Ricky Dimon
Show Bio
Could it be fall time in Augusta on Magnolia Lane?
That’s certainly not how the lyrics go (you know, the ones that accompany the famous Masters music during CBS broadcasts), but that could be the new reality in 2020. Due to the coronavirus crisis, the Masters and many other PGA Tour events this spring have already been either cancelled or postponed. In the Masters case it’s postponed, no longer taking place from April 9-12 but not yet written off to happen sometime this year.
Rumors are flying fast and furiously that October 8-11 are the new dates. Several guests who had already booked rooms at various Augusta, Ga. hotels in October have said on social media that their reservations have been mysteriously cancelled. Rooms that were going for around $100 nightly are suddenly being advertised close to $1000.
Actually @Home2Suites I didn’t cancel my room YOU did! This is ridiculous! Your reason was honoring “already existing” reservations. So obviously you know the date for @TheMasters is October 5-12 and are price gouging for a better rate. COMPLETE BS! I want my room back pic.twitter.com/4AcVN2VkwK
— Marina Alex (@Marina_Deee) March 17, 2020
There is, of course, only one explanation for such developments. Nobody spends a fortune to visit Augusta…unless he or she is attending the Masters. Clearly, the word on the street is that the most famous tournament in golf is headed for an October tee time.
It would make sense.
June, which is probably the best-case scenario for a return to golf (May’s PGA Championship has already been postponed), is when the U.S. Open takes place. The British Open, as always, is set for July. Annually the tour’s unofficial swansong, the Tour Championship assumes an August spot on the calendar. This is also a Ryder Cup year, and that highly-anticipated team competition is scheduled for September. And every other week from whenever golf resumes through the Tour Championship will feature some other PGA Tour event.
“It gives us some room for maneuvering, depending on what happens over the next few weeks,” world No. 1 Rory McIlroy said of the Masters’ postponement. “A Masters in the fall, October time, I think it would be pretty cool. It would be a very different look than what you usually see at Augusta. I think it’s definitely a possibility if they want to get the 2020 Masters in…. I’m sure they can make it happen if they want it to happen.”
Tiger Woods is one guy who would really want it to happen—especially in the fall. The five-time Masters champion (including in 2019) may not have been ready for an April start, as a bad back forced him out of recent tournaments such as the Honda Classic, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and The Players Championship. He was in doubt for both the WGC-Dell Match Play the Masters.
Woods is a +1800 fifth choice to triumph at the Masters, and he is +400 to win at least one major in 2020. McIlroy is a +700 favorite to don the green jacket for the first time in his otherwise illustrious career.
Normally the third major of every season, the U.S. Open is now scheduled to be 2020’s first. McIlroy is currently a +1000 favorite ahead of Dustin Johnson (+1200), Brooks Koepka (+1400), Jon Rahm (+1600), and Woods (+1800).
