Getty Tiger Woods after winning the 2019 Masters
There’s good news and bad news for those fans who love watching the Masters Tournament’s final round of action on Sunday afternoon. The good news is that you’ll still get to watch Tiger Woods’ impressive comeback victory at Augusta. Unfortunately, the bad news is that your afternoon viewing of it will come in the form of a television replay.
There was a big decision made at Augusta prior to the fourth and final round, as the start time and structure was changed for Sunday due to inclement weather. With storms set to hit around 3-5 p.m. ET, the tee times were shifted up and format of play was changed with the purpose of attempting to have the tournament finished at roughly 2-2:30 p.m. ET instead of in the late afternoon/early evening.
Masters TV Replay Scheme Stems From Historic Change
As Jay Busbee of Yahoo Sports detailed, the changes made to the event were the first time this has ever happened in Masters Tournament history. Among the things modified, the final round began at 7:30 a.m. ET with leaders teeing off a bit later at 9:20. Beyond that, there were changes to the structure of the fourth round in order to ensure all players finished their rounds.
Players were grouped in threes, as we’re accustomed to seeing through the opening days of action. There was also a split-tee start, which had half the field beginning on No. 1 and the others on No. 10. The leaders began on the first tee in order to set up a finish on No. 18, and the TV coverage began at 9 a.m. ET on CBS.
Another issue which Busbee pointed out is that the field featured 65 players making the cut. This made the situation a bit tougher overall to gauge and plan for since the top 50 (and ties) along with anyone within 10 strokes of the leader was slated to make it.
Masters TV Replay Schedule
CBS will air their coverage live at 9 a.m., as previously mentioned, but they will also roll out a replay of the event starting at 2 p.m. ET which runs through the end (roughly 7 p.m.). The early start was surely less than ideal, but things worked out as play was finished without any delay on Sunday and Wood was able to receive his green jacket without getting wet.
For anyone who was unable to catch the action through the morning, the come-from-behind victory for Wood is worth watching, as he began the day two strokes behind Francesco Molinari.
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