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SAN DIEGO — Through all of the logistical challenges that COVID-19 has created for professional golf tournaments, from safety protocols to testing to managing fans on-site, it appears that the two biggest events on the USGA’s calendar this year—both scheduled for California in June—are going to come down to a problem that few saw coming:

12:54 AM ET Associated Press TOKYO — Led by Japan’s prime minister, the country celebrated golfer Hideki Matsuyama‘s victory in the Masters — the first Japanese player to win at Augusta National and pull on the famous green jacket. “It was really wonderful,” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said with his country struggling to pull off

You’re forgiven if you have a bit of a Masters hangover after last week. So will some of the players as they arrive at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, S.C.—a favorite stop of many on the PGA Tour. The field is stacked, despite Bryson DeChambeau withdrawing on Monday, with five of the

6:39 AM ET The Masters came upon us quickly in 2021, with the previous installment having just ended only five months earlier and without another major championship between them. Dustin Johnson’s time with the green jacket was short, and Hideki Matsuyama lifted up a nation in winning this one. Here are a few things we

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Japan, rejoice. Hideki Matsuyama satisfied the cravings of a golf-mad nation by winning the Masters, becoming the first man from the Land of the Rising Sun to win a major championship. That will be the enduring memory from the 2021 Masters. But, as always, a golf tournament is about so much more

Until Hideki Matsuyama gave Japan its first major championship in the men’s game with his one-stroke victory Sunday in the 85th Masters, Isao Aoki had come the closest to winning a major title, finishing second in a duel with Jack Nicklaus in the 1980 U.S. Open at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J. The first

9:14 PM ET AUGUSTA, Ga. — Hideki Matsuyama smiled as he walked from the front nine to the back on Sunday, never looking toward the giant scoreboard to his right. He held a three-shot lead in the Masters, going out in 2 under. Nine holes remained between him and a major championship, the first ever

Jon Rahm was 11 strokes off the lead when he teed off Sunday at the Masters, where, with a deficit that large, the afternoon was more about simply trying to shoot the lowest score he could, enjoying the walk around Augusta National and perhaps picking up some crystal. Then he birdied the first, eagled the

8:57 PM ET AUGUSTA, Ga. — A dangerous weather situation that caused the evacuation of Augusta National and was followed by a brief period of heavy rain was all it took to throw Justin Thomas off his game and out of contention at the Masters. Things were going quite well for Thomas before weather intervened.

Eighteen holes separate Hideki Matsuyama from Masters enshrinement. His would be the rare win that transcends self, as his home nation of Japan desperately craves its first male major championship winner. Certainly Matsuyama is a fitting candidate: 14 worldwide wins, seven career major top-10s, four Presidents Cup appearances and reaching as high as No. 2

If Hideki Matsuyama wins the Masters on Sunday, he won’t be a stranger to Augusta National Golf Club’s Butler Cabin. In 2011, the 19-year-old Asian Amateur Championship winner from Japan earned low-amateur honors and sat beside Charl Schwartzel during the green jacket ceremony. It was a triumphant moment for the teen, but unfortunately, his mind

8:45 PM ET AUGUSTA, Ga. — For the first nine holes on Saturday, the leaderboard at the Masters was crowded. Then, after a weather delay, Hideki Matsuyama blistered the second nine at Augusta National, shooting 30 on his way to a 7-under 65 in the only bogey-free round at this place this year. So can

AUGUSTA, Ga.—So you’ve just won the Masters. Now what? After a tearful hug with loved ones behind the final green, and a quick trip to the scoring area to avoid any De Vincenzoesque shenanigans, you are whisked to Butler Cabin for the always awkward green jacket ceremony. The cabin is much bigger than it appears

8:17 PM ET AUGUSTA, Georgia — Defending Masters champion Dustin Johnson won’t be around for the weekend at Augusta National Golf Club after missing the cut. Neither will four-time major winners Brooks Koepka or Rory McIlroy. But after England’s Justin Rose came back to the field a little bit in Friday’s second round, there still

