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Las Vegas is built on many things – a desert, gamblers’ money and illusion.
Want a taste of New York City?
Vegas has its version of it.
Dreaming of Paris?
Vegas has that, too.
And striking it rich at the tables?
That’s why Vegas exists.
In the past two weeks, Las Vegas has created another illusion.
It has felt like Florida in March where the PGA Tour sets up shop with a collection of meaningful tournaments that feel like mileposts on the road to the Masters.
When the PGA Tour season stopped one round into the Players Championship in March, the Masters was coming fully into view. Like no other major championship, the Masters enjoys the benefit of a long, gradual build-up and by the time the tour trades the West Coast for the Sunshine State, Augusta National comes to dominate attention like an approaching wedding day.
That’s a big part of the Masters charm, chewing on what may or may not happen in the days and weeks leading up to the tournament because we know it like a good cook knows their favorite recipe.
With the Players Championship back in its proper pre-Masters date, it serves as the opening act for the biggest events but the scent of springtime in Augusta is in the air.
Six months later, it’s happening again with two weeks in Las Vegas and this week at Sherwood Country Club outside Los Angeles serving to chum the waters of anticipation as overhead shots of the greening of Augusta National circulate online and players talk not just about what’s happening at the moment but what it will mean the second week of November.
It’s three tournaments away now.
This Masters is a particular curiosity because of its November date and not just for the millions who treat the tournament like a family heirloom, even if they’ve never been closer to Augusta National than through their television sets.
The 96 players in the field next month aren’t getting Augusta National as they’ve seen it and played it. There will be no pine pollen painting car hoods and the new green leaves of spring will be gone or will have gone brown.
“There’s still a month of unknowns,” Justin Rose said when asked about his Masters prep.
It will be quiet because there are no patrons this time. Standing on the tee at the par-3 12th hole will be silent and empty compared to the typical tournament thrum. The better to hear the wind whistle through the trees around Rae’s Creek.
Walking up the long hill at No. 18 will be more of a trudge, the green an almost forlorn target without its wrap of people around the edges.
Will it be cold? Will it be wet? Will it be soft? Will it play firm?
What’s the wind like in November? Has the fairway overseed fully grown in?
“I’ve heard it can be beautiful in November, I've heard it can be quite cold,” said Rory McIlroy, who is a green jacket away from completing the career Grand Slam. “I think it’s really luck of the draw what weather we get. Again, it’s something we’re just going to have to adapt to.”
That’s a big part of the Masters charm, chewing on what may or may not happen in the days and weeks leading up to the tournament because we know it like a good cook knows their favorite recipe. Set in November rather than April in this pandemic-tossed year gets more intriguing the closer it gets.
“Obviously it’s on the other side of the country, it’s not as close, but when you think about the courses that we play leading up to Augusta, they’re all Bermuda (putting surfaces) for the most part,” McIlroy said. “It’s Florida, it’s different, right? It’s a different test and a different setup.
“I think (the CJ Cup @ Shadow Creek) and Sherwood, I think that’s going to be a lot of guys’ last event before Augusta and I think they’re going to be two good courses. You both get 72 holes, which is a nice thing as well, so two really good weeks to see where your game’s at and then go home and work on some stuff before Augusta.”
Bryson DeChambeau, around whom the tour seems to be orbiting these days, is taking four weeks off to get ready for Augusta where he hints he’ll bring a 48-inch driver and an aggressive game plan that could further shake the game’s foundation.
Tiger Woods is making his lone pre-Masters start this week at the Zozo Championship, perhaps unburdened by expectations given how little he’s played this year. Since he finished T9 at Torrey Pines in February, Woods has made only six official starts with a T37 at the PGA Championship his best finish.
Dustin Johnson, the world No. 1, is coping with COVID-19 as Tony Finau has been. Brooks Koepka is back, feeling healthy finally, but he’s taking the next two weeks off for more rehab and practice before heading to Houston the week before the Masters.
They like to say that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
But Georgia’s on everyone’s mind.
Top: Augusta National's fall overseed is greening up and getting ready for a Masters unlike any other.
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