. It will provide him with opportunities beyond the wildest dreams of most children. It will also deny him – if only to some extent – basic privileges, such as privacy and anonymity.

This is key: where does the Charlie Woods coverage go from here? It’s hard to imagine he’ll be given space to be a kid given what we saw this weekend. About as likely as Tiger turning up in a blue shirt on Sundays.

And in the best summation of the weekend antics, there is now a Charlie Woods Tracker, called out by a writer who was one of Golf.com’s staffers oversaturating Twitter with “content” and called out for calling out the tracker:

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"From Earl to Tiger to Charlie, how golf is passed down from Woods to Woods"

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As this weekend’s PNC Challenge nears and Tiger Woods tees up with his 11-year-old son Charlie, Bob Harig at ESPN.com reminds of the parenting and golf mentoring approach of Earl Woods vs what we know so far from Tiger.

Sure, Tiger could turn into one of those parents but it’s hard to see this happening…

As far as we know, Charlie has no "team'' around him at this point other than his dad. But early on, Earl developed the concept of Team Tiger, and it included his first coach, Rudy Duran, and Jay Brunza, a Navy captain and clinical psychologist who often caddied for Tiger but also helped him with the mental side of the game.

One other fun component to the weekend parent/grandparent-child-stepchild-third cousin gathering of top players: Joe LaCava Jr. will be on the bag for young Charlie, reports GolfDigest.com’s Daniel Rapaport.

In Case You Were Wondering: It Was Charlie's Idea

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I was initially surprised that the (understandably) protective Tiger Woods would expose his 11-year-old to the national TV spotlight at this month’s PNC Championship (aka the Father-Son-Daughter-Stepchild, etc…).

But it’s a tribute to the well-regarded and impressively-attended 20-team event of major winners that Woods even considered his son’s request. And it was Charlie’s idea, writes Doug Ferguson, reporting Justin Thomas’s comments this week:

“Tiger and I talked about it a bunch. He brought it up a while ago that Charlie wanted to play and Charlie really wanted to play with us,” Thomas said Tuesday. “For some reason, Charlie just always wants to beat me, it doesn’t matter what it is. Although he’s never beaten me in golf or a putting contest, he still talks trash just like his dad. It will be fun.

“We’ll have that like inner tournament within a tournament, trying to shut his little mouth up, but it will be fun.”

Still to be determined is whether Team Thomas and Team Woods are in the same group. One last father-son team is still to be announced for the 20-team field Dec. 19-20 in Orlando, Florida.

68: Tiger Starts With First Ever Bogey-Free Masters Opening Round

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The defending champion and five-time Masters winner managed a first Thursday: a bogey-free opener. Normally a slow starter, Woods has positioned himself in historic position. From GolfDigest.com’s Brian Wacker notes on Tiger’s 2020 Masters 68:

Thursday marked the ninth time that Woods has broken par in the first round of the tournament. On the previous eight occasions, he finished no worse than a tie for eighth. Four of those times, he went on to win, including last year, when he opened with a 70 on his way to a 13-under total and one-stroke victory.

ESPN.com’s Bob Harig shares this from the patron-free grounds of Augusta National.

But Thursday brought him back to familiar ground, and perhaps he willed himself to a good score without the supporters who typically carry him. Sure, his buddy Peyton Manning was there. So was NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. As Augusta National members, they were among the few allowed to attend.

Woods went the entire round without a bogey, a first for him on opening day at the Masters and the first time in any major round since the 2009 PGA Championship -- a span of 105 rounds.

Great to see the Commissioners working hard. Oh, and also quite a span since Tiger’s last bogey-free major round.

Michael Bamberger offered an array of observations from the strange November day. Including this:

As a reporter or a special-guest visitor or an off-duty tournament worker, you could get right up to the action. There might have been a hundred people, or far less, following Woods and his playing partners, Shane Lowry, the British Open champion, and Andy Ogletree, the U.S. Amateur champion. Among the few, the lucky, the walking: Andy’s mother; a doctor on call; Suzy Whaley, the president of the PGA of America. Also Rob McNamara, Tiger’s aide-de-camp, and Erica Herman, Tiger’s girlfriend. Without the usual throng following Woods, it had all the intensity of a country-club member-guest playoff.

