The First Look: Masters Tournament

As the calendar turns to April, signs of spring are all around. And that, of course, includes the start of the Masters Tournament. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the last two editions – it was moved to November in 2020, and a limited number of patrons were welcomed back in 2021 – but things are back to normal at Augusta National Golf Club this year. Here’s everything you need to know leading into the first men’s major championship of 2022: FIELD NOTES: Will he or won’t he tee it up? As of the morning of April 2, Tiger Woods is still listed in the field for the 2022 Masters, but no official word has been said either way. According to various reports, Woods played a practice round on March 29 at Augusta National. He suffered serious leg injuries in a car crash in February 2021 and hasn’t teed it up on TOUR since. He played alongside his son Charlie at the PNC Championship in December … Defending champion Hideki Matsuyama is another question mark. Matsuyama withdrew from THE PLAYERS Championship before play began, citing a back injury. He withdrew from the Valero Texas Open midway through the second round, citing a neck injury … Professionals making their Masters debut this week include three-time TOUR winner Sam Burns, Cameron Davis, Talor Gooch, Lucas Herbert, Garrick Higgo, Harry Higgs, Tom Hoge, K.H. Lee, Min Woo Lee, Guido Migliozzi, Seamus Power, Sepp Straka, Harold Varner III and Cameron Young … Amateurs in the field include Austin Greaser, Stewart Hagestad, Aaron Jarvis, James Piot, Laird Shepard and Keita Nakajima – the top-ranked amateur in the world … PGA TOUR Champions regulars who also own a Green Jacket and are back for more in 2022 include Fred Couples, Bernhard Langer, Vijay Singh and Mike Weir … Harris English announced he would withdraw from this year’s Masters as he continues to recover from hip surgery. English hasn’t teed it up on TOUR since the Sony Open in Hawaii … If the winner of the Valero Texas Open has not yet qualified, he will earn the final spot in the Masters field. Corey Conners was the last to pull the feat. He Monday qualified into the 2019 Valero Texas Open and proceeded to win the tournament. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 600 FedExCup points. COURSE: Augusta National Golf Club, par 72, 7,510 yards. The iconic Alister MacKenzie/Bobby Jones design saw two changes for the 2022 edition of the Masters. Both the par-4 11th and par-5 15th holes have been lengthened. The 11th sees 15 yards added to it (520 yards from 505) and the tee box has been shifted to the left. The 15th now plays 20 yards longer (550 yards). Hideki Matsuyama’s 10-under 278 was the highest winning total at Augusta National since Sergio Garcia’s 9-under 279 four years prior. STORYLINES: Rory McIlroy is still hunting for the career Grand Slam. The 2022 Masters tournament will mark his eighth crack at winning the Green Jacket since moving to the verge of the career Grand Slam with his win at the 2014 Open Championship … Can Scottie Scheffler keep up his excellent form? Scheffler has won three times in his last five starts on TOUR and ascended to world No. 1 in the process … Collin Morikawa is looking to become the first man since Jordan Spieth in 2015 to win back-to-back majors. Brooks Koepka won two majors in 2018, but Francesco Molinari’s Open Championship triumph came between them. Morikawa won last year’s Open Championship, the final major on the 2021 calendar … Will Jon Rahm’s major-championship success continue at Augusta National? Rahm has finished inside the top-10 in each of his last five major starts, including a victory at the 2021 U.S. Open … Luke List, 37, is returning to Augusta National after a 17-year absence. The low amateur in 2005 is playing his first Masters as a professional after his win at the Farmers Insurance Open … Will a major-less TOUR winner break through this week? Scheffler, Viktor Hovland, Cameron Smith and Xander Schauffele, all inside the top 10 on the Official World Golf Ranking, have yet to secure a major championship title … Smith comes into Augusta National off his win at THE PLAYERS. Only one player in history has won both THE PLAYERS and the Masters in the same season – Tiger Woods in 2001 … Woods was also the last player to defend his title at the Masters, which happened exactly 20 years ago. 72-HOLE RECORD: 268, Dustin Johnson (2020) 18-HOLE RECORD: 63, Nick Price (Round 3, 1986), Greg Norman (Round 1, 1996) LAST TIME: Hideki Matsuyama became the first Japanese male to win a major when he won the 2021 Masters by one stroke. He was treated to a hero’s welcome when he returned to Japan following his Green Jacket triumph, but the win did not come without its challenges. Matsuyama opened the final round with a bogey and added four more squares to his scorecard on the back nine, including on Nos. 12, 15, 16 and 18 – although his last bogey of the day mattered little. He held off a Sunday charge from Jon Rahm, who fired a 6-under 66 (the low round of the day), as well as Masters rookie Will Zalatoris, who ended up in second alone at 9 under for the week after a 2-under 70 on Sunday. It was the best finish by a first-time Masters participant since Jordan Spieth in 2014, who also finished runner-up that year. Spieth shot a matching 70 in the final round last April to finish T3 alongside Xander Schauffele. Schauffele made it interesting late Sunday after he rattled off four straight birdies on Nos. 12-15, but he gave almost all of them back with a triple-bogey 6 on the par-3 16th. Rahm was T5 with Marc Leishman. Matsuyama finished as low amateur when he made his Masters debut a decade prior, in 2011. His first TOUR title came at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday in 2014. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m.-7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN); Saturday, 3 p.m.-7 p.m. (CBS); Sunday, 2 p.m.-7 p.m. (CBS) Radio: Thursday-Sunday, 2 p.m.-7 p.m. ET (CBS Radio; Sirius 208, XM 92) (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio) For outside of the U.S., click here for GOLFTV powered by the PGA TOUR Stream: On the Range, Holes 4-6, Featured Group coverage, Amen Corner, and Holes 15 & 16 will be available to stream for views in the U.S. only via Masters.com (Starting times include: Thursday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m. ET) PGA TOUR LIVE Editor’s note: Augusta National Golf Club, which owns and operates the Masters Tournament, controls all digital streaming and broadcast rights to this event. PGA TOUR LIVE coverage will resume at next week’s RBC Heritage.

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