The spoils of winning the Masters are numerous and overwhelming. There’s the green jacket, of course, and the Masters trophy, plus the chance to tee it up every April at Augusta National for the rest of your life. You have a seat reserved at the Champions Dinner each year and a space in the Champions

It should be an electric Saturday and Sunday at Augusta National with big names lurking. Of course, Jordan Spieth sits just two back of Justin Rose’s lead. Spieth is the favorite according to the oddsmakers, with 4-to-1 odds of winning a second Masters title. Right behind him is Justin Thomas (5-1, three back); Justin Rose

7:08 PM ET AUGUSTA, Ga. — The process is far from complete, with plenty of work to be done. The prolonged slump might be a thing of the past, but getting his game to the level of those bygone days is still the goal for Jordan Spieth. He’s on another leaderboard, this time at the

AUGUSTA, Ga.—Before the campus grew to the size of Disneyland, the Masters was an intimate affair. There’s a reason Bobby Jones originally named his tournament the Augusta National Invitation Tournament; it was a small gathering of his friends and the game’s masters, and it was only the grandiose vision of his co-founder Cliff Roberts that

1:18 PM ET Tiger Woods didn’t remember anything about his car wreck on Feb. 23 and believed he was in the state of Florida when a sheriff’s deputy interviewed him at a Los Angeles-area hospital after the crash. Those were among the new details included in 22 pages of a traffic collision report and supplemental

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Justin Rose fired a brilliant 65 to grab a four-shot lead after Day 1 of the 2021 Masters. So all the patrons here should gobble up the remaining sandwich tee-shirts from the merchandise shop and head home because this thing is over, right? Not so fast. Of course, if you’re a golf

Abraham Ancer was hit with a two-stroke penalty following the opening round of the Masters on Thursday after it was determined that he unknowingly touched the sand with his club before he hit his shot from the greenside bunker on the par-5 15th hole. The tournament announced the decision after the rules committee reviewed video

8:13 PM ET AUGUSTA, Ga. — This is the Augusta National that leaves you breathing fire rather than soaking in its beauty, spewing expletives rather than hosannas, walking off bewildered. Other than Justin Rose, who somehow shot 7-under-par 65 after not playing for more than a month, most of those who traversed the hallowed ground

For 108 years, wait ’til next year was a familiar refrain for the Chicago Cubs until the lovable losers did the unimaginable and won the World Series in 2016. Such a sardonic mantra has never been appropriate for the considerably more talented and accomplished Rory McIlroy, a four-time major champion, generational superstar and at one

10:34 AM ET AUGUSTA, Ga. — As the sun peeked over the tall Georgia pines on Thursday morning, Lee Elder joined Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player as honorary starters on the first tee at Augusta National Golf Club for the 85th edition of the Masters. Elder, 86, was driven to the No. 1 tee in

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The words “under the radar” and “Masters” are an odd pair, and very rarely go well together. Even when compared to the other majors, the Masters resists obscurity. The tournament has been obsessively documented since the start, and its champions are—for the most part—enshrined in golf lore. There’s also the fact that the tournament started

2:50 PM ET AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rory McIlroy, who is known to be one of the most thoughtful and introspective golfers on the professional touring circuit, ended his pre-Masters news conference by going on an extended riff about Tiger Woods. That felt perfect because even though Woods is at home recovering from his car wreck,

Cameron Champ was walking through the driving range at the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields outside Chicago last August, a black shoe on his right foot, a white one on his left and the names of Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake scrawled in magic marker on the sides of the latter. “I got asked by

7:20 AM ET AUGUSTA, Georgia — The 85th playing of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club returns to its traditional spot in April this week. There will be limited patrons once again because of the coronavirus pandemic, and no Tiger Woods as the five-time Masters champion recovers from serious injuries suffered in a

He’s the only golfer who also answers to Bob in the field this week (Streb goes solely by Robert). And he’s the highest-ranked of just five southpaws, the out-numbered slice of the professional golf pie-chart that has recently played above itself in the Masters. Six times a left-hander has finished first in the last 18