No sporting event takes itself more seriously than the Masters. You famously can’t even carry your cellphone, let alone use it. You can’t run on the grounds, you can’t call the fans “fans” or the rough “rough.” (They are “patrons” and “second cut.”) The sandwiches are famously cheap and the TV commercials are famously limited, all to remind you that this is not really about money, it’s about a Tradition Unlike Any Other.
Well, so much for tradition. There will be no Masters this April. Fred Ridley, Augusta National’s chair, announced Friday that it has been postponed indefinitely.