MASTERS NOTEBOOK: CAM RETURNS AFTER MIAMI WD
Apr 9, 2024 - 10:25 PMWritten by: Mike McAllister
A Masters notebook from Tuesday at Augusta National, where Cameron Smith returns from a WD and Brooks Koepka sees a bounce-back.
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Cameron Smith had to withdraw last weekend at LIV Golf Miami due to food poisoning. On Tuesday during his practice round, he slipped while trying to walk over a couple of rocks at Rae’s Creek and landed on his back.
“A bit of comedy for the crowd there,” said the Ripper GC captain.
Smith is hoping he’ll be in fighting shape when the Masters begins Thursday. Not being able to compete on the weekend at Trump National Doral put a crimp in his prep work, but at least he’s back in action after playing a practice round at Augusta National.
“Today is probably the first day where I feel like I've got a little bit of energy,” Smith said. “I'm sure I'll be pretty cooked tonight. At least I could get around and feel OK.”
Smith has four top-10 finishes in his seven Masters starts, including a T2 in 2020 when Dustin Johnson won. He’s hoping his health situation won’t impact his ability to start strong as he chases his second career major win.
“Here more than most places if you get behind the 8-ball, you're pretty screwed pretty early,” Smith said. “It definitely doesn't make it any easier. I think the golf course is going to get harder and harder as the week goes on, and you definitely want to be up at the top of the leaderboard when it starts to get firm and fast.”
KOEPKA SEEKING BOUNCE-BACK: A year ago, Brooks Koepka entered the Masters having won LIV Golf Orlando a few weeks earlier. He rode that momentum to take the 54-hole lead and ultimately tied for second behind Jon Rahm.
This week, he arrived at Augusta National off his worst result in his 24 LIV Golf regular-season starts, a T45 in Miami in which he shot back-to-back 77s on the weekend, finding the water on each of his opening holes in the final two rounds.
The Smash GC captain was hoping to use the Blue Monster as a good springboard into the Masters, but he said Tuesday that the conditions are not the same.
“Doral last week I thought it was as soft as I’ve ever seen it,” Koepka said. “… This place, yesterday when I played, it was as firm as I’ve seen it in maybe 4-5 years. The green speeds kind of felt like they were maybe the weekend already, and usually that’s not the case.”
The disappointment in his Miami result was tempered by having his 8-month-old Crew waiting for him when he returned to his South Florida home.
“It’s kind of lightened my mood when, like even this past weekend, I didn't play very well, but I was still excited to come home and see him and come play with him,” Koepka said. “Golf's what I do, it's not my entire life, and I think that just kind of reinforces that.”
He’ll get to combine both on Wednesday at the Par 3 Contest, as he’ll be accompanied by his son and his wife Jena. It’ll be the second time Crew has been at one of his father’s events, having also been onsite in Miami for the first round.
“He’s not going to remember it but just having him there and seeing the first time he’s ever seen me hit a good ball – yeah, it’s special. It’s special for me, and I’m sure it is for Jena, and tomorrow will be a lot of fun.”
SERGIO ON GOLF’S ‘PERFECT SPOT’: Fireballs GC Captain Sergio Garcia, who won the Masters in 2017, was asked if he thought the game of golf needed to come together. He offered an interesting perspective.
“I think the game is in a perfect spot,” Garcia said. “The professional game, maybe it's a little more separated, mostly because of the media, not so much because of the players. But I think the game itself is in a great spot.
“I think that we have the most amount of people playing the game, which is great, and people have to realize one thing, that the future of the game isn't us. We're not the future of the game. Neither me or Rory, no. We're not the future. We're the present of the game.
“But the future of the game is those kids that are watching us play, that want to get into the game, that want to play and then maybe become professionals. I think that's what sometimes people forget.”
NIEMANN ON POTENTIAL LIV WINNER: Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann, making his fifth Masters start this week thanks to a special invite from Augusta National, doesn’t think a win by one of the 13 LIV golfers in the field this week would cause any kind of unifying acceleration among the sport’s elite tours.
“I don't think a LIV player has to win the Masters to change things,” said Niemann, who leads the LIV Golf Individual standings thanks to two wins this season. “I think things are changing already, and they are going to come up with a solution, with an agreement or whatever they are trying to do, for the best.”
MERONK FOCUSING ON SHORT GAME: Cleeks GC’s Adrian Meronk is making his second Masters start. A year ago, in becoming the first player from Poland to compete in the Masters, he shot 73-76 and missed the cut.
“Obviously last year was my first time, so it was a little bit overwhelming,” Meronk said. “This year I knew what I could expect, so I like this feeling. It doesn't overwhelm me anymore. I can use the time more wisely to get prepared for the week, and I think so far, we've been doing a good job.”
Meronk, who finished 17th at Miami for his fourth top-20 finish in five starts since joining LIV Golf, played nine holes on Monday and 18 holes during Tuesday’s practice round, then went for another range session. He said he’ll dial back the workload on Wednesday.
He’ll also focus more on his short game.
“I'll just spend a lot of work on short game, putting, different kind of shots around the green, seeing my trajectory, landing spots,” Meronk said. “That will be a key for the next two days.”
THE TOTAL IS 19: Five-time major winner Koepka may not be able to recite the names of each golfer who has won as many or more majors – but he does know how many of them are on the list.
“There's 19 other people in front of me,” Koepka said. “I do know that.”
Koepka is one of 20 players with at least five major wins. He’s currently tied with Seve Ballesteros, Peter Thomson, Byron Nelson, J.H. Taylor and James Braid.
If he wins No. 6 this week, he’ll be tied with Lee Trevino, Nick Faldo and his fellow LIV Golf captain Phil Mickelson at six each.