After years of his tournament carefully embracing social media, Masters Chairman Billy Payne has finally joined Twitter at @chairmanbilly.
As with many new Twitter users, Payne first posted the dreaded "testing" Tweet that has since been deleted.
He then jumped into Twitter head first, picking up on the trend of companies telegraphing what their players will wear Masters week, only offering up his tie scripting for the 2017 Masters week.
The image of Chairman Payne's ties puts an end to any rumored patron-wagering on Chairman tie choices. The practice was thought to be inspired by bettors at Royal Ascot speculating on the Queen's dresses. His Tweet shows one Augusta National tie and two from the R&A's Open collection.
In the Chairman's first interaction with a follower, he clarified that the rest of his ensemble never changes:
Will Grayreporting from theShell Houston Open where Jordan Spieth's missed cut wouldn't have turned many heads except for a fascinating post-round quote.
The 2015 Masters champion said:
“I think we know, and the other players that are playing next week know, that we strike fear in others next week,” Spieth said. “So that’s our idea, that’s going to be my confidence level going in, and we’ll step on the first tee ready to play.”
They've listed tablet picture-in-picture capabilities (two channels at one time viewing?), Apple Watch notifications and Shot Tracker enhancements listed as new to 2017, but most interesting of all will be Apple TV options that allow the legendary feeds to be seen on a big screen.
Of course those great feeds remain Amen Corner Live, Holes 15 and 16, Featured Groups and Masters On The Range.
Looking at the App's schedule, Monday includes an hour of coverage at hole 16 from 2-3 pm ET.
Here are the Masters Live times that encompass both the app and website options for viewing.
The 2017 Masters Live line-up of channels include:
● Featured Groups: This year, for the first time, Bill Macatee will tee off coverage of the 2017 Masters along with Davis Love III on Thursday morning with Featured Groups.
In addition, Andrew Catalon, Brian Crowell, Mark Immelman, Billy Kratzert and Love III will also serve as announcers for the Featured Groupslive streaming coverage of select pairings throughout their entire round each day.
● Amen Corner: Live streaming video of the 11th, 12th and 13th holes from Augusta National. Grant Boone and Billy Ray Brown will serve as announcers for Amen Corner.
● 15 & 16: Live streaming video of the 15th and 16th holes from Augusta National. Bobby Clampett, Luke Elvy and Ned Michaels will provide commentary and analysis for 15 & 16.
● Masters On The Range: The live show originating from the Tournament Practice Area at Augusta National will be presented Monday through Sunday on CBSSports.com and CBS Sports Network. Masters On The Range will feature interviews with players and analysis of the field leading up to the start of the 2017 Masters and throughout the Tournament. Catalon, Clampett, Immelman and Kratzert will provide commentary.
In addition to the four channels of live golf action, Masters Live will present the following video highlights:
● In-Progress and End-of-Day Highlights: Video highlights of play during the 2017 Masters Tournament, including in-progress highlights and a round recap at the end of each day.
● Highlights from the Par 3 Contest: First played in 1960, the Par 3 Contest has become a beloved Wednesday tradition at the Masters. The 2017 Masters Par 3 Contest will be held on Wednesday, April 5.
● Historical Highlights: On-demand video of memorable highlights and classic moments from past Masters Tournaments.
● Augusta National Aerials: On-demand video fly-overs of Augusta National allowing fans to enjoy the beauty of one of the most famous golf courses in the world.
● Press Room: On-demand highlights of player interviews conducted in the Interview Room from Augusta National.
Masters Live and additional features available on Masters.com will be available for free at CBSSports.com.
The Masters, the most renowned tournament in golf, will be broadcast on CBS Sports for the 62nd consecutive year, a record for the longest-running sporting event broadcast on one network. This year marks the 81st Masters Tournament, one of the most highly anticipated sporting events of the year.
Schedule for Masters Live Video Feeds on CBSSports.com and Masters.com in 2017 * Start and end times are estimates and subject to change. All times eastern daylight.
Featured Groups* Thursday, April 6: 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM Friday, April 7: 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM Saturday, April 8: 10:30 AM – Completion of play Sunday, April 9: 10:30 AM – Completion of play
Amen Corner* Thursday, April 6: 10:00 AM – 6:30 PM Friday, April 7: 10:00 AM – 6:30 PM Saturday, April 8: 12:00 Noon – 6:00 PM Sunday, April 9: 12:00 Noon – 6:00 PM
15 & 16* Thursday, April 6: 11:00 AM – 6:45 PM Friday, April 7: 11:00 AM – 6:45 PM Saturday, April 8: 12:30 PM – 7:00 PM Sunday, April 9: 12:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Masters On The Range (Also airs on CBS Sports Network) Monday, April 3: 12:00 Noon – 2:00 PM Tuesday, April 4: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM Wednesday, April 5: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM Thursday, April 6: 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Friday, April 7: 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Saturday, April 8: 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Sunday, April 9: 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
It's been a while since golf, which once received some attention at the New Yorker and no shortage of pages filled by Herbert Warren Wind's writing, has graced a cover.
