The Masters In Forty Days Will Make It A November To Remember

Saturday will mark forty short days until it’s first ball in the air at the 2020 Masters.

This one will indeed be a tournament like no other.  It will be like no other Masters either.  November in Augusta is a world away from Augusta in April.

Best man to give us an idea of what it might be like in November is the tournament’s only six-time winner — Jack Nicklaus.

“I try to stay away from Augusta in November, because of the overseed,” Nicklaus pointed out. “The fairways are never good then. But they’ll figure that out. They’re going to have to figure out how to get the overseed in and get it cut short and get it crisp so they can play golf shots. That would be the most difficult thing to have in November. I think they’ll try to dry up the fairways. I think the golf course will play relatively short in November.”

Nicklaus said the greens won’t be an issue.

“The greens will be fine. As a matter of fact, the greens will probably be better in November, because they should be drier then. They’ll be able to get the greens firmer.”

One issue Nicklaus did point out are the short days in November.  Last April 12th, what would have been Masters Sunday, saw sunrise at 7:01 a.m. Sunset was 7:57 p.m.  Sunrise in Augusta on Nov. 15, Masters Sunday, will be 7:00 a.m. Sunset at 5:25 p.m.

“They will have to deal with the lack of daylight. They’ll have quite a bit less daylight in November than they do in April. They’ll have to deal with football,” Jack added.  “But I think the Masters will still be the Masters. Won’t have any flowers. We won’t be looking at azaleas. Or you’ll be looking at them, but they won’t have any flowers on them. But that’s about it. I think they’ll do fine.”

Another good point from The Golden Bear.  The various flowers and gorgeous azaleas are a staple at Augusta National.  But not in November.

One PGA Tour player who has been on the course in November is Sebastian Munoz — defending champion at this week’s Sanderson Farms Championship.

It was cold,” Muñoz remembered. “I booked for two days, so the first day it was gorgeous. I played like around noon or a little later. It was like 70, 65.  It was just long that time, but they told me it was playing different in April.”

The temperature average in November is slightly cooler than it would be expected in April. The typical April high is 77 degrees, while the lows drop into the upper 40s. In November, that high doesn’t usually get above 70 degrees, while the lows drop down to the lower 40s. Not a significant difference, but enough to potentially force players to battle different conditions than the ones they’re used to.

Munoz didn’t play on his second day.  It was 40 degrees at what would have been his 8 a.m. tee time.  That could be a problem next month, especially for someone like Tiger Woods, although he’d never get a starting time quite that early.

Munoz did relate how he hit a three-iron into the difficult par four 11th for his second shot.  He also said he couldn’t get his tee shot to the fairway bunker left at the 18th.

“It was just playing longer,” he said. “They told me I should expect to play shorter distance, but it does play longer (in the fall).”

Work at “The National” is most likely going at break-neck speed.

Gotta get the overseed finished.  Time will pass much too quickly for the grounds staff.

As for the field in November, well, this will be one to remember.