The Masters tournament is finally, officially underway, folks.
You can stream live coverage on Masters.com until ESPN starts broadcasting at 3 p.m. OR you can dive right into the AJC’s comprehensive, constantly updating coverage.
Which includes the following missive from our pal Ken Sugiura.
Quick links: Live Masters updates | Braves fall to Phillies | Tech sets dates with Tennessee
KEN WEIGHS IN
Credit: George Walker IV/AP
Credit: George Walker IV/AP
Every Thursday, Sports Daily touches base with AJC columnist Ken Sugiura. This week, he’s roughing it in Augusta. Take it away, Ken!
Pleased to be writing to you from the Masters in Augusta. It’s my third time covering this tournament, and I am thankful and privileged to be covering it for the AJC. Hopefully you’ve read something I’ve written while here.
I posted something late last night about the last player to leave the practice range on Wednesday evening. I went out there not knowing who it’d be but hoping it might be interesting. The archetype, as I wrote, is hard to resist — who’s grinding away in the final hours of daylight before the biggest tournament in the world?
As legendary golfer Ben Hogan is renowned for saying, “The secret is in the dirt.”
💪 It turned out to be two-time U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, which is not a surprise to those who follow golf. He is known for his work ethic and hours on the range.
I found out too late that there is data to back it up beyond my own observation. The Masters tracks how many balls each player hits on the range, and — no surprise here — DeChambeau was the clear winner for the three practice days.
- DeChambeau mashed a total of 549 practice balls despite not even hitting on the range on the rainy Monday, including a stunning 393 on Tuesday.
A little bit of context: The player who hit the second-most balls Tuesday was Max Homa with 247 followed by José María Olazábal with 236, and those totals were outliers. Of the 94 players who were on the range, 69 took less than 100 practice shots.
This doesn’t count time spent on the putting green and you could certainly argue that it might be self-defeating to put in that much work — load management and all that. It hasn’t gotten him the prized green jacket yet, after all.
💪 DeChambeau, obviously, would not agree. Everybody’s different.
“It does say something, I think, about who I am,” DeChambeau told me after his Wednesday practice session. “Dedication, perseverance and my care, my passion for it. I think it says a lot about that.”
Just something interesting to me, and maybe a different way to look at the tournament and DeChambeau in particular.
A CELLPHONE SOLUTION?
Credit: Ashley Landis/AP
Credit: Ashley Landis/AP
I had some fun writing a column earlier this week about how I didn’t like the ballyhooed star of the Masters concessions stands, the pimento cheese sandwich.
I was glad that I got responses from readers who both agreed and disagreed with my stance. I received an email from one reader who was more aggrieved that I compared the polarizing sandwich to Phil Mickelson.
📱 But, anyway, I thought I’d offer one more quibble with Masters tradition. Cellphone usage is banned anywhere on the course and is actually grounds for removal from the course.
I think I can get behind part of this. While it’s involuntary, the rule does compel you to be more lost in the moment and to appreciate the surroundings. No one has his or her head in a phone, scrolling away.
When a big moment is happening, people don’t whip out their phones to record it. You can only just soak it in with your eyes and ears. (You’re also not allowed to bring cameras once tournament play starts.)
However, to be unable to be reached for hours or to not be able to get in touch with other people on the course (it’s easy to get separated) is a costly byproduct of the rule.
📱 The club does have banks of landline phones at various points. I suppose, before you go to the course, you can contact anyone for whom an emergency would necessitate your awareness and say, “Hey, I’m going to the Masters. Should you have an emergency that needs my attention, call Bob and I’ll check in with him every few hours?”
But being allowed to have your phone would make life a lot easier. The club has adopted technology in so many different ways for fans away from the course. (See above.) It would be appreciated if it would make a concession for those at it.
📱 Here’s my simple solution: You can bring a phone but it has to be a flip phone without a camera. Just calls and texts. And the club can even decree that you can only text.
The good folks at Augusta National would make a mint (as if they already don’t) selling Masters burner phones.
Just my two cents.
That it’s for Ken this week! But check out more Masters coverage below.
⛳ Former Bulldogs come out hot
⛳ Tech’s Hiroshi Tai soaking it all in
⛳ Players share ‘welcome to the Masters’ moments
⛳ PHOTOS: Par 3 contest brings out families
TRIVIA TIME
Scottie Scheffler is the odds-on favorite to win his second straight Masters. How many golfers have won the tournament in consecutive years?
Answer at the bottom of the newsletter.
NOT QUITE ENOUGH
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
A back-and-forth affair broke against the Braves on Wednesday night, with Trea Turner’s ninth-inning homer off Raisel Iglesias sealing a 4-3 Phillies win.
⚾ The good: Starter Grant Holmes worked in and out of trouble to post four scoreless innings.
The offense showed some signs of life late, with Orlando Arcia and Michael Harris II helping piece together two runs in the sixth before Austin Riley’s seventh-inning home run tied things up.
⚾ The bad: Riley twice came up with the bases loaded — and twice failed to get a hit.
Overall, the Braves left 12 runners on base.
⚾ Tonight’s game: The rubber match with the Phillies starts at 7:15 p.m. on FanDuel Sports. Young Braves star Spencer Schwellenbach faces off with Jesús Luzardo.
QUICK HITS
👀 Georgia Tech football agreed to a home-and-home series with Tennessee in 2026 and 2027. Among other things, that means the Jackets’ 2026 nonconference schedule now includes Colorado, Tennessee and Georgia. Tough sledding.
🏀 The Hawks visit the Nets tonight (7:15 p.m. on FanDuel Sports). With just three games left in the regular season, take a deeper look at their playoff scenarios.
🏈 The NFL Draft is two weeks away, and the AJC’s D. Orlando Ledbetter’s kicking off his position-by-position breakdowns with looks at the top 10 defensive tackles and the top 10 linebackers.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Looking for a more … offbeat Masters story? The AJC’s Joe Kovac has you covered with a fun story about a college kid making the most of post-Hurricane Helene life in golf-crazed Augusta.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
The fun part was that it was a brand new club and I was a little nervous hitting off the stump.
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of Sports Daily. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact me at tyler.estep@ajc.com.
Oh, and the trivia answer is three: Nick Faldo, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
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