April, 2011 to be exact and it was a Bruce McCallpiece depictingTiger playing a recovery shot.
“I see that the word ‘duffer’ is defined as ‘a person inexperienced at something, especially at playing golf,’ “ Barry Blitt says, about his cover for the upcoming issue. “That’s the word that comes to mind as I watch President Trump plowing one drive after another through the glass windows of American politics.”
Kirk Bohls reports that Jordan Spieth has entered the design world as a consultant to Roy Bechtol on a par-3 course for UT Golf Club in Austin.
The course will be called The Spieth Lower 40.
“I’m excited about it,” Spieth said. “It’s going to be a cool little par-3 golf course that will be demanding visually but still fair for really solid wedge and short game work. I was definitely very hands on. I looked at the blueprints, the mapping, the scale. It’s cool being part of the design process with Roy because I’m interested in doing that later in life.”
The 4.5 acre course is under construction with a goal to open in September according to coach John Fields.
I've been putting you all to work and really appreciate the feedback. For your efforts, I hope you've been able to enjoy the 20% off offer from Criquet, who surprised us on ShackHouse with a nice offer.
Or from Athlete's Collective, who are giving site readers a great deal (promo code: SHACK) on their Conway 1/4 zips in heather grey and a very Masters-friendly heather green. At $34 a piece they're a bargain, but for $60 in the 2-pack bundle, a true steal.
I believe we have detected a theme in the recent polling: distance in the pro game is very much on your minds.
Michelle Wie's recent resurgence made the first round ANA Inspiration pairing with Lucy Li a lot more fun given a former prodigy was able to enjoy seeing the game's future before her eyes.
Randall Mellat GolfChannel.com with Wie's fun reaction to getting an up-close look at 14-year-old Li.
How does Wie remember reactions to her debut?
“They were just like, `Damn, she's big,” Wie cracked.
Wie is 6 feet tall today, and she was practically that tall when she played her way into the final Sunday pairing with Annika Sorenstam back in 2003.
Li is nearly a foot shorter and petite.
“I was walking behind her on No. 1, and I'm like, `She's really cute,’” Wie said. “No one really called me that when I was 13. `Damn, she tall.’ That's all I got.”
Wie made herself laugh, and that’s what kind of day this pairing was. It was a feel-good match of the veteran and phenom.
Wie posted a 68 and Li a 71 before first round play was suspended.
Thanks to reader LC for this BBC interview with Greg Norman explaining why Rory McIlroy was right to accept President Donald Trump's invitation to play golf. Apparently this was a placeholder discussion as we await Norman's Q3 plans to revolutionize the game.
More mesmerizing is Norman recounting the story he's told many times about not wanting to golf with Bill Clinton, only to have President George Bush set him straight. Norman admits to that round changing his perspective of Clinton and even becoming friends with the former president.
Why that experience didn't stop Norman from suggesting more than once that President Barack Obama was playing a "hefty" amount of golf, is a mystery. Or worse, hinting Obama's supposedly flippant approach to keeping score was the sign of character issues. Or the Shark weighing in on any of this!
Golf has been very fortunate to have players use social media largely for the purposes of highlighting sponsorships, thanking tournaments and sharing little glimpses into the life of a tour pro. The LPGA's players were ahead of the curve and remain so, while PGA Tour players have caught up in some regards.
So while I saw some of the chatter on my feed, it wasn't until G.C. Digitalput together the musings of Grayson Murray, world no. 155, that I realized we have our first Grade A, All-Conference PGA Tour Social Media Point Misser.
Though Murray's vowed to take a leave from Twitter following the hate he received for questioning the world ranking standing of foreign players--even when one made the semi-finals of the WGC Dell Match Play--Murray inexplicably crossed a line I never thought I'd see a player cross: his idea of a jab back at Ben An was to question the path he took to the tour, even though An is exactly 100 places higher on the world ranking list and certainly far more accomplished as the youngest U.S. Amateur winner...ever.
@ByeongHunAn why did you go to Europe when you turned pro? Oh wait you couldn't get through PGA tour school right away....
I'm not a fan of the PGA Tour fining players for merely being ignorant, nor do I support the secrecy of fines. However, Murray's disrespect for his peers and general need for attention certainly warrants a deduction from his PGA Tour account, or however that works. Though given his missed cut streak, there may not be sufficient funds. At least he opened with a nice round in Houston!
