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Sports 30 THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 2020
Golf
AP - Trevor Immelman of South Africa has big
shoes to ill as the next International captain
for the Presidents Cup, and that goes beyond
a igure of speech.
Immelman was introduced on Tuesday
as the seventh player — and third South
African — to be captain of a team cobbled
together from every country outside the
United States (US) and Europe. His task is a
big one.
The International team has won only
once since the matches began in 1994,
and the Americans have won the last
eight times.
He replaces Ernie Els, who brought a new
identity to the International team by creating
a new shield, relying heavily on analytics and
making 12 players from nine countries feel
like a team.
There’s also the physical side — the Big
Easy is six-foot-four and has a big presence.
“Everybody is going to come with their
own spin on it and try and leave their own
mark on it to where you really can get the
players to perform their best,” Immelman
said in a conference call. “But I thought what
Ernie did really well was when he spoke, he
said things that were really impactful.
“He’s not always a man of many words,”
he said. “But when he came into the team
room, irst of all, the size of him, the aura
and presence that he comes in with is
something the whole team could feel. We
could feel his intensity. We could feel his
emotion. We could feel how badly that he
wanted to turn this thing around. Those are
literally and iguratively massive shoes for
me to ill.”
The former Masters champion Immelman
played on two teams, under Gary Player in
2005, which came down to the inal match,
and in 2007 in Canada, which was another
easy time for the Americans.
The International team nearly ended the
drought in December at Royal Melbourne,
building a lead from the opening session until
Tiger Woods as a player and captain led the
Americans back from a two-point de icit for a
16—14 victory.
The 2021 matches are scheduled for Quail
Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Americans have yet to announce their
captain, with Zach Johnson thought to be the
favourite.
Immelman was captain of the inaugural
Junior Presidents Cup in New Jersey in 2017,
and Els picked him as one of his assistant
captains for Royal Melbourne. The other
assistants were K J Choi of South Korea,
Mike Weir of Canada and Geoff Ogilvy of
Australia. Weir is likely to be captain for the
2023 matches if they go to Royal Montreal
as expected.
“Trevor was an invaluable member of our
team and completely bought into what we
were trying to do at Royal Melbourne, so it is
gratifying to see him take this next step and
lead the International Team,” Els said.
BUSY JACK
Jack Nicklaus typically goes to Augusta
National for a few days this week, starting
with the Champions Dinner on Tuesday
night, the Par 3 Tournament with one of
his grandchildren on the bag, and then
the honorary tee shot with Gary Player on
Thursday morning.
He’s home in Florida, and still a big voice
this week even as the Masters has been
postponed by the COVID—19 pandemic.
He is part of a World Golf Hall of Fame
podcast that launched this week. Nicklaus
has recorded a FaceTime interview with
ESPN anchor Scott Van Pelt that which aired
yesterday in conjunction with ESPN showing
his 1986 Masters win.
Nicklaus also has planned a video
interview with Golf Channel, which will
show his news conference that followed
his 1986 victory. Golf Channel also plans
to show its three-par documentary, Jack on
Sunday at 3pm.
And Nicklaus is a featured guest on four
SiriusXM PGA Tour radio shows.
HISTORY MAJOR
With the British Open called off until 2021,
there will be only three majors on the golf
AP – C T Pan could become a footnote in
history at Augusta National. Imagine qualifying
for his irst Masters and then having to wait 571
days before he can hear the most understated
announcement in golf.
“Fore, please. C T Pan now driving.”
One week after Tiger Woods slipped on a
ifth green jacket, Pan won the RBC Heritage
at Hilton Head to qualify for the Masters the
following April.
And now April is November.
Charles Howell III has a strong bias, having
grown up a few miles away from Augusta
National, but he speaks for themajoritywhenhe
said, “Any Masters is better than no Masters.”
Monday’s announcement of the
recon igured schedule offered no guarantees,
only something to anticipate.
And that’s going to have to suf ice for now,
considering no one is even sure when golf or
any other sport will resume because of the
COVID—19 pandemic.
“It’s nice to put the carrots out there in front
of us,” Graeme McDowell said on Tuesday.
The PGA Championship in August?
That’s where it used to be. The US Open in
September? It’s happened before, though not
in the last 107 years. The Masters in November
is what stands out.
Augusta National is all about white
dogwoods and pink azaleas. The Masters is a
sure signal of spring, complemented by the
opening week of Major League Baseball.
It was supposed to end on Easter
Sunday. Not it will start two weeks before
Thanksgiving. Tiger Woods had planned on
serving steak and chicken fajitas, and sushi
out on the deck of the clubhouse. Does he
switch to turkey and dressing?
