The American clung on to a share of the lead in Augusta as he finished with a three-over-par 75 on the second day, level with Sergio GarcíaIt took 36 hours and 23 holes but sometime around midday on Friday Charley Hoffman, a portly 40-year-old ranked No52 in the world, finally realised he was playing in the Masters. For the last day-and-a-half, Hoffman seemed to have fooled himself into thinking he was playing in some small town Sunday fundraiser, the Pro-Am at Podunk Country Club.On Thursday, Hoffman played one of the finest opening rounds in the history of the Masters, a seven-under-par 65, which left him four shots clear of the next best, and was 10 strokes ahead of the average...
There was a time when the 23-year-old made playing Augusta National look easy but on Thursday he had to exorcise the demons of 2016Just after two in the afternoon Jordan Spieth set himself for the most keenly awaited shot of the day, one the world had been waiting 362 days to see him play. Spieth has been around Augusta National almost half a dozen times since he took that quadruple bogey and blew a three-shot lead at the 12th back in 2016. He played once with his father, once again with Tom Brady, a couple of times with the members and a couple more in practice this week. Which helped “get rid of some”, as he put it back in...
Player, Nicklaus and ‘Arnie’s Army’ gather at Augusta to remember the legend with the blacksmith’s arms who put the Masters on the mapThe sun came up at 7.10 in Augusta but it was another 30 minutes before it reached the first tee. By the time it rose above the clubhouse roof there were already several thousand fans gathered all around, packed so thick there was no way to weave through, and latecomers had to turn back and find a spot to watch from somewhere down the fairway.This year they had not just come to see the old champions taking part in the honorary start but to mark the one who was missing, Arnold Palmer, who died last September. In his...
From the nearly man who gave golf lessons to Dwight Eisenhower to a player whose clothing would have made Payne Stewart look like Johnny Cash Related: The 94-year-old Masters champion, who shares Tiger’s locker, on why he won’t go back Related: Masters 2017: Contenders and outsiders to watch, from Johnson to Luck Nicklaus warmly congratulated his victor, who was quick to offer an apology for misinterpreting eventsThe beginning of the Tiger era – and one of those rare events that can genuinely be described as epochal Related: The forgotten story of … the 1966 Masters | Scott Murray Continue reading...
Golf Sixes and the European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley’s other initiatives are a hopeful sign that the need for radical thinking may be dawning on the gameIn these days in which golf and innovation are suddenly bedfellows, one wonders what might happen next. The most fascinating aspect relating to the wearing of shorts during practice rounds, music accompanying players on the driving range or potential for fireworks on tees is the level of attention these background – and not tournament-defining – elements receive. Golf’s obsession with tradition is illustrated when these elements of show business are added and onlookers report them as somehow revelatory.Meanwhile, pro-am formats such as the one used at Pebble Beach last weekend render what should...