Pictures I (@jamo) Took During a Practice Round at the 2018 Masters

[jamo]

Tiger and Phil walking toward the 11th green. 

The crowd at Amen corner while Tiger and Phil were putting on 11. 

Tiger and Phil on the 13th green.

Phil and Joe LaCava walking up 14.

Tiger and Couples' caddy walking up 14.

Tiger, Phil, Couples, Pieter, and their caddies walking up 14.

Tiger teeing off on 15.

Tiger and Joe LaCava in the 15th fairway.

Tiger's (right) and Phil's (left) tee shots on 16.

The 17th green. 

Tiger and Pieters walking up 18. 

Tiger surveying his approach shot on 18 after his tee shot hit a tree.

Tiger taking practice swings on 18.

The first green.

The flag on the first hole. 

Kevin Chappell on the first green.

Bryson DeChambeau on the ninth tee. 

The 16th green.

Some azalea flowers. 

Zach Johnson's approach shot on the third. 

Rafa Cabrera-Bello skipping a ball across the 16th.

The 13th green with the 14th tee in the foreground. 

The 13th fairway with the 12th green in the background. 

The 12th green.

[jamo]

I got to the grounds at about 8:30 after getting stuck in traffic driving through Augusta. We heard immediately that Tiger and Phil were playing a practice round on the back and had just teed off, so we hustled to Amen Corner. A minute or two later they were walking down the fairway. We followed them the whole back nine, then went to get lunch and hit the golf shop. After that we checked out the practice area, where Tiger had just wrapped up hitting balls and was doing some short game practice (my only regret is that we didn't check out the driving range before going to the golf shop, but I figured Tiger would take a bit to eat before going out to practice). We stayed around there for a bit before wondering over to the Founder's Circle and the Par 3 Course (they do pictures at the Founder's Circle but the line was huge so we didn't bother).

We then went to the first hole. No one was scheduled to tee off for a bit so we walked up to the green and hung out in the grandstands for a while before Kevin Chappell, Chez Reavie, and Kevin Kisner played up. We followed them for a while (and stuck around to watch DeChambeau tee off on nine after the Kevins and Chez teed off on the second), and sometimes stuck around after they finished to watch Trevor Immelman, who was playing behind them. At one point we caught Zach Johnson playing an approach shot on the third.

After watching the Kevins and Chez finish the front nine, we headed over to the grandstands at 16 to watch people play the 15th and 16th. After most players had played past us and the course started to clear out, we walked Amen Corner again to see what it looked like empty. 

I should note that I'm neither a professional nor experienced photographer or photo editor. I used a Sony a6000 and a 22-210mm Sony lens I rented (FYI LensRentals.com was very nice and didn't charge me for being a bit late returning the lens, so I highly recommend them if you ever need to rent a camera lens). I took plenty of really shitty pictures, and even some of these aren't focused very well. 

I took 403 total pictures and 12 videos. The only video really worth much is one I got of Tiger teeing off on 15h. I was standing down the fairway and did a full 180 and managed to catch the ball land. But I didn't have a tripod or anything so it's extremely shaky. 

[iacas]

4 minutes ago, jamo said:

and even some of these aren't focused very well. 

We call those "Drews".

Good job. I heard the Founders Circle photo thing moves VERY quickly. They have many photographers there.

[Club Rat]

Thanks for sharing, must be a great time being there.

[jamo]

5 minutes ago, iacas said:

We call those "Drews".

Good job. I heard the Founders Circle photo thing moves VERY quickly. They have many photographers there.

I kind of figured it would move quick, but we'd already taken a few pictures together anyway, so it wasn't a big deal.

 

7 minutes ago, Club Rat said:

Thanks for sharing, must be a great time being there.

It was awesome! Very highly recommend doing the lottery every year. Everyone I've told about it seems to think that tickets are crazy expensive and impossible to get. I've been doing the lottery for probably a half dozen years now, so you're not guaranteed to win right away (strictly speaking you're not guaranteed to win ever, obviously), but you definitely won't win if you don't enter. (Plus, it's free to enter, and practice round tickets are only $75.)

 

Side note: we stayed at a Hampton Inn in Columbia, SC, which was fine. Took about an hour to get to Augusta. Traffic was pretty bad near the course and it took a while to park but it was constantly moving, so they must be pretty organized. Course opens at 8 so it's not like we had to be up at the crack of dawn to make the drive. We drove down from Connecticut the day before and drove back up the day after, which wasn't fun but it was cheaper than a plane. 

[boogielicious]

Thanks @jamo!

[krupa]

Thanks for the pictures!

18 hours ago, jamo said:

(FYI LensRentals.com was very nice and didn't charge me for being a bit late returning the lens, so I highly recommend them if you ever need to rent a camera lens)

I second the lensrentals.com recommendation.  I've used them a few times and never had a problem.

 

[fishgolf]

Great photos!  Still on my bucket list.  Have fun.