Augusta National

We made it, everyone. The greatest week in golf is finally upon us, and in just a few short days, the 90th edition of the Masters will get underway from Augusta National. It's the one event in sports that never loses its mystique, intrigue, or charm, and it's the golf tournament we hold most sacred. Yet, when we're asked the simple question of why that is the case, there isn't a de facto answer, which, oddly, may be exactly why so many cherish the Masters as much as they do.Scottie Scheffler understands the Masters and Augusta National quite well with the two green jackets sitting in his closet. He enters this week actually flying under the radar – at least in Scheffler terms – thanks to a few out-of-character weeks and welcoming his second son into the world late last month. Scheffler may not be getting great sleep with two little ones in the picture, but it's safe to assume his mind is at peace, which makes for a very dangerous No. 1 player in the world.As for the golf actually played this past week, JJ Spaun did it best at the Valero Texas Open. The conditions were terrible and the 17th hole was a drivable Par 4 – two things Spaun loves – so it should come as no surprise that he was the last man standing on Sunday afternoon.Thoughts, concerns, or comments about Par Talk? Have some Masters thoughts you want to get off your chest? You can reach out via email at [email protected] or on X @itismarkharris. The exclusivity of it, the golf course itself, the familiarity of it all, the history and tradition, you can go on and on about all the factors that make the Masters so special. The most fascinating aspect of the psyche of it all, for me at least, is that even as we all get older, the excitement never goes away. In fact, it's only gotten greater as the years have gone on, and there isn't another annual sporting event in the world that can say the same.Each year, we all watch the Super Bowl, the NCAA Tournament, the World Series, the college football title game, the Stanley Cup Final, (maybe) the NBA Finals, and any other major sporting event you want to toss in there. For me, every one of those events has lost some of its charm and overall sense of excitement as I've gotten older. I'm aware that all of the events listed are team sports, but they're still among the biggest sporting events the world has to offer. The Masters is a golf tournament played every April on the same golf course featuring the smallest field of all of golf's major championships, yet myself and most others out there seem to get more amped up for this event as the years pass by. Nobody has an answer to why that is. You could ask 50 people what makes the Masters so special each year and get 50 different answers.I think it has a lot to do with how perfect Augusta National is, how quintessentially American the golf tournament is, the Southern charm of it all, and how all the countless factors cause some sort of never-ending chemical reaction in our brain that feels like a 96-hour dopamine hit.Whatever it is, we love it as a sports world as a whole, which can't be said about any other event we witness year over year. The weather in San Antonio for the Valero Texas Open was horrible all week, which naturally led to JJ Spaun and Robert MacIntyre rising to the top of the leaderboard. As a Scottish fellow, MacIntyre was born with the ability to play in gusty winds and spitting rain, but if we've learned anything over the last year or so, Spaun absolutely loves the elements on a Sunday afternoon.The similarities between Spaun's U.S. Open win at Oakmont last year and his win at the Valero – his first since becoming a major champion – were borderline scary.The weather during the final round of last year's U.S. Open was awful, which Valero checked that box throughout the week as well on Sunday, but then you had a drivable Par 4 17th hole at TPC San Antonio just like you had at Oakmont.Spaun drove the 17th green at Oakmont during the final round en route to a comfortable birdie that gave him breathing room playing the final hole. He went on to make a 65-footer for birdie to slam the door shut on none other than MacIntyre, who finished solo runner-up. During Sunday's final round at Valero, Spaun stepped up to the 17th tee, drove the green, and knocked in a 10-footer for eagle, giving him the luxury of only needing a par on the tough Par 5 closing hole. It wasn't quite a rinse and repeat situation from Oakmont, but it was damn close.Spaun likes what he likes. He likes playing golf in bad weather and winning the Valero Texas Open. Of his five professional wins, two are at the Valero while the other is a U.S. Open. It's certainly not a bad resume, but it's a unique one as well.He entered Valero week without a Top 20 to his name this season, but found a way back into the winner's circle.Scottie Scheffler and wife, Meredith, welcomed their second son to the world in late March, and the young man has already done something most adults never will: visit Augusta National.Scheffler shared with Golf Channel on Sunday that he has the whole crew with him in Augusta this week, and the PGA Tour reported that the entire family of four, including Remy, who is less than two weeks old, was out on the grounds of the golf course.Scheffler now has the pleasure, yet challenge, of wrangling two kids under two, and his first start as a father of two little ones just so happens to come at the Masters may not seem ideal, but he'd probably like to have it no other way.Scheffler has made it clear that golf is just a game, and his job, while his family and faith sit high above it on his list of priorities. Some players hit a bit of a lull in their careers when dad mode gets fully activated, but Scheffler appears to be very much in his element being dad and playing golfer.The man already has superpowers with a golf club in his hand, and who knows, keeping the golf on the golf course and flipping into dad mode the moment the clubs get tossed in the trunk may unlock even more.He enters Masters week having not played since The Players in early March. Scheffler is still the favorite to win what would be his third green jacket since 2022.