Weather moves tee times up for final round

It will be a Masters Sunday like no other.

In a move to finish play before expected bad weather rolls in, Masters officials will have players go off both No. 1 and No. 10 tees in threesomes. The first groups will go off at 7:30 a.m., and the leaders will tee off at 9:20.

Gates are scheduled to open at 7:15 a.m., and CBS will broadcast the final round beginning at 9 a.m. An encore presentation of the final round will air on CBS after live coverage finishes.

To expedite gate closures, the club said there would not be a green jacket presentation ceremony on the putting green.

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“The safety of everyone on our grounds is paramount,” Fred Ridley, chairman of Augusta National and the Masters said in a press release. “We also believe the earlier start will give us the best opportunity to complete the Masters on Sunday. This decision should benefit everyone – the players, our patrons and our fans watching around the world. Given the competitiveness and drama of this year’s tournament, we look forward to an exciting conclusion tomorrow.”

The unprecedented move comes because the forecast calls for a strong chance of thunderstorms to arrive by mid-afternoon. The last Monday finish at the Masters occurred in 1983.

“I was a bit surprised to be honest, but yeah clearly the weather must be bad for them to make a decision that way,” Augusta native Charles Howell said. “So, I mean the tournament does need to get done on a Sunday, I don’t think a Monday finish looks right here. But yeah you do the best you can here and it will be weird teeing off at the 10th tee, I know that.”