The Masters will send the leaders off well before noon in the final round for the second year in a row, only this time it’s not weather dictating the decision. Rather, and this could only happen in the year of coronavirus, it’s the CBS Sports television schedule.
Sean McManus, chairman of CBS Sports, told Golf Digest that the final round coverage of the 84th Masters on Sunday, November 15, is scheduled to conclude at 2:30pm east-coast time in the US before the network’s obligation to broadcast afternoon NFL games that begin at 4:05. That means a 6:30am finish on Monday the 16th on the east coast of Australia and 3:30am in Western Australia. Bye bye, Monday morning Masters breakfasts at golf clubs.
“This gives us time for a playoff if there is one, and also, obviously, we want time for the green jacket ceremony and Butler Cabin interviews,” said McManus, who added that the third-round coverage will conclude “around 4 or 5” local time as it leads into the scheduled 6pm kickoff of the SEC showdown between traditional college football powerhouses LSU, the defending national champions, and Alabama.
Granted, given that the US will have reverted to standard time on November 1, the final round of the Masters would have ended earlier than its traditional 7pm target time in April, probably no later than 4:30, allowing time for a sudden-death playoff before sunset in Augusta, Georgia. at 5:25pm.
Daylight considerations also have affected next week’s US Open at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, New York. The field has been trimmed from 156 players to 144. Both the US Open and the Masters shifted to the autumn as part of a reconfigured golf schedule because of the COVID-19 pandemic that has impacted all sports.
Tiger Woods won his fifth green jacket last year when the Masters for the first time in its history moved up tee-times because of the threat of severe weather. He will defend during a time of year when the weather could be drastically different than it is in April and when Augusta National Golf Club will be eerily quiet without the presence of fans.
“It’s still the Masters, with all the beauty and drama, and in some ways viewers might find it more interesting, as they will be able to see the course in a new perspective without all the fans, which I think heightens the curiosity factor,” McManus said. “The look of the course will be different, but the tournament will still have the same feel and tradition.
“It’s going to be a great weekend for the Masters and a great weekend for CBS.”