In the coming months I'm going to start rolling out "Eye On Design" videos focusing on various design elements in golf that either interest me or need to be reconsidered. While it's not sexy to kick off with the "variable distance" ball topic, we might as well try to wrap our heads around what I anticipate will be a lively debate centered around golf course design.
To set this complicated topic up, here are my thoughts presented in digital video form. I flesh a few more thoughts out to (hopefully) better inform your votes...
For us technophobic, distance RIPer's, things have come a long way over the last decade. Just look at your reaction to the WGC Dell Match Play last week where we saw epic driving distances on fairways playing at a nice, normal firmness.
A consensus of serious golfers see that distance increases for elite players have altered the brilliance and safety of our best-designed courses. This combination of improved technology, blatant outsmarting by manufacturers and a host of other elements like Trackman and instruction, have forced the governing bodies to defend expensive and offensive alterations to works of art.
No other sport pats itself on the back more than golf for upholding its traditions and integrity. Yet no the other sport has sold its soul to protect a relationship between participation and the equipment professionals play. A relationship, which I might add, will continue even after a bifurcation of the rules.
Fast forward 22 years and the amazing synergy of athleticism, fitting, instruction and technology has produced super-human driving distances for decent golfers on up to the best. No other sport on the planet has tolerated such a dramatic change in short time, so should we see 10% taken off the modern driving distance average of an elite golfer--at certain courses and events--the sky will not fall. The players who use such a ball would restore the strategy and intrigue of most golf courses built before 1995. (That was the year, not coincidentally, when things started to change.)
Several solutions that do not fundamentally alter the sport have been offered endlessly. They've also been resisted even as the game has not grown during a technology boom that has seen golfers offered the best made and engineered equipment in the game's history. Solutions such as reducing the size of the driver head for professionals and tournament-specific golf balls have not been welcomed or even tried.
The growing sense that a first step solution is on the way arrived when the USGA’s Mike Davis suggested at the recent Innovation Symposium that a “variable distance” ball could be an alternative for select courses and select social situations.
“We don’t foresee any need to do a mandatory rollback of distance. We just don’t see it. But that’s different than saying if somebody comes to us and says I want an experience that doesn’t take as long or use as much land, can we allow for equipment to do that?”
As we know, the proposed rules of golf re-write emphasizes speeding up the game and everyone knows adding new back tees has never helped on this front. For the first time, elite golfers are suggesting they see the correlation between distance and new tees, but are also tired of walking back to such tees on golf courses where the flow of the round is fundamentally altered.
Beyond the pace and silliness of it all, all indications suggest the USGA and R&A have also developed ways for the handicap system to address a variable distance ball that could be used in select circumstances.
Perhaps it's a club championship and is employed in lieu of extra rough or greens Stimping 13 feet. Or it's an invitational tournament played from tees other than the back. Or maybe there are golf courses experiencing pace of safety issues that will require golfers use such a ball?
On the social side, I expect the case to be made for golfers of different levels playing the same tees thanks to the variable distance ball, Since Davis’s remarks, I have been surprised how many golfers have told me this would make their Saturday foursomes a more cohesive affair, with everyone playing the same tees and the short hitters not frightened by getting fewer shots from a scratch golfer using a shorter flying ball.
Most of all, such a ball on certain courses would return certain skills (hitting a long iron approach?) and end decades of pretending golf does not have an integrity problem.
I point all of this out because Davis’s remarks were no accident. Whether anyone likes it or not, this ball is coming. The variable ball will not be forced, just another way to play the game. The British ball did not break the sport and neither will this option. Because that's all it is, an option. Given that The Masters arrives next week featuring long fairway grain mown toward the tee to prevent roll, I believe the variable distance ball will again be on the minds of all watching.
The Golf Channel's pre-Masters teleconference call included this fromBrandel Chamblee, writes G.C. Digital fresh from a two-week tour of Myrtle Beach's best courses.
G.C. writes:
“If you can believe anything that you read on social media – I know that his coach has been down there, and they’ve been hitting a lot of golf balls down in Palm Beach. The way I understand it, he’s been practicing quite diligently. So it wouldn’t surprise me if Tiger showed up at Augusta National.”
For his part, Montgomerie said that if Woods does show up, he hopes fans don’t see the 14-time major champ bowing out after “77-78 and going home from there.”
Geoff Shackelford
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning Drive, is co-host of The Ringer's ShackHouse is the author of eleven books.
He then jumped into Twitter head first, picking up on the trend of companies telegraphing what their players will wear Masters week, only offering up his tie scripting for the 2017 Masters week.
