Image Credit: SB Nation Every year since 1960, the Par 3 contest at Augusta National is an interesting prelude to the Masters. It is full of fun and frivolity, in stark contrast to the seriousness of the Masters, which has announcers talking in hushed, reverent tones. There has never been a player who has won the Par 3 contest and the Masters in the same year, although Raymond Floyd came close in 1990, losing the Masters in a sudden-death playoff to Nick Faldo, who won the coveted green jacket for the second consecutive year. Floyd’s attempt to record the Par 3 and Masters win came undone on the second hole when his iron shot went into the water. Had he won, it would have been the first player to win a Masters in four consecutive decades.

Image Credit: PGA Tour Some random thoughts for the golf world: Jordan Spieth looks be to be back in form from two years ago after a somewhat disappointing season in 2016. His four-stroke win in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am was stunning, if only because he came into Sunday’s final round with a resounding six-shot lead and essentially had to play cautiously or, according to his caddie’s suggestion, “boring golf.”

Image Credit: PGA As Jon Rahm made a 60-foot putt from off the fringe to register an eagle on the final hole of the Farmers Insurance Open – a shot that would lead to his first PGA Tour victor – did you notice the brand name of the ball? It was a TaylorMade TP5x.

Image Credit: Forbes The news about Tiger Woods attempting to return to competitive golf on a regular basis, coupled with the equipment he is using, are generating a huge buzz in the industry and, to an even bigger extent, the mainstream sports world. When one of the greatest stars of this generation is coming back after what was considered a possible end to his career because of injuries, combined with the fact he is 41, people take notice. This is 21 years since Woods took the golf game by storm and then went through a roller-coaster of events on and off the golf course.

As the leaves start to change and the temperature begins to drop, many of us are trying to squeeze in the last few rounds of the year. However, for the pros on the PGA Tour, the season is just starting to ramp up. With 10 tournaments scheduled for the fall, there will be plenty of golf on TV to hold you over until the return of spring. This week we take a look at these early-season tournaments and how they may affect the rest of the PGA Tour season.

In most sports, everything that occurs during the season is a stepping stone, building to an exciting, grand and often lucrative finish. A championship. A way to crown the best team or individual, not just of any given weekend, but of the entire long and hard-fought season. However, for much of the history of golf, this pinnacle of achievement was lacking. Of course, the Majors were then and still remain the most important tournaments in the sport and it is unlikely that any other competition will be able to change that. But in the past, once the majors had come and gone, the golf season just petered out. Little recognition was given to the player who had performed the best day-after-day, week-after-week. Well, in 2007 that all changed.

Of all the four men’s Professional Golf Association Major championships, the Open, or British Open as some prefer to call it because of its history, is the best of all because of its unpredictability. If the golfers aren’t battling the course with the bunkers the size of craters and the deep rough that look like pastures, they are usually fighting the elements. This year’s version at Royal Troon in Scotland was no different. It had a little bit of everything to challenge the golfers, yet allow for a final day that offered ideal conditions and a round for the ages.

With the Open Championship contested this week, all eyes will be on Royal Troon and the annual battle for the Claret Jug. The Open or British Open is the oldest of the four major championships, and the only to be contested outside the United States. First played in 1860, the event has hosted the greatest players from every era, and we wanted to examine a few of the top performances over the past 150 years.

Bring on Oakmont, bring on the church pews. That was the story going into the 2016 U.S. Open. As if the man-made course with its myriad of narrow fairways, bunkers of all shapes and sizes and lightning greens weren’t enough of a challenge, this year the players had to deal with Mother Nature from the outset. The first round had to be halted because of rain, followed by a re-start, which was followed by another rain delay and ultimately a postponement to the following day. Some players didn’t even have a chance to begin the round. Thus a tournament renowned for its difficulty, in particular this course in Pittsburgh, played mental games on the players, each of them seeking to add a major win to their careers. Many of those who survived the cut had never won a major.