Norman hits the secondary market
A SHARK IN THE WATERS
Headlines exploded on Wednesday as patrons reported that Greg Norman, after being snubbed an invite last year, was walking the grounds at Augusta during the Par-3 Challenge.
On Thursday, his son confirmed that Greg just said f it. If they're not going to give me tickets then I'm just buying them on my own on the secondary market.
Greg himself shared;
"I’m here because we have 13 players but won 10 Masters between them. So I’m just here to support them, do the best I can to show them, ‘Hey, the boss is here rooting for you.'”
A man of the people—so it seems.
But if I'm Jay Monahan... and I see pictures like Norman chatting up fellow Aussie Min Woo Lee...
I'm starting to wonder if this Norman mission may be one part supporting my guys and one part recruiting trip. A true shark in the waters out there.
On a completely unrelated note, Greg Norman is 69 years old and LOOK AT HIS BACK. Keeping our shark theme going, I'm seeing muscles rolling like the waves of the ocean through his shirt. My man is ripped.
I almost passed out in my most recent boxing class after 30 minutes... and Greg looks like he could win a UFC match tomorrow. Good on ya, mate.
Introducing Map & Flag
ANYONE HAVE $17K TO "LEND" ME?
Augusta introduced their brand new hospitality experience called Map & Flag this week.
Located across the street from the club, it reportedly costs $17k for the entire week and includes a four-day tournament ticket, access to an exclusive merch shop, and complimentary food and bev.
Am I crazy in thinking that this is actually a sneaky good deal? Sure, if you win the lottery, the one-day tickets are like $150 a piece. But to get a full week access plus four days of tickets plus skip the long merch lines PLUS a chill place to go hang and grab food/drinks?
Individual day passes for all four days on the secondary market go for around $10k alone. (Just ask Greg Norman.) So the questions basically becomes is it worth having an elevated dining, merch, and drinking experience for another $7k?
I think they could've charged another $5-10k for this thing.
But maybe don't up the prices for another few years, Augusta. Or at least until I get my official response from the Hospitality team.
The cutest day in golf
PAR 3 CHALLENGE HIGHLIGHTS
Love Par 3 Challenge day at Augusta. Golf in its purest form, kids frolicking, white jumpsuits everywhere, and a rare moment where we get to actually see pros be regular human beings.
So I have to continue my Masters tradition of running down my favorite adorable family moments from Wednesday.
I don't know if I remember seeing that the players sign up for the Par 3 day manually. And wow is there a lot to take in here.
- Bubba Watson's handwriting is EXACTLY what I would've expected. All caps, inconsistent sizing, and a junior-high-style letter B.
- Poor Thorbjorn. Signed up alone and no one joined him!
- I would've thought Will Zalatoris was a good hang, so seeing him and Grayson without a third was surprising.
- Looks like the same person signed up Gary Player, Van Rooyen, Christo, Tom Watson, Gary Woodland, Sergio and Patrick Reed. Would love to know who was the connector there.
- Where is this posted? Is it at the sign-in desk at the entrance? Is it posted like the cast of a high school musical outside the clubhouse... everyone scrambling to see where they landed?
Get outta here with Byeong Hun An's daughter An Ji-woo and her pigtails.
Also, I guess I never considered the almost pageant-like atmosphere that must surround this event. There are giant crowds and they're right up on these families.
Nerve-wracking potentially, and even more so if your kid ends up losing their s@$% out there. Which I have to assume happens all the time.
Maya Fowler and Sammy Spieth.
These two stole the show. I genuinely believe they're BBFs in real life so this is probably just pure joy the entire afternoon for them.
Finau squad rolls deep. And especially since his son plays golf for real, I can see him gearing up for weeks for this to show out in front of the crowd.
Love their family—and I'll channel my mom here who will tell you all the time about celebrities and whether or not they are nice people in real life as if she hung with them the weekend before... but I think the Finaus are nice people in real life and I wish I could hang out with them on the weekends hah.
Whoops. How'd Jack get in here??
Look, if there was ever time to check in on Operation Get Jack to Adore Golf and Play Rounds with Me for the Rest of Our Lives aka Operatiion GJAGPRMRO... this is it.
Major updates are: he knows the word "golf", he sees golf on TV and will say "dada", he has a golf alphabet book and when he gets to the T for Tiger page he screams out TIGER!, he understands to hit the ball with a club, and he loves to place the ball into the hole.
Another massive update is he finally got his first set of real golf clubs! We took 'em out to Goat Hill in Oceanside for a spin which has a mini course just for kids where they can play or run around or sit down and play with a ladybug they found about 20 minutes in.
For anyone interested, the clubs were from a company worth shouting out. They're called Shorties Golf and Shorties offers an array of small size sets perfectly suited for kids of any height. They're lightweight and they've got a multi-colored set of foam balls for them to hit which is handy when a certain 2 year old has VERY STRONG preferences on colors that change by the hour and sometimes, the minute...
Though my sneaky favorite part, and why it took me so long to commit to a set, is that they let you to donate your smaller clubs to their foundation in exchange for a solid discount on the next size up. The turned-in sets go to a youth in need through their Shorties Foundation.
Pretty cool.
Greg needed a Breakfast Ball (or two)
THE DEFINITION OF FIRST TEE JITTERS
Circulating the feeds this week was a story from Greg Chalmers about his first time playing The Masters. And it's more or less the nightmare we'd all have in our minds the days and weeks before.
Anyways, Greg tees off on one, caught the ball on the heel, and pelted someone on the rope line so hard they collapsed to the ground.
"I’d hit him right above his eye and you could see the dimple pattern in the lump now forming. I don’t think a signed glove is gonna cut it on this one... Not good."
Amazing that Greg didn't elaborate on this—continuing his story on the post on X. Massive questions remained for me like, okay if not a glove then what did you give this poor dude? What did the person say to you? Were they even conscious?
Anyways, Greg continues...
"If I was nervous before I’m now close to lying in the fetal position and sucking my thumb."
His second shot goes back into the fairway... then keeps going... and HITS A SECOND PERSON in the shoulder on the right rope line up by the green.
Unreal.
Greg closes with the statement...
"I’m not saying I’m the reason but it’s no coincidence patrons are no longer allowed on left side of #1. Enjoy the Masters."
Come. Watch with me—next week
FULL SWING S2 THOUGHTS WILL RETURN SOON
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