It was quiet. You could hear a police siren on Washington Road across the course, something you normally cannot. You could hear Tiger’s groan-grunt when he hit a poor pitch-shot third on the par-5 8th. You could hear Augusta National’s famed Sub Air system working overtime on every hole. It had no chance of getting this course dry, not after the bath the course took in the morning. A soft Augusta National always makes the day seem more ordinary.

Was This The Last Of Tiger And Phil On A Sunday?

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Both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are working as hard as ever to prepare for the 2020 Masters.

At the 2020 ZOZO Championship and played at Sherwood Country Club, Mickelson was his usual gale force of energy working his coffee/launch monitor/intense warm-ups. Each ZOZO day Tiger was visible in the fitness trailer (doors open for ventilation!) preparing his body ready for play.

Still, Sunday’s late back nine grouping with Adam Long featured plenty of mediocre golf by their lofty standards and a sense that weekend groups featuring the two legends will be rare.

Rex Hoggard writes for GolfChannel.com:

It was a starkly unceremonious end for the two legends who were grouped together in a PGA Tour event for the 38th time. Sixteen strokes off the lead to start the final round of the Zozo Championship, this was a formality. It also was likely the anti-climactic end to a largely anti-climactic head-to-head history between the two titans.

They’ll find themselves in a manufactured group for Rounds 1 and 2 at an event starved for attention somewhere down the road, but the chances of the duo landing together in a meaningful weekend tee time is about as likely as the two sharing a plane ride home.

Tiger was pleased with his putting that did look infinitely more relaxed on the greens as of late, though he still has a tendency to put a pop stroke on the ball. That, combined with really sporatic iron play, will need serious work if he’s to defend his Masters win.

From Steve DiMeglio’s Golfweek account of the Woods/Mickelson grouping.

“The only thing I can take out of this week that I did positively I feel like each and every day and pretty much every hole is I putted well,” said Woods, the defending champion who finished with rounds of 76-66-71-74 and 22 shots behind winner Patrick Cantlay. The 76 and 74 were two of the three worst rounds he’s ever shot at Sherwood in 52 rounds. He won five times here and finished runner-up five times in 12 starts heading into this week. “I feel like I rolled it great. Unfortunately, most of them were for pars and a couple for bogeys here and there, but not enough for birdies.”

Woods has just one top-10 this year in eight starts.

Mickelson’s drive remains admirable but on-course swing looks strained and way too long at times. After the round, he gave an assessment and schedule plans heading to Augusta.

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, I have some pretty good direction on where I need to go with my game and I'll take this week to work on it and try to apply it the week before. I'll go home, talk to Amy, see what course is sort of best suited to get me ready, which one allows me to hit more drivers maybe. Like to hit some mid irons, but also like to chip and putt. I'm not sure. I know nothing about Memorial Park. I have played Phoenix Country Club quite a bit, but I'll see what course is best to get ready and I'll do that. But this week I'll take to work on a couple of things and, you know, see if I can get my game sharper.

ZOZO Round One: Tension! Birdies! Bent Clubs! We Have Tangible Evidence The (Fall) Masters Is Near

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Nothing against the fall or even the ZOZO, rather miraculously rescheduled despite the sponsor having no place in the American market. But this is typically not a time of year you see players bend clubs, blow off the media, tell dad to lose the tips, or grind on the range until dark.

Day one at Sherwood saw a bit of everything and the stunning scoring you might expect with perfect conditioning, a healthy purse and players seeking momentum into the rescheduled Masters (November 12-15).

A stout 24 players posted 68 or better, with leader Sebastian Munoz 64 despite two bogies and a double. He leads by one over the sizzling Tyrell Hatton and Justin Thomas who finished his round eagle, birdie, birdie.

While spectators are not allowed, local boy Matthew Wolff did have family and friends moving around the property as he predicted Wednesday. Imagine the pride of walking off the fourth tee with Tiger Woods:

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Wolff opened with a 69 that included a lost ball at the par-4 14th. He drove the first green, hit the oak next to the surface and made a 17'10” putt for eagle.

Woods, looking fit and swinging beautifully, posted a disastrous 76, his worst round at Sherwood by two. He headed straight to the parking lot—not even stopping for his friends at GolfTV—after signing a card with two birdies, four bogies and a double at the par-5 13th.

