For an hour at Amen Corner, Masters patrons stared into the sky

AUGUSTA, Ga. — At 2:10 p.m. on Monday a beautiful strolling tour traipsed by the pine straw at Augusta Nationwide. An older man in a inexperienced jacket, one of many couple hundred members of the membership, waxed proudly about Amen Corner, essentially the most iconic stretch of golf holes on the planet, its new(ish) thirteenth tee field, its tall twirling pines and the distinctive historical past of its identify. 

ANGC members do loads of internet hosting throughout Masters week, and this host had everybody’s consideration. Proper till the second he acknowledged that it was photo voltaic eclipse time. Out got here the glasses. Up went the foreheads. There went the tour. 

When he urged the group proceed up towards the thirteenth inexperienced, he was met with a pause. The following 10 minutes or so had been spent passing round eclipse glasses, particular ones emblazoned with the Masters emblem, its typical inexperienced and yellow colours, even the day’s date: April 8, 2024. Photo voltaic eclipses come round once-in-a-long-time, however photo voltaic eclipses throughout Masters Week are once-in-a-lifetime.

It was good that the eclipse arrived on a Monday as no day of Masters week has decrease stakes It’s most likely when most of these strolling excursions occur. Gamers get their first peek on the property, whereas spectators are extra involved with the merchandise they’ll purchase than the golf they’ll witness. 

2:17: “Nicely, it’s received a few quarter of it…[sound of a ball landing in nearby fairway] Oh, properly we’re within the touchdown space.”

Augusta National itself despatched a tweet Monday morning with unsurprisingly exacting element: At 1:50 p.m. the moon would start to cross between the solar and anybody on website on the Masters. It might final for 2 hours and 42 minutes, peaking in “obfuscation” at 3:08 p.m. Seventy-six p.c of that huge ball within the sky could be coated. 

2:27 — “I’m gonna promote this for 1,000,000 {dollars}. Has anybody in your life ever owned a pair of f—king Augusta Nationwide eclipse glasses?”

No! Provide and demand are usually not on his aspect, contemplating the membership has passing out the glasses by the thousand Monday morning. However verify again in a couple of years to see what number of have survived. The following eclipse slated to cross over Georgia is scheduled for 2045. 

With each minute that ticked by, the moon slid additional and additional in entrance of the solar and increasingly more patrons slid into Amen Nook. The membership itself claimed this might be the very best viewing place. Perhaps they had been being cheeky. Perhaps they knew one thing we didn’t. The sky in the other way began to show a extra royal blue. A grayer blue.

3:01 — “Appears to be like prefer it’s about to storm.”

Not a rain cloud in sight. Simply loads of confusion. How might we {photograph} this second with out our telephones? How might we seize it with simply these previous digital cameras? Even the photographers at Amen Nook had nothing to do however take images of the individuals making an attempt to take the images. A youngster and his father posed for a commemorative pic of their journey to Amen Nook. Within the teen’s left hand was a divot from essentially the most well-known par-3 on the planet. In his proper hand? These low cost, cardboard glasses.

Gallery guards, patrons, safety staffers, merchandise sellers — most everybody took half. Adam Schenk had packed his personal glasses however was ready for the appropriate second to make use of them. Lucas Glover’s caddie paused to take a peek earlier than trudging as much as the thirteenth tee. What they don’t let you know about eclipses is that 60% of the solar appears a helluva lot like 76%.

3:12 — “Got here all the best way right here, to come back inside, to only lookup on the sky and see one thing I might see on the opposite aspect of the gate.”

3:20 — “Aww, it’s shifting up now, not throughout. I don’t like that.” 

Amen Nook was deflating now. Perhaps 1 / 4 of it departed for different issues to have a look at. What remained was 3:30 p.m. on Monday on the Masters. Not a breath of wind, cigar smoke hanging within the air. It was time to look at golf once more. Brooks Koepka was coming by.