95 of the world's best golfers are waking up in Augusta, Georgia in what for many is a dream come true: the chance to tee it up during the opening round of the 2025 Masters.
For Eagan, Minnesota-native Paul Hodowanic, he's pinching himself too. Now in his third year as a writer for PGA.com after a stint working in the WCCO Radio newsroom, he's covering the legendary tournament for the first time.
Hodowanic says it is golf's Holy Grail, and the options for watching and following along these days speak to that.
"I was actually talking to (CBS') Jim Nantz a couple of days ago who said when he was growing up, you know, there was only maybe two or three hours of television coverage on Saturday and Sunday," Hodowanic recalls. "And you'd only see half of the holes, basically, because there just wasn't the coverage. Now there's live coverage from the moment the first group tees off at like 7:00 a.m. until they finish."
As for Augusta National, Hodowanic says it's actually smaller and more intimate than it appears on TV. But those grounds? They're everything, as perfectly manicured and lovely as you might imagine.
"Everything is perfectly in place, perfectly manicured," Hodowanic explains. "There's not a piece of pine straw not in its position that it should be. And it's just the tournament that everyone wants to win every year, the tournament players grow up thinking about and it's the tournament that I grew up wanting to go to."
Rory McIlroy and last year's winner Scottie Scheffler are considered the favorites to win The Masters this year.
THE MASTERS
Site: Augusta, Georgia.
Course: Augusta National GC. Yardage: 7,555. Par: 72.
Prize money: TBA ($20 million in 2024). Winner’s share: TBA ($3.6 million in 2024).
Television: Thursday-Friday, 2-6:30 p.m. (ESPN); Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Paramount+), 1-6 p.m. (CBS).
Defending champion: Scottie Scheffler.
Notes: The 89th edition of the Masters has a 95-player field, the smallest of the majors but the most at Augusta in 10 years. ... Tiger Woods is missing the Masters for the first time since 2021 because of a ruptured Achilles tendon. ... Scottie Scheffler is going for a third green jacket in four years. Jack Nicklaus (1963, 1965, 1966) is the only player to win that many so quickly. ... Scheffler has come to the 18th green leading by at least four shots in each of his two wins. ... Rory McIlroy needs to win the Masters to be the sixth player with the career Grand Slam. He has gone 11 years without winning a major. ... The field has players from 26 countries and territories, the most ever for the Masters. ... Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau are among 12 players from LIV Golf in the field. ... Bernhard Langer, who won in 1985 and 1993, is playing the Masters for the final time.