A most compelling Masters is in the mail. The event that really requires no promotional helium is nonetheless being inflated to the point of bursting.
Think the best music festival you’ve ever attended. Now place that in the Gardens of Versailles. That’s the kind of cross between talent and place being anticipated next week at Augusta National.
Jim Nantz is getting ready to reverently broadcast his 33rd Masters for CBS. And he’s coming south slinging superlatives.
“(The Masters) is always highly anticipated, but anyone who follows the game knows this is probably the most anticipated Masters that any of us has seen in our lifetime,” he said Wednesday.
It's not just that Tiger Woods is back, although that is something of a big deal. Who doesn't love a good rise-and-fall-and-rise-again story?
More than that even is the sheer number of headliners who, with the exception of Jordan Spieth, are all in fine form. And in the case of Spieth, who already has a win and two runner-up finishes at Augusta, you just assume he gets well the first time he smells pimento cheese.
There is a line out the door of the stately white clubhouse of golfers who actually move the needle and who are viable this week. Familiar faces have finished in all the right places to create the impression that Sunday at the Masters could be epic.
Don’t take my word for it. Listen to a professional orator set the scene:
“You look at the superpowers of the sport, and almost all of them are peaking at the right time,” Nantz said.
“The best players in the world – virtually every one of them – have also seen their games rise to a very healthy level approaching Augusta,” he said.
These are all guys that you and he know on a first-name basis.
“Phil won for the first time in five years (Mickelson winning in Mexico a month ago),” Nantz said, beginning to take roll of the possibilities.
“Rory (McIlroy) shot 64 the last day at Bay Hill (to win), birdieing five of his last six holes,” he continued. “And he goes to Augusta to close out the career Grand Slam.
“You got Bubba (Watson) having won twice in the last six weeks, and he’s a two-time Masters champion, and he knows how to win there.
“Justin Thomas was the player of the year in the game last year, and he won in early March at the Honda (he has finished first, second and fourth in his last three events). He’s ready to contend for a green jacket.
“Jason Day won at Torrey Pines. He’s one of the greats in the game, a former world No. 1. He’s been a runner-up at Augusta. All signs are positive for him.”
And just to add to the Nantz rundown, don’t neglect the current No. 1 player in the world, Dustin Johnson, who missed last year’s Masters after injuring his back in a fall. He’ll take stairs far more seriously now. Or England’s Justin Rose, with one win and four top-10 finishes in five starts this year. Defending champion Sergio Garcia will arrive as a new father with three top-10s this year. His young fellow countryman Jon Rahm has a win this year and the brawny kind of game that often does well at Augusta National.
Almost too many of the known quantities in golf, playing exactly as they should, to mention.
There, all that being said, now watch Kiradech Aphibarnrat win.
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