The Masters is scheduled for November
12—15. Mobile devices are not allowed on the
grounds during tournament days, meaning
no one will be looking at their phones to
check football scores. Will the locals with
season badges give up Saturday’s third round
and head to Athens to watch Georgia play
Tennessee, or to Atlanta to see Notre Dame
play Georgia Tech?
Kevin Kisner once left Atlanta after the third
round of the Tour Championship, two shots off
the lead, to take a helicopter to Georgia’s game
against Mississippi State. Would he leave the
Masters to see Georgia play Tennessee?
“I would not,” he said.
These are the kind of nuances never
presented at a Masters.
Spring blooms will give way to fall foliage,
making it a different kind of Masters. The
weather can be an issue, but that’s true in April.
Think back to 2007 when the wind chill never
got higher than 47 degrees for the third round,
and the scoring was the highest since 1956.
As for the course?
Trevor Immelman, who won the 2008
Masters, has played in November. He knows
what Augusta National can do, which seems to
be just about anything.
Theclubcloses every year inMay— it closed
in March this year due to COVID—19— and the
grass goes dormant until it is overseeded with
rye ahead of the re-opening in October.
Chairman Fred Ridley said Augusta
National “identi ied” November 12—15 as the
intended dates. Was that because the later
date improved chances of a return to normal in
sports, or because an extra month would allow
the course to be the best it can be? Maybe a
little of both.
“I don’t think it would be all that different
other than the obvious aesthetic differences
between spring and fall,” Immelman said. “The
massivewildcardisMotherNature.Thatchange
in temperature along with the possibility of that
northerly wind that can blow is going to be the
big difference.”
He said three of the par 5s — all but No 2 —
could have wind in the face, perhaps limiting
eagles or birdies.
“I do think playing it in November — and
I’ve done that many times — the scoring won’t
quite be as low as what we’re used to over the
last few years,” he said.
The winner still gets a green jacket and a
lifetime exemption.
The Masters not only set a new date, it illed
out its ield — 96 players, regardless of what
happens until November. Four players were
added to the ield by being among the top
50 in the world — McDowell, Collin Morikawa,
Scottie Schef ler and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
Immelman has
big shoes to fill as
Presidents Cup captain
calendar this year — and that’s assuming golf
resumes by August.
The last time only three majors were
played in one year was 1941. The British Open
was in the second of six years being cancelled
because of World War II.
Craig Wood won the Masters and US
Open, each by three shots, over Byron Nelson
at Augusta and Denny Shute at Colonial.
In his bid to become the irst player with
three pro majors in one year, Wood didn’t
make it out of the second round in the PGA
Championship. Mark Fry beat him, six and
ive, at Cherry Hills.
Fry played only 46 times on the PGA
Tour — never more than seven events in one
season — and never inished higher than
third.
XANDER’S ENNUI
Three weeks into the PGA Tour shutting down,
Xander Schauffele has a case of condo fever,
and the struggle is real.
“I love golf,” he said in a conference call.
And there’s nothing he can do about it.
Schauffele lives in a condo of about 2,000
square feet in the San Diego area.
It has two bedrooms and not nearly
enough room for him to do anything with
his golf clubs. The golf courses in San Diego
are closed.
That explains why he hasn’t touched
them since he birdied three of his last four
holes to salvage a 2-under 70 at The Players
Championship on March 12, the day before it
was cancelled. “I’m just trying to staymentally
it,” he said.
Apparently that involves getting a puppy, a
French bulldog he named Chewy. It involves a
few board games he plays when brother Nico
stops by. It doesn’t involve much reading. “I’d
be lying if I said I read any books,” Schauffele
said. Golf would appear to be at least two
months from starting, although Colonial on
May 21—24 remains on the schedule for now.
“I think all of us are in the same boat,”
he said. “We’re all just trying to ind ways to
distract ourselves or stay mentally it. Maybe
it’s not really mentally it, it’s mentally sane.
I’m so used to be outdoors, and this is the
polar opposite.”
FANTASY MASTERS
Imagine a fantasy line-up for the Masters that
includes Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Bobby
Jones ... and Judge Smails?
FanDuel Group on Tuesday announced
the launch of its “USD10K PGA Sims Free
Play Contest,” featuring a simulation of the
Masters. The contest, presented in a daily
fantasy game format, will have a USD60,000
salary cap for fans to pick six players. They
can choose from among current players,
retired stars such as Nicklaus, Jones, Arnold
Palmer and Johnny Miller, and characters
from famous golf movies such as the 1980
comedy Caddyshack.
Each hole for eachplayer goes through the
custom numberFire simulator, which factors
in distance, par and player skill. One round
will be simulated each day with statistics and
a leaderboard updated each night. Winners
receive site credit. The contest is locked at
noon today.
Trevor Immelman of South Africa, hits from a bunker on the second hole during the irst round
for the Masters golf tournament in Augusta. PHOTO: AP
The Masters in November is better than no Masters at all