Rory McIlroy posted a one under -71 and in uncharacteristic fashion, took out a club on the 18th fairway.

After a -2 70, Jordan Spieth shared a light story about getting just a bit too much advice from his caddie. Who also helped bring him into this world.

Steve DiMeglio explains for Golfweek.

And there was this:

ZOZO: Tiger Woods On Bryson's Speed Chase, State Of The Distance Debate

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Returning to Sherwood Country Club for the ZOZO Championship, Tiger Woods was asked about the speed chase by players.

TIGER WOODS: Well, distance has always been an advantage. Now that we have the tools, that being the launch monitor, the fitting of the golf clubs, the adjustability. I think all that plays into the fact that you're able to maximize the capabilities of a driver. There's no reason why you can't pick up more yardage and guys have done that. They've changed shafts, they've changed lofts, they've changed weights on their heads and length of clubs. Driving is such a huge part of the game and it's so advantageous if you're able to get the ball out there. It just makes the game so much easier.

And this on distance was nice. Someone else has lost patience.

Q. Just one last question, and on the back of an earlier question about driving distance of the ball. As you know, the administrators are a little worried about where the game's going. Should they be worried?

TIGER WOODS: They should have been worried a long time ago, but the genie's out of the bag now. It's about what do we do going forward and how soon can they do it. I don't know if they're going--you're not going to stop the guys who are there right now. You can carry--guys are figuring out how to carry the ball 320-plus yards, and it's not just a few of them. There's a lot of guys can do it. That's where the game's going. There's only going to be a small amount of property that we can do, we can alter golf courses. I just don't see how they can roll everything back. I would like to have--like to be able to see that, as far as our game, but then we go back down the road of what do you bifurcate, at what level? So that's a long discussion we've had for a number of years, for 20-plus years now, and I think it's only going to continue.

Tiger is correct, well, about everything here.

A) It’s about what we do and how soon. Since the genie’s out of the bag/bottle, this means that bifurcation is the only real solution.

B) At what level. Yep, a complicated, annoying discussion to have. But since equipment companies shower amateur golfers now with free stuff and college golfers are on the freebie circuit too, that line should not be tough to draw if we are talking balls, or more tightly regulated drivers. But all of this would require an actual discussion, one governing bodies have tabled for (another) year. At least.

Tiger And Phil Sounding Like...Veterans

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I wouldn’t dare say old since they’re both in great shape but after Tiger’s four days in the 2020 BMW Championship he offered this about his back:

Q. How have you felt?

TIGER WOODS: Felt?

Q. Body-wise, physical-wise.

TIGER WOODS: It aches every day.

Q. Has it hurt you at all, just your back or your health in general?

TIGER WOODS: Well, my back is what it is. It's always going to ache and it's always going to be stiff. That's just -- when you have a fusion, that's just part of the deal. I'll have my good days, and as I've told you guys before, I'll have my good days and bad days.

Then there was this from Phil Mickelson regarding his Monday-Wednesday Champions Tour debut and win. He’s liking that cart!

Club Pro Guy also offered an alternate take on this bit of social insight sounding more like a young Phil.

View this post on Instagram

A new lease on life. #LiveUnderNetPar

A post shared by ClubProGuy (@clubproguy) on

Tiger On Playing As Other Sports Took A Pause

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Buckling under playoff pressure like he hasn’t faced since last year, Tiger bogeyed his last three holes and was not necessarily channeling his inner Norman Vincent Peale.

He made clear there was no discussion of playing as several other athletes protested or elaborated on the times.

Q. Just general thoughts on -- it was a rough finish, but how the course was playing and what was the strongest part of the challenge?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, the course was fine. The course is in perfect shape. Not the way I wanted to finish, but the golf course is playing difficult for sure.

Q. Was it a challenge dealing with the heat? Did that wear you out at all?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I live in Florida, so it's hot. This is no different. Certainly it was hot early. The wind picked up and it wasn't bad. It's just a little muggy.

Q. Obviously there's so much talk about racial injustice, and the NBA and MLB had some teams that didn't play. Was there any thought at all to not playing this round?

TIGER WOODS: No, I talked to the commissioner and they were on board. Obviously he released his statement, and all the guys were on board. So no, obviously there was talk about it because of obviously what happened, but we're all on board, on the same page.

