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Runner-up Matt Fitzpatrick showed proper English pluck Sunday when he laughed off the obnoxious fans at the Players Championship as “child’s play compared to Bethpage.” Matt, winner Cam Young and the rest of golf knows behavior won’t be a problem when we get to Augusta in a few weeks. (Are we really supposed to call the Masters the second major of 2026?)
It so happens that “What it really feels like to attend the Masters” is the predominant theme of our March/April Issue. Our cover story chat with 2013 champion Adam Scott hits on what’s changed and what hasn’t, as well as his comparison with attending Wimbledon as a fan. Although I did the interview with Scott, my favorite article, which really rattles the flagstick of how Augusta National is navigating the preservation of timeless decorum in a modern world, is contributing editor Shane Ryan’s “Last Stand of the Masters Gnomes.”
While it’s hard to beat the TV coverage, I think the best spot to watch the tournament in person on Sunday is the hillside left of No. 16. Somehow there’s always a grassy spot where you can sit and watch loads of birdies, water-balls and do-or-die approaches into fifteen. David Leigh, president of the Robert Trent Jones Society, recently commended architecture editor Derek Duncan for explaining so well the strategic evolution of the par-3 16th, the only hole on the course that truly doesn’t belong to either Bobby Jones or Alister MacKenzie.
Enjoy these stories in the lead-up to the Masters.
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