Martin Dempster's Masters 2024 diary: Augusta set to stage a first-ever game, Green Jackets are cool customers and pecan pie on menu

Imagine playing your first-ever round of golf at Augusta National and do so the day after the final round of The Masters. Surely not, I hear you say, but that will indeed be the case on Monday. Julia Westerman, a sports presenter and reporter for a South Carolina TV channel, was successful in this year’s media ballot and it will be the first time she’s swung a club on any golf course. “I am in disbelief,” she wrote on social media after the exciting news had been broken by one of her colleagues. Good luck to her because lots of media members have had that privilege over the years only to end up feeling broken by the experience. “It may be her last round as well,” quipped one of the Featured Groups commentators.

Green Jackets are ‘cool customers’ in media meeting

Masters Sunday for this correspondent started with a media meeting with the Green Jackets, having been involved in the annual chinwag over the past few years as an Association of Golf Writers’ committee member. I have to admit I found it very intimidating the first time I was part of a small group of writers that also includes representatives of the Golf Writers’ Association of America but, over time, I’ve found my voice as matters arising during the week are discussed. It wasn’t be who brought up on this occasion but one of the things mentioned to Tom Nelson, the Augusta National Golf Club media committee chairman Tom Nelson, and fellow Green Jacket Rob Johnson is the working area in the Press Building often feeling as though it is Ice Station Zebra. Both Nelson and Johnson are cool customers, so we’ll just need to wait before finding out if it’s a bit warmer in 12 months’ time and, for the record, the Press Building here is easily the best working facility in golf.

Talk of Ryder Cuo-style ‘Battle of The Tours’ later in year

Greg Norman clearly revelled in getting some attention from patrons as he walked out on the course this week. In a post on Instagram, the LIV Golf CEO and commissioner admitted: “My right hand is sore from shaking hands with each and every one of you as well as the hugs given to so many. Thank you all for the three days of incredible and touching memories!” Norman added that “golf is always a winner” and, though not coming from him, the possibility of a ‘Battle of The Tours’ between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf in a Ryder Cup-style contest could be on the cards later this year in either the Bahamas or Middle East.

Pecan pie set to be on Sunday night menu for Masters winner

Masters Sunday in the event’s 88th edition coincided with National Pecan Day and, with Georgia being the largest pecan producing state in the nation, Georgia was the right place to be on that particular day to celebrate the occasion. According to a report in the Augusta Chronicle, an average pecan harvest in Georgia is about 88 million pounds, which experts say is enough to make 176 million pecan pies. Perhaps the Green Jacket winner would be tucking into one on Sunday night.