I can see why the PGA Tour would not be looking to postpone the BMW Championship round, but I’d love to sense they genuinely grappled with the perception of golf, the PGA Tour and playing through these times. Yes, march on, but at least maybe pretend to grapple with the difficulty of these times?

Even the Thursday Night Men’s League did.

Tiger's First Public Course To Debut With Post-U.S. Open Mini U.S. vs. Europe Match

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Branson’s big moment this week could be upstaged in September when Tiger debuts his first “public” course design, Payne’s Valley. The Golf Channel/NBC/Excel production features Woods and Justin Thomas vs. Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose. I sense some contractually-obligated “days” are getting checked off.

Anyway, for Immediate Release:

ORLANDO, Fla. – NBC Sports and Excel Sports Management announced today the Payne’s Valley Cup, a special 18-hole charity team exhibition match headlined by four of the world’s top golfers to commemorate the grand opening of Payne’s Valley Golf Course at Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, Mo. Payne’s Valley represents the first public golf course design for 82-time PGA TOUR winner Tiger Woods, who will team up with World No. 3 Justin Thomas (Team United States) to take on major champions Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose (Team Europe) in the Payne’s Valley Cup.

Airing live on GOLF Channel on Tuesday, Sept. 22 (3-7 p.m. ET), the Payne’s Valley Cup will feature an entertaining mix of some of the best competition formats seen during Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups: Fourball, Foursomes and Singles matches. NBC will televise a special encore as two separate telecasts on Dec. 26 and 27 from 4-6 pm ET. The four players competing in the Payne’s Valley Cup have an eclectic resume: all four have been World No. 1; are major champions, all have won the FedExCup and have been part of victorious Ryder Cup teams.

The made-for-television exhibition match will be produced by NBC Sports, featuring all four players mic’d up during competition while showcasing Woods’ new golf course that pays tribute to Ozarks-native and World Golf Hall-of-Famer, Payne Stewart. 

“Payne’s Valley is the first public golf course that I have designed. I couldn’t be prouder of how it turned out,” said Woods. “It was an honor for me and my TGR Design team to work with Johnny Morris and Big Cedar Lodge on this spectacular golf course. I am thrilled that it will be featured during the Payne’s Valley Cup.”

“The breathtaking beauty and pure majesty of my native Ozarks is something you have to see to believe. To be able to harness this unique landscape and make it come alive through our golf courses has been an honor that has been driven by passion,” said Johnny Morris, noted conservationist and founder of Bass Pro Shops and Big Cedar Lodge. “Tiger and I have a twenty-year friendship that started through fishing and has evolved into a great partnership. We look forward to showcasing this destination to the world through the Payne’s Valley Cup and truly believe we are creating ‘America’s Next Great Golf Destination.”

Through a partnership between Morris and Woods, the 18-hole layout of Payne’s Valley, named in honor of golf legend, Ozarks native and dear Morris friend Payne Stewart, was created with the intent to foster a deeper connection to nature through the game of golf. Being celebrated as one of the most remarkable golf holes in the world, the course features an unforgettable par-3, 19th bonus hole designed by Morris to celebrate the nature and beauty of the Ozarks. After the final hole, golfers traverse a breathtaking, cliff hanger nature trail and journey through a beautiful nature cave system to return to the clubhouse.

Tiger: Fanless Masters Less Confined, Fewer Distractions

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Looking ahead to his 2020 Masters defense this November, Tiger Woods noted a couple of key elements that will be different.

Beyond the roars giving you an idea where another player stands, he also referenced the loss of basic distractions (backing off a shot due to a noise) and the lack of confinement. Presumably, as he said at the PGA, this favors players not used to everything that comes with playing on the biggest of stages. He’s not wrong.

From Ryan Lavner’s GolfChannel.com report:

“When you put 40,000 people on such a small piece of property – I know there’s no rough, but it gets confined,” he said. “But this will be very different. This will be a fun Masters, and I’m looking forward to defending.”

Some players have mentioned difficulties focusing without fans and plenty more are enjoying it. Pace of play has improved but the idea of being less confined is fascinating. For some players, having fairways lined by players might be a positive in helping to focus on the job at hand, and perhaps, for others not having the fan presence makes things trickier.

Anyway, it’s an oddity of 2020 that cannot be quantified.