Masters practice rounds under way

The Masters is not really underway when the first score is posted. It starts earlier than that, when Augusta fills with people who know exactly where they want to stand and players who have not yet had to pretend they are calm. This year’s tournament, the 90th edition, moved into that phase on Monday and Tuesday, with practice rounds open at Augusta National before the competition begins on Thursday, April 9. Gates opened at 7:30 a.m. for patrons settling in for the week, and by Tuesday morning amateurs and major champions were already spread across the course, trying to turn a famously controlled place into something familiar (wrdw.com, sports.yahoo.com). That is what makes practice days matter here. Augusta National is the most overexposed course in golf and still one of the least knowable. Players use these rounds to relearn slopes, sightlines, and the strange speed changes around the greens that television never really captures. Tuesday’s images told that story better than any quote could: defending champion Scottie Scheffler working the fairways, Bryson DeChambeau arriving in strong form, and U.S. Amateur champion Mason Howell making his way around a course that is supposed to intimidate newcomers and usually does (sports.yahoo.com, sports.yahoo.com). Howell is part of the reason this week still feels bigger than a normal major. The Masters invites the best amateurs into the same field as the sport’s richest and most polished stars, and then makes them share the same stage without much protection. Yahoo’s published first- and second-round pairings show Howell grouped with defending champion Rory McIlroy and Cameron Young for the opening round, which is about as direct an introduction to Augusta as the tournament could devise. The first official tee shots are scheduled for Thursday morning, with honorary starters Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tom Watson beginning the ceremony at 7:25 a.m. before the field follows (sports.yahoo.com, sports.yahoo.com). Before that, Wednesday keeps one of the tournament’s oddest traditions alive. The Par 3 Contest returns on April 8 at noon Eastern on Augusta’s short course, with streaming on ESPN platforms beginning at noon and television coverage on ESPN from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern. The event is deliberately unserious. Families appear as caddies. Players laugh more than they grind. It is also the last soft day the property gets before the week hardens into competition (nbcnewyork.com, golfchannel.com). Then the broadcast plan takes over. Prime Video enters the Masters for the first time this year as a domestic broadcaster, carrying two extra hours of first- and second-round coverage from 1 to 3 p.m. Eastern on Thursday and Friday before ESPN’s television window runs from 3 to 7:30 p.m. CBS takes the weekend, with coverage from 2 to 7 p.m. Eastern on Saturday and Sunday, while Paramount+ streams the early weekend window from noon to 2 p.m. The result is a tournament that still protects its old rhythms on TV while quietly becoming easier to watch in full than it has ever been (golf.com, golf.com, golfchannel.com). And that is the real shape of the week in Augusta. For two days, the tournament is all reconnaissance and ritual. Players walk. Patrons arrive early and stay patient. Cameras begin to map the place from every angle. On Thursday morning, the ceremonial tee shots go off at 7:25, the first competitive groups follow at 7:40, and the Masters finally becomes the thing everyone has been rehearsing for since the gates opened in the dark (sports.yahoo.com, sports.yahoo.com).