AUGUSTA, Ga. — As is tradition, Tuesday is press conference day at the Masters. A total of nine players rolled through the interview room in the press building at Augusta National, among them defending champion Jon Rahm, five-time Masters winner Tiger Woods and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.
In other words, there were a lot of quotes to sift through at day’s end. Phrases to parse, thoughts to spin zone, etc. etc. Below we picked out some of our favorites, superlatives style, from the presser gauntlet that was Tuesday at ANGC.
Even if you haven’t even been to Augusta National, you likely know of the strict—and I mean, STRICT—no cell phone policy on the grounds. It makes for a very different environment that earns universal praise year after year from old heads and young heads alike. Jordan Spieth, firmly in the millennial camp at 30 years old, absolutely loves the policy, even if he’s aware how important phones are for the growth of the sport.
“It’s amazing,” Spieth said. “But I also understand how advantageous cell phones are for the growth of our sport. So, it’s nice for a week, but if it was every tournament, you know, we would — our growth would be limited.
“But what’s really cool about it is you just feel that everyone’s very, very present. They’re not focused on if they got the right shot that they’re sending and maybe they don’t even know where your ball went, right? And here the patrons are — just like at the Open Championship, they’re just highly educated, they’re very involved, they’re very present. So you end up having those kind of roars and stuff that may be similar but might not be, you know, with the phones out. You know, it just — I think from a player in the ropes, which is the way you asked me the question, it’s very nice because you feel like everyone’s there with you all the time.”
It’s a very interesting point. I hadn’t considered — are the “roars” louder at Augusta because, you know, people are actually roaring and not looking down at their phones and missing the action? He might be on to something.
