Nothing about the 84th edition of the Masters will look familiar until the champion slips his arms through a green jacket.
The purple, pink and white blooms of azaleas and dogwoods, which provide such a magnificent accent to Augusta National Golf Club in spring, will give way to Georgia’s autumn hues when the tournament tees off Thursday. The course itself might look familiar with its emerald green fairways, blazing white sand in the bunkers, towering Georgia pines and the still water of Rae’s Creek.
It most certainly won’t sound the same, though, not without thousands upon thousands of spectators framing each hole and sending those piercing roars from all corners of the course.
And it won’t be the same.
What makes this Masters unlike any other is the calendar. Golf’s annual rite of spring is now two weeks before Thanksgiving. What is normally the first major each year is now the last. And without its patrons, the cathedral of golf will never be quieter.