AUGUSTA, Ga. — This morning, Xander Schauffele nearly drilled me in the skull with a golf ball.
It wasn’t his fault. He was preparing to tee off at the first hole of Augusta National, part of one of the earliest groups out at the 2020 Masters. I was ambling my way up the hill toward the tee box when I wondered, who’s that guy in the gallery practicing a golf swing … and then realized he wasn’t in the gallery at all.
The 2020 Masters has no patrons in attendance. That means no chairs, no cheers, no ropes along the fairways to guide you.