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The 2021 experience is different, but the hope the Masters provides is very real

Sports events litter the calendar. Most disappear into the mists of history, relegated to tiny print in dusty archives ... if they’re remembered at all.

On the other hand, the Masters endures.

There’s a mystique that makes the Masters more than a golf championship. The first week in April in Augusta really transcends sports, and perhaps that’s more evident than ever during these early April days in 2021.

Oscar Hammerstein’s haunting words from the musical “South Pacific” offered a thought that could be applied to the siren-like lure of the Masters: “Who can explain it, who can tell you why?”

Timing matters, making the Masters a symbol of this nation’s shrugging off the cloak of winter and coming alive. The spring scene matters with birds chirping merry tunes, and the azaleas and dogwoods turning Augusta National Golf Club into a welcome rainbow of color.

Maybe the message this year is the optimism that those magic ingredients provide is a harbinger of brighter days to come.

With the specter of the coronavirus pandemic still threatening, the Masters returned to its rightful place on the schedule over these past few days. Even though the experience is different, hope is real.

So much has changed, at least temporarily. In-person fans have been restricted to perhaps one-tenth of the usual number, precautions that have become familiar over the past year — masks and social distancing — are in vogue.

Although the roars that signal success are not nearly as loud, that Augusta trademark still creates the sweetest music.

There’s the history, too, in this tournament that blends yesterday with tomorrow. Playing the same course every year makes every swing a swing against the past in pursuit of one of the sports world’s most prized symbols: a green jacket.

Measuring the memorable moments from Masters past with achievements today comes naturally as pollen from the pines. Though separated by generations, comparing, say, Jack Nicklaus’ second shot into No. 15 on Sunday in 1986 with Masters rookie Will Zalatoris’ effort from the same spot this April comes quickly in the mind’s eye.

This year’s Masters, the 85th, unfolds on the same treasured stage, but the limited in-person audience alters the surroundings. There are no grandstands, and some cherished traditions — reserving a viewing space for the day by placing a chair alongside the ropes, for instance — are verboten for now.

Instead of fans ringed seven and eight deep around the ninth green like they were to watch Tiger Woods on his way to the 2019 championship, sight lines are clear.

Nevertheless, just the fact that there is a Masters in April is encouraging in the battle against the pandemic that has claimed more than a half-million lives in this country alone. Precautions caused the 2020 Masters to be moved to November and golfers competed in a symphony of silence.

The PGA Tour events began allowing limited fans. The Masters did the same and players relished the presence of patrons at Augusta National.

During a practice round, Bryson DeChambeau recounted a scenario not often seen at a major championship.

“We had a lot of fun just messing around with the crowd,” the U.S. Open champion said. “There was a moment on 9, probably a good minute, minute and a half, we were just joking around with the crowd. It’s been fun to interact with them and get them going again.”

The race to the green jacket began in earnest Saturday with a jam-packed leaderboard with a wonderful mixture of some of golf’s best-known names and some seldom included in major championship conversations.

One guarantee: Memories for a lifetime will be made over the weekend. What will they be? Ah, the waiting and wonder in the beauty of the Masters.

Could there be a repeat of the Nicklaus-Weiskopf-Miller duel in 1975 that created a moment to last forever?

With the fans roaring to appreciate Tom Weiskopf’s final-round birdie on No. 15, TV announcer Ben Wright called the cheers “evil music ringing in Nicklaus’ ears” on the 16th hole. Then, Nicklaus being Nicklaus, he sank an impossible 40-foot birdie putt, and announcer Henry Longhurst noted, “... and now Weiskopf will have to take it as he dished it out before.”

Asked afterward if he had seen Nicklaus’ putt, Johnny Miller said, “No, but I saw Bear tracks” on the green.

And so it was then. What will it be now?

Whatever the answer, history will record that although the experience was different, the 2021 Masters showed that hope is real.