Not Every Player Takes a Scouting Trip to Augusta National Before the Masters
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No other major championship venue is visited in advance as much as Augusta National. Anyone eligible for the tournament is allowed to play practice rounds in the lead-up to the Masters, and many players take advantage of that perk.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler has yet to do so but plans to visit soon.
“I've never done it so I'm kind of looking forward to staying on property, having dinner, just the little stuff that goes with being there that you don't really get to enjoy during the tournament,’’ he said.
Scheffler’s main reason is to get the sentimental stuff out of the way so he can concentrate on golf when it is time for tournament week.
“Try and get kind of reliving the memories out of the way before I show up there," he said. “Because when you show up for tournament week you don’t want to be thinking too much about last year. You want to be getting ready for this year.
“Everybody starts at even. If you’re the defending champ, you got the target on your back, it’s arguable harder to play well. So I’ll get kind of a little bit of the memories and stuff like that out of the way. That way when I show up on Sunday I’m ready for the week."
Max Homa said he went to Augusta last year the weekend before the Arnold Palmer with Talor Gooch to "kind of get the pre-Masters jitters out of the way more so."
But he’s probably not going to visit in advance this time.
“It’s funny, of course, at different times of year it doesn’t play quite as fast," Homa said. “So I didn’t really learn a lot about the course, but it was nice to get comfortable. I’d played there a couple times, but it’s nice to get comfortable being there. Always have the memories, I got a memory of one of my best friends now getting to walk that place two days without all the craziness, not the competition, just having some fun at the coolest golf course you could ever imagine.
"So I’m sure I’ll go back and do it again, but this year I will not be."