A Tradition Unlike Any Other...

"Yeah, the group in front of us was brutally slow. Jon went to the bathroom like seven times during the round, and we were still waiting." - Brooks Koepka

News Slice - Masters Edition

• 💰 Purse: $15M

• 🏆 Jon Rahm 🇪🇸 | $3.2M

• 📍 Augusta National Golf Club - Augusta, Georgia

Full Tournament Results

If you didn’t get any yard work done this weekend, we understand. The 89^th Masters Tournament was played this past weekend and what an incredible, yet rainy 🌧️ golf tournament it was. Jon Rahm won his first Masters Tournament and second major overall. He beat out his playing partner Brooks Koepka by 4 shots with a 12-under overall finish 🏆. He started the day 4 shots behind Koepka while having to finish 12 holes from the 3^rd round on Sunday morning due to one of many weather delays ☔️

This Masters win was special in many ways for Rahm. Sunday was the birthday of the late great Seve Ballesteros, who was a fellow Spaniard 🇪🇸 and Rahm’s idol growing up. Sunday was also the 40^th anniversary of the second Masters title that Ballesteros won. Rahm played with incredible grit and determination, as he had the “Rahmbo” look on his face all day trying to take home his first green jacket. The win deservingly put him back at top of the🥇Official Golf World Rankings. To top it off, he is also in the lead for the FedEx Cup Standings.

The victory on Sunday made it his 4^th win already this year, earning him a total of $13.4M 💰… and it is only April. To say 2023 has been a good year for Jon Rahm would be an understatement 🙌

Coming in as one of the favorites to win the 2023 Masters, Rahm didn’t have the most ideal start. He took a double-bogey on the very first hole of the tournament due to a frustrating 4-putt 😮. The putting show gave everyone Ernie Els vibes when “The Big Easy” started out with a 6-putt on the very first hole at the 2016 Masters. Rahm must have switched to Rahmbo mode after that, as he would go on to score back-to-back birdies 🐦, followed up by another birdie and an eagle 🦅 on the front 9.

Side note: 4-putting must be good luck because Scottie Scheffler did the same thing in 2022, but on the 18^th hole on Sunday to clinch his first Masters win. We wouldn’t recommend it, but a strange trend nonetheless 😅

It seems like Rahm took his own advice when he told the media at the 2021 BMW Championship to “Be a goldfish”. Us amateurs should all take that same advice from Rahm, who got his from Ted Lasso, and that is to be a goldfish (because goldfish have a 10 second memory). Even when things are looking down (like 4-putting the first hole of the biggest golf tournament in the world), you need to have a short memory to move on and persevere. Congratulations once again to World number one Jon Rahm on winning the 2023 Masters Tournament 😎 

Masters Moments 🏌️‍♂️

Here is some other news, notes, and nugs from the eventful weekend:

• Zach Ertz, Tight End for the Arizona Cardinals 🏈, texted Jon before the 1^st round that read, “First hole green looks like a walk in the park”. Jon respectfully called him out on the “jinx” at the Masters trophy presentation.
  

• 3 LIV Golfers finished in the top 5, with Phil Mickelson being tied with Brooks Koepka at 8-under. Patrick Reed was tied for 4^th place at 7-under *Greg Norman maniacally laughs*.
  

• Speaking of Phil, he was the oldest player to finish in the top 5 at the Masters 👴. His day was also the lowest round in Masters history by a player age 50 or older, as well as his personal best for a final round 65 at Augusta. He still has it folks.
  

• 3 massive pine trees 🌲 fell and were uprooted near the 17^th tee box at the close of Friday’s round. Thankfully, no one was injured according to reports 🙏. Who knows what would have happened if someone did get seriously injured. Check out some of the footage here:
  

  https://twitter.com/rod27614/status/1644449825033981952?s=46&t=hdpfd5JDKcSwc0sO_5DHxw
  

• Rahm is the 4^th Spanish 🇪🇸 golfer to win the Masters, joining Sergio Garcia (2017), Jose Maria Olazabal (1994, 1999) and the legendary Seve Ballesteros (1980, 1983).
  

