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Indeed, the pandemic hardly seemed to shake most of the winners, many of whom considered golf and Augusta lore too big to ignore, even in 2020. Sixteen former champions are playing this week and even though Player and Jack Nicklaus don’t. are not, they started the tournament with a ceremonial tee shot Thursday at dawn. Nicklaus and his wife, Barbara, tested positive for the coronavirus in March.
“I just played three months in a row, so why don’t I come here?” asked Bernhard Langer, who turned 63 in August and won in 1985 and 1993. “I can socialize from a distance. I don’t have to kiss anyone or anything or have high-fives.
Other competitors had feared they might not succeed because of travel restrictions.
“It seemed very difficult to me because I was stranded in Scotland for seven months, eight months,” said Sandy Lyle, the 1988 champion. But there he was at sunset Monday, practicing putts and hoping to string together scores low enough to make the Masters Cup, established this year at the lowest of the 1950s, for the first time since 2014.
“We’re still doing it,” Lyle, 62, added of the pandemic. “We must be very happy that we are even playing golf for a cash prize right now.”
So looking around Augusta National this week was again to spot the winners, an exercise made easier than usual due to the spectator ban this year. Fred Couples, the 1992 winner, and Tiger Woods practiced together, as did Langer and Lyle. Minutes after 2000 champion Vijay Singh started hitting at No.1 Tuesday morning, Patrick Reed, who won 18 years after Singh, started an inning from neighboring No.10.
Others came for the Champions Dinner, a behind-the-scenes rite of the tournament for the former winners and the club president.
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