The Masters

This is Masters week at Augusta National Golf Club. The Masters is my favorite golf tournament. It is also the start of the best four months of professional golf with the four major championships, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the Open and the PGA, being contested within this short time period. Playing Augusta National Golf Club is on the top of my bucket list.

The Curmudgeon is attending the third and fourth rounds of the Masters this weekend. His brother arranged the trip as a birthday present. If you watch carefully, you may see a toe-headed Curmudgeon holding up a sign behind the 12th hole tee box inscribed "Jon 3:16" just before the Masters security force carries him off the hallowed grounds of the club.

Augusta National is the most beautiful golf course I have ever seen (on my 50" HD television set). It is amazing how the groundskeepers are able to get the azaleas to bloom at exactly the correct time for the tournament. I have seen the huge heaters that are used when it is unusually chilly in Augusta in early April. The back 9 at Augusta, including Amen Corner, on Sunday afternoon may be the best test of golf and nerves and risk and reward in all of golf lore. Some of the great moments at Augusta include Jack Nicklaus, at 46 years old, winning his 18th major and his 6th green jacket in 1986; Tiger Woods winning his first major at Augusta in 1997 by 12 strokes!; and Phil Mickelson winning his first major in 2004 with 5 birdies on the back 9 on Sunday.