Don't be shocked if there's a surprise winner at the 2020 Masters

Don’t be shocked if a surprise winner emerges from this week’s first-ever fall Masters Tournament.

Nothing has gone as planned for the 2020 Masters, so why should the green jacket winner from the 84th event at Augusta National Golf Club be any different?

Much of the field is already here, and others visited last week, including pre-tournament favorite Bryson DeChambeau, defending champion Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, who is making his sixth attempt to complete the career Grand Slam.

DeChambeau, who has put on 40 pounds in the past year and leads the PGA Tour in driving distance at 344.4 yards per drive, played with 1988 Masters champion Sandy Lyle last week. According to SiriusXM PGA TOUR radio, Lyle reported that DeChambeau flew the green off the tee on the 350-yard par-4 third hole and had short irons into all the par 5s: 8-iron into No. 2, 7-irons into Nos. 8 and 13 and 9-iron into No. 15. He also hit a sand wedge into the par-4 No. 1 hole.

Serious preparations begin with practice rounds starting today. Players will be able to fully concentrate on the test ahead because no fans will be allowed this year.

The biggest change, of course, is the date, the first ever in the fall. Because this Masters was postponed from early April by the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been 19 months since Woods claimed his fifth Masters title. It also means the 2020 champion will have a short tenure. The 85th Masters is less than five months away.

It will be a strange, quiet Masters that will look like none other, and end earlier each day than usual.

Because the Masters is not being played during Daylight Savings Time for the first time, threesomes will go off both tees on Thursday and Friday in hopes of completing both rounds before the 5:26 p.m. sunset. The third round is scheduled to end around 5 p.m., but that could change if there is a repeat of 2019, which saw a record 65 players make the 36-hole cut.

Sunday’s final round is scheduled to finish around 3 p.m., if there isn’t a sudden-death playoff and the weather cooperates, in order to accommodate NFL football on CBS. Of course, the 2019 Masters also ended in the early afternoon after tee times were moved up in anticipation of severe afternoon weather.

One similarity to an April Masters will be the weather, which can be cool this time of year. Instead, the forecast calls for highs in the mid 70s and low 80s, with possible rain during the tournament rounds, especially for Thursday’s first round, when there is a 90 percent chance of thunderstorms.

Because of the pandemic, there were no opening acts leading into the main event. The Augusta National Women’s Amateur and the Drive, Chip and Putt competition were scrapped.

Since patrons will not be allowed for the first time, the club canceled the annual Par-3 Contest. The Tuesday night Champions Dinner is still on, and two of those champions, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, will still be the honorary starters on Thursday morning. It is not known yet if the Green Jacket ceremony will be held in the Butler Cabin or outdoors where it would be easier for spacing because of the pandemic. It could be held in both spots, as is the custom.

With no patrons, the course will look much different on television, with no bleachers around the course, though the manual scoreboards are expected to be in their normal spots.  

The players will need them to keep track of the action, since there won’t be any roars for eagles and birdies sweeping through the pines to keep them apprised, especially in the final round.

The lack of roars and the size of the field might increase the chances for a player outside the top 50 in the world ranking to take the title. The field is at 95 players, eight more than last year and the most since 2015, when 97 teed it up. The pressure on the back nine in the final round is intense, especially when there are roars for big stars like Woods. That won’t be happening, so a young player might not get rattled.

The first major of the year, the PGA Championship, saw Collin Morikawa rally for victory at Harding Park in San Francisco, where fans were also not allowed. It came in the 23-year-old Morikawa’s second major championship appearance and first start in the PGA Championship. He has never played in the Masters.

Because of a 95-day break on the PGA Tour, from March 12 to June 11, the Masters is now the final major championship of the year instead of the first. The PGA Championship was held in August and the U.S. Open in September; the British Open, which is normally held in July, was canceled. With the schedule set to return to normal in 2021, the Masters will be played starting April 8, so it will be the last major of 2020 and the first of 2021, which has never happened.

The week’s many questions, such as what the players think the winning score will be at a fall Masters and how the lack of patrons will affect them, will begin to be answered today.