AUGUSTA, Ga. (A.P.) – Phil Mickelson has a confession to make: He’s often full of nonsense.
Except, as it turns out, when it comes to Pavlova.
Augusta National has a rule banning cell phones on the course, and applies to the Champions dinner. So when Adam Scott got to pick the menu in 2014 for the annual pre-Masters meal for past winners, his dessert choice was a strawberry and passion fruit pavlova. Hardly anybody in the room knew what the meringue-and-fruit mixture was. And without their phones, nobody could Google it, either.
This is where Mickelson comes in.
“I said, ‘Oh, pavlova, that’s inspired by the great Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova who was touring through New Zealand, Australia, and an Australian chef – so inspired by her beautiful movement and tutu – he made a dessert after her,” Mickelson recalled.
Phil being Phil, nobody believed him. Billy Payne, the chairman of Augusta National at the time, shot Mickelson what might be best described as a skeptical look. Zach Johnson wagered $100 that Mickelson was making things up. Everybody is calling me out on my B.S.,” Mickelson said. “And a lot of times, I am BS’ing.”
Not this time, however.
was why Mickelson made 32 pavlovas for her class and became an expert on her story – and her namesake dessert.
“And I ended up being right, which is not often,” Mickelson said. “But I was right at that particular moment.”
By the way, reigning champion Dustin Johnson’s desserts this year were apple pie, peach cobbler, and vanilla ice cream. No Googling is required.
NO PAR 3
For the third time in five years, the Par 3 Contest – a longstanding Wednesday tradition at Augusta National – is off. It was canceled by rain in 2017, then doomed by concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing last year and this year.
Matt Jones’ only other trip to the Masters as a player was in 2014. He missed the cut but remembered the Wednesday contest fondly. “I remember having a hole-in-one on the par 3, and that was probably one of my fondest memories in golf, having my 2-year-old daughter get the ball out of the hole,” Jones said.
Players understand why the contest isn’t happening but are also disappointed. Collin Morikawa said his girlfriend was upset that she couldn’t take part. This week, Lee Westwood’s son is caddying for him; Sam Westwood had been looking forward to aiming for the contest.
“It almost feels like the start to the Masters,” Westwood said. “It’s a shame not to be playing. And I understand why it can’t be played. Hopefully, I’ll be back here next year and get a chance to play in it. I think Sam misses it more. He wanted to go at that 9th hole with a wedge.”
THE PAIRINGS
With 88 players in the field, the first two rounds couldn’t entirely be composed of threesomes. Instead, it’ll be 28 threesomes and two twosomes.
Michael Thompson and Hudson Swafford will be first off the tee at 8 a.m. Thursday, 15 minutes after honorary starters Lee Elder, Gary Player, and Jack Nicklaus open the Masters.
The other twosome for the first two rounds, Vijay Singh and Martin Laird, go off at 11:06 a.m. Thursday. They’ll be first off Friday at 8 a.m., while Thompson and Swafford take the 11:06 slot for the second round.
The defending champion plays with the U.S. Amateur champion, so Dustin Johnson will have Tyler Strafaci in his threesome, joined by Lee Westwood. They’ll tee off Thursday at 10:30 a.m. and Friday at 1:36 p.m.
