The Masters experience is something to behold, even during practice rounds

Tuesday at the Masters: overcast, slippery surfaces from overnight rain and the azaleas and dogwoods mostly faded.

Still ... a George Gershwin-DuBose Heyward kind of day at Augusta National Golf Club.

“The living is easy,” Heyward wrote and Gershwin put the words to music for the opera “Porgy and Bess,” and so it is on this Tuesday at the Masters.

The scene at Augusta National provides the ideal prelude to the 87th Masters, the year’s first major golf championship.

Fans amble across some of the game’s most storied real estate without the sense of urgency that will come with the start of play Thursday. The tableau is older than forever yet somehow younger than springtime.

The players, of course, are going about preparations in their quest to come away wearing a green jacket on Sunday evening, but this Tuesday is more of a day for fans, especially those with tickets for the first time.

Customers snake through the main golf shop — some with merchandise that dents credit cards for four figures, or maybe more. Over at the practice area, fans maneuver for vantage points. Photos — cameras are allowed during practice days — in front of the clubhouse are a must.

On the golf course, players tee off in no particular order, and that matters not at all on Tuesday at the Masters. Watching any group trying to solve the mysteries of Augusta National is a study in preparation at the highest level.

There’s always something new, Rory Mcilroy said. He cited the extended fifth tee a few years ago. “A big change that made the hole play significantly different,” he said. “Obviously, the tee box on 13 this year. There’s been a couple of green changes; the 13th green has been softened quite a big in the last few years.”

Fans who ringed the first green peered down the fairway to watch the trio of South African trio of Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Aldrich Potgieter hit their approach shots.

Potgieter, the British Amateur champion in his first Masters, disappeared into the yawning fairway bunker, and William, a patron from Atlanta, told his friends, “Good luck with that.”

Potgieter’s blast reached the green and spun off, but Schwartzel put his second from the fairway pin high and 10 feet away. “That’s how I’d hit it,” William’s friend said and laughed.

Schwartzel missed the putt, which prompted William’s retort, “You’d putt it like that, too.”

Indeed, weekend golfers oohed and ahead the expertise on display by some of the game’s top professionals. Seeing them in person is just different. Fans realize that even those who are not household names can really play the game.

Example: On the adjacent ninth tee, the Canadian foursome of Mike Weir, Corey Conners, Adam Svensson and Mackenzie Hughes bombed their drives.

Svensson’s ball climbed high into the sky, and Daniel from Pennsylvania said, “Oh, my God!” Hughes launched his. Daniel again: “Just like us,” he said and laughed at the incongruity of it all.

So, living is easy at the Masters on Tuesday, a fact reinforced by Bill, a local guy, who headed to the grandstands by the eighth green loaded with two drinks and four sandwiches after a trip to the concession stand.

“Can’t pass up these prices,” he said.

Indeed, concession prices at the Masters put other events to shame. Egg salad and pimento cheese sandwiches are $1.50 each. Other sandwiches cost $3. Soft drinks, water and iced tea go for $2. Beer is $5. Snacks ... $1.50 to $2.50.

Compare those to your athletic venue of choice.

One of the great vantage points is the grandstand adjacent to the 17th green. Left is the 18th tee, straight ahead are the 17th green and 15th fairway, and to the right is the seventh green.

A place to be on Sunday afternoon. But also a place to be on Tuesday.

At the moment, Larry Mize, Russell Henley Tom Hoge and Ben Carr, the U.S. Amateur runner-up, chip from probable positions later in the week to improbable-looking pins — and handle the shots flawlessly. Carr stirs the crowd by sinking one.

Finding the hole will be more of a challenge, starting Thursday. For now, though, there’s no stress, no strain, not pressure, and the living is easy on Tuesday at the Masters.

Masters weather forecast for Augusta this week

• Thursday: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms (20%) after 2 p.m.. Mostly cloudy, high near 86.
  
  
• Friday: Showers likely (70%). Mostly cloudy, high near 74.
• Saturday: Rain, high near 55. Chance of precipitation is 90%.
• Sunday: Chance of rain (50%). Partly sunny, with a high near 64.

This story was originally published April 4, 2023 at 4:56 PM.