• Sam Bennett 🇺🇸 shined in his first Masters as an amateur, finishing in 16^th place. He had won the U.S. Amateur championship and was qualified to play this year. He was as high as 3^rd place after 36 holes. Unfortunately, he didn’t secure an invite back to the 2024 Masters because he was two shots off a top 12 finish. He was the first amateur to finish in the Top 20 since Ryan Moore was tied for 13^th in 2005.
  

• Continuing on with Bennett, he didn’t get a single dime from his Masters finish 😞. He would have received $261k for his finish, but because of his Amateur status he can’t get paid. He should make up for it in NIL deals (Name, Image and Likeness) over his final collegiate season.
  

• Tiger Woods 🐅 had to withdraw from the Masters prior to the 3rd round starting due to a plantar fasciitis 🤕. Woods barely made the cut to play into the weekend and was 9-over par when 3^rd round play was suspended Saturday. On a positive note, this was Tiger’s 23rd consecutive made cut at the Masters, which tied Gary Player and Fred Couples for the longest streak in the tournament's history.
  

• Other notable players that missed the cut were Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Corey Conners, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, and Bubba Watson. Better luck next year fellas 🤷‍♂️

Course of the Day

Augusta National Golf Club - Augusta, Georgia

Shocker, right? Probably one of the most well-known golf courses in the World, here is a little info about the course we all wish we could play some day:

Founders

It was founded by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts, and designed by Jones and Alister MacKenzie. It opened for play in 1932 and has hosted the Masters Tournament since 1934.

Membership 

There’s no application procedure. Members can suggest someone to occupy one of the 300-member places when a vacancy comes about, but ultimately the club decides who to invite to become a member 🧐

The membership fees are relatively low for being “Augusta”. The initiation fee is estimated to be in the range of $40k - $200k 🤑, but the official figure is unknown. And the yearly dues are assessed at “a few thousand” dollars annually, in the field of $7k to $10k. Other costs involved are for guest fees and on-site lodging, but those are also relatively low.

As a member, you would have access to the club’s phenomenal 18-hole golf course, as well as access to the club’s other facilities, including a clubhouse, tennis courts 🎾, and a swimming pool . Sounds pretty standard when it comes to private golf clubs, but let’s be honest this is as exclusive as it gets.

Some of the more famous members to be part of Augusta National include Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Warren Buffett. Unfortunately, it took until 2012 for women to be allowed to have memberships at the golf club 😒

So how do us regular folk get to play it?

Well, it’s sort of really hard for us to play it. For some lucky golfers, there are a few ways to play the course of our dreams. You could get a press pass and play with the lucky journalists who get to tee it up the day after the Masters. If you work as a caddy at Augusta National, you get to play one round each year (better than Bushwood CC privileges?). The same goes for Augusta National employees, who get to play the course once a year. Competitors at the Augusta national Women’s Amateur tournament play the course the week before the Masters and some college golfers from the area get to play the course once in a while in tournaments.

19th Hole

The Masters is a beautiful event and is essentially the Super Bowl of golf. Augusta National and the event itself gets special treatment. Here’s some cool Masters related facts to start your morning:

1. 35K - 40K we’re in attendance 🎟

2. Approximately 1,500 private jets 🛩 land in Augusta for The Masters

3. IBM has integrated generative 🤖 AI into The Masters digital experience, providing fans with real-time commentary and player predictions for each hole

4. Media badges at The Masters have RFID tags, allowing the club to track attendees' movements 📍

5. Augusta National has been expanding since 2000, spending 💰$200M and acquiring over 100 properties, resulting in a ~75% increase in total acreage

6. There is one 🏡 home owner that borders Augusta that has refused to sell, despite being offered millions on multiple occasions

7. The assessed value of Augusta is now $200M, a 📈 14,000% increase from its $70,000 purchase price in 1931

8. The Masters generates $70 million in 🧢 merchandise sales during the tournament, intentionally limited to in-person attendees only

9. Augusta has installed SubAir systems 🌧 under every green to keep them consistent, including under the walkways after a patron slipped and fell

10. The winner of The Masters receives a 🟢 green jacket that must be returned the following year, except for the year they win. One person found a green jacket for $5 at a thrift store in 1999 and sold it last year for $140k 👀

11. Augusta is a 💰 for-profit corporation, which means they value privacy over tax benefits