Follow the noise. Max Homa and Bryson DeChambeau have yet to take a practice swish but they know from the roar. Some 450 yards away on the 1st green, Scottie Scheffler has chipped in for a 3.
Moving Day is one of the marvels of a major championship – all about jostling for position, a chance to dominate, to watch the golf course bombarded with birdies and beset by bogeys.
But it just hits differently at Augusta National.
Here you must trust your senses. Use your eyes and ears. Look and listen. Masters Moving Day is gloriously old school.
There’s not a phone to ring, and not a big screen in sight.
Inside the giant leaderboards, you can just catch a glimpse of the back of the nameplates – the chalked in, and rubbed out names, reminding the automatons who is who.
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Masters Moving Day: Ignorance can be bliss
I’ll call them such because the process is almost mechanical. For them and us. But these are the most important people on the golf course.
Hear a roar, turn to the leaderboard, watch the numbers turn.
Shots are struck and names move up and down. Turns out we didn’t really need that weather forecast, or that player’s scores on par 4s after all.
At Augusta, ignorance – if we can brand being bereft of digital data as such – is bliss, bringing a frisson of extra drama to the excitement.
What was that cheer? Morikawa is on a charge. What was that groan? It must be Bryson DeChambeau. Is that a birdie roar or an eagle?
The whispering starts until the rotor wheels begin to move.
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It brings a touch more mystery for a tournament that revels in mystique. For one week a year, we can savour that too.
What is moving day in golf?
Moving day in golf means the third round or the round before the final round. This distinction has become prevalent since the inception of the LIV Golf League. This new circuit holds 54-hole tournaments, so moving day is the second round.
It is called moving day in golf because it is the round where players must move up the leaderboard to set themselves up for the final round. There is usually a lot of movement on the leaderboard as players jostle for position, surging to birdies and making costly bogeys in the quest for victory.
On the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, the LPGA Tour, and the majors, it always refers to the third round. Who will make the biggest move ahead of the final round on Sunday? You get the gist. Moving days at the majors are always more fun as the biggest and most famous trophies are up for grabs.
It usually only refers to stroke play too. For example, you wouldn’t refer to a day of the Ryder Cup or the Solheim Cup as moving day as they have rigid match play formats where only one of two teams can win. In stroke play, over a hundred players can start in a single tournament.
What is moving day at the Masters?
Moving day at any tournament is great, but at the Masters, it just feels better. The leaderboard after 36 holes is set and the tee times are prepared in two-balls for the third round with the final two-ball usually playing at just before 3 pm local time in Augusta.
Golf fans have watched the top players navigate Augusta National for many years. They feel like they almost know the course themselves without having played it. This is why it’s so exciting because we like to think ahead and plan out where the leaders could come unstuck or where they could capitalise.
Now have your say
What did you make of Masters moving day? Would you like to see less technology at golf tournaments? Why not let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment on X.
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