This Masters will be unlike any other Masters in recent memory

Masters plays the long game like Warren Buffett. Over the past 70 years, it has produced four absolutely magnetic champions: Arnold Palmerwho won the tournament four times; Jack Nicklauswith his six titles; Phil Mickelsonwho has three wins at Augusta; AND Tiger Woodswho won his fifth (and most recent) green jacket in 2019. This year, for the first time since 1954, none of those players are competing in the event.

This year, for the first time since 1994, neither Mickelson nor Woods are in the field.

Of that four, only one will be in the hand, Big Jack himself, playing ceremonial first shot on Thursday morning, alongside Tom Watson (two-time winner) and Gary Player (three-time winner).

So this will be different. These next 20, 30 or 40 years at Augusta will be different, too.

Palmer and Nicklaus were so revered at Augusta National that they were invited to join the club as dues-paying members, the only former winners to receive such an invitation. In other words, they could come to the club as they wished, play the course, bring guests, stay in cabins, visit wine cellar unaccompanied. Woods and Mickelson, like all former winners, were honorary members. They still needed a host to play the course. Palmer and Nicklaus had direct ties to the club’s most important figures throughout its history, including the club’s founders (Bob Jones, Clifford Roberts); various distinguished members (Dwight D. Eisenhower, Warren Buffett); and former winners from near and far (Gene Sarazen, Seve Ballesteros). There are plaques on the course honoring Palmer and Nicklaus, with brief histories of their Augusta highlights.

Maybe the plaques will come for Mickelson and Woods, and they certainly deserve them for their thrilling play at Augusta over the decades, but they’re unlikely to come anytime soon.

In the long history of the Masters, Tiger Woods is the only player to ever receive a public reprimand from a club president. It happened at the 2010 Masters, when Woods returned to public life and tour golf after a private life scandal spread all over the tabloids around the world. Then-chairman Billy Payne, reading from a prepared statement at a Wednesday news conference, said Woods had “let us all down” and that he had failed as a role model. Woods had a T4 finish that year.

From 1995, when he played as an amateur, until 2013, Woods played in every Masters. (It was in 2013 when he was given a two-stroke penalty for a bogey on the 15th hole of his Friday round. He had a T4 finish.) Woods did not play in 2014 while recovering from back surgery. He did not play in 2016 after another back surgery. He did not play in 2017, reportedly due to back problems. He did not play in 2021, after a terrible car accident in Los Angeles. He did not play last year after surgery for a torn Achilles in his left foot. Woods is not playing this year, pursuing his own March 27 DUI Arrest in South Florida, near his home on Jupiter Island.

Palmer played in 50 consecutive Masters tournaments, none as an amateur. Woods played in 19 straight matches from 1995 to 2013, including two as an amateur. Nicklaus played in 46 consecutive Masters tournaments, starting with three as an amateur. Mickelson played in the 1991 and ’93 Masters as an amateur, retired in ’94, then played in 27 consecutive events as a professional, from 1995 to 2021. Mickelson did not play in the 2022 Masters, the year it was revealed he was leaving his lifelong professional home to return to the Global Series of Golf, PGA, Saudi, PGA To global. Then there was an uproar, and Mickelson withdrew from tour play and public life for several months.

“The last 10 years I have felt the pressure and stress slowly affecting me on a deeper level,” he said in the statement at the time. “I know I haven’t been the best and I desperately need some time to prioritize the ones I love most and work on being the person I want to be.” Fred Ridley said at the 2022 Masters that the club did not “ban” Mickelson from the tournament. But it was an open secret in certain circles that Mickelson was not playing by mutual agreement. He was the reigning PGA champion at the time, which he had won at the age of 50. With the club’s encouragement, he would likely have played. In 2023, Mickelson returned to the tournament, was remarkably quiet at dinner and finished in a tie for second.

Mickelson will not play this year. In one statement on Thursdayhe said, “Unfortunately, I won’t be playing in the Masters next week and will be out for an extended period of time as my family continues to navigate a personal health issue. I wish everyone the best of luck and will be watching.”

Ridley responded with this statement: “We know how much Phil loves the Masters and he will be missed by everyone at Augusta next week. He has our full support as he takes time to be with his family.”

When Woods won the Masters in 2019, at the age of 43, his life seemed to be in such a good place, considering where he was after his 2017 arrest and his years of back problems, along with other parts of his body. When Mickelson won the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, becoming the oldest winner of a major, he seemed destined to become the closest thing golf had to the next Arnold Palmer. Both were guaranteed to become Ryder Cup captains, compete in US Senior Opens and other major senior events, and enjoy the kind of adoration that Nicklaus and Palmer enjoyed for decades after their playing careers ended. There is no sign of this as of now.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com