AUGUSTA, Ga. — Jack Nicklaus is 80 years old. Gary Player is 85. Both will, as honorary starters for the Masters, strike the ceremonial first tee shots Thursday to commence this rare November Masters.
Nicklaus and Player have served as honorary starters since 2010 and 2012, respectively, In April 2021, Lee Elder, the first man of color ever to play a Masters, in 1975, has been invited to join Nicklaus and Player to participate in the cherished tradition.
There will be a time when those legends from yesteryear are no longer around, so the question was posed to both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson on Tuesday what they thought about being a part of that ceremony down the road.
When Woods, 44, was asked what he thought about doing that in 30 years, he said, “Thirty years from now? That’s a long time. The fact that I had an opportunity to watch Byron Nelson and Sam Snead tee off there, and to see even Jack and Arnold [Palmer] and Gary, and now to have Lee start next year, whether it’s Phil and I down the road or whatever it may be, it’s up to the chairman, and it’s an honor; you start off the Masters.”
Woods is a five-time Masters winner. Mickelson has won it three times.
“Hopefully that will be us one day, and I’ll be hitting bombs past him,” Woods said jokingly.
“Well, he’s only 44 … and he’s going to be competing and hopefully playing in these events and being in contention for a number of years [and] I’m going to try to be with him,’’ Mickelson said. “That’s really not on our radar right now. If that was something we got asked to do that would be really cool. That’s really a special thing.’’
Some of the Masters traditions, such as the annual Wednesday Par-3 Contest, have been tabled for this year’s event because of COVID-19 restrictions. But one that remained in place is the annual Tuesday night Champions Dinner.
Woods, as the defending champion, served chicken and steak fajitas, along with sashimi and milkshakes. Woods also served milkshakes as dessert in 1998, the first Champions Dinner he hosted.
Jim “Bones’’ Mackay is back.
No, not back on Mickelson’s bag, but it appears Mickelson’s former caddie will be working for Jimmy Walker at this week’s Masters. He has been in white overalls working with Walker the past two days.
Mackay, who was on the bag for all three of Mickelson’s Masters victories, has worked for Walker, the 2016 PGA champion, before — at the 2019 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
Since splitting with Mickelson in 2017 after 25 years together, Mackay has worked with NBC Sports as a commentator. But this week is a CBS product, so Mackay was free. He’s worked as a caddie sporadically of late, doing fill-in jobs for Justin Thomas and Matt Fitzpatrick this year.
Mackay was on Thomas’ bag when he won the WGC-St. Jude FedEx Invitational this year.
Walker, 41, has been in a miserable run of form, missing the cut in eight of his past 10 starts, with his last top-10 finish coming in 2018. His world ranking has tumbled to No. 407.
The Masters has quietly tweaked its 36-hole cut rule, for this week going with a low-50 and ties making it to the weekend. This is a by-product of the time of year, with at least two hours less daylight in November compared to April, and the smaller the fields on the weekend the better chance to get the entire round completed.
From 2013 to 2019, the Masters cut was low-50 players and anyone within 10 shots of the lead. From 1962 to 2012, the cut was low-44 players and those within 10 of the lead. And from 1957 to 1961, it was low-40 and ties.
