2020 Masters Choose Your Own Adventure, Patrick Reed vs. Jon Rahm: Quiet, Please

"Remain quiet, please. Any violators will be removed."

This is not a usual request at Augusta National. It doesn’t need to be.

There are no warnings about boisterous behavior at the Masters, because this is the one tournament all year — OK, you could include The Open Championship, too — where boisterous behavior doesn’t have to be tolerated, since it just doesn’t happen anyway. There’s a genteel nature surrounding this event. Call it Southern charm. This tone permeates throughout the golf course during every round.

The truth is, you’ve never been to a singular location where so many people are so uncommonly happy at the same time. Think about it: Where else would this phenomenon occur? Sure, at other sporting events, people are in attendance for their entertainment, but most aren’t overjoyed at the sheer aspect of being physically present. That’s the case at Augusta National, though, and it also stands to explain why that boisterous behavior is almost never existent.

Nobody wants to threaten their happiness by saying something stupid and getting ejected.

That should tell us all we need to know about Reed’s current state of polarity.

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Golf fans who have perhaps waited their entire lives to receive a badge to attend the final round might very well be ready to risk the entire thing, just to let Reed know what they think of him.

Or at least that’s what the members of Augusta National believe, having tried to preemptively quash any more potential interruptions with this announcement.

And it works — for the time being, at least.

The crowd remains hushed as Reed successfully extricates his ball from the fairway bunker, lofting it high into the air as it lands safely in the middle of the green. He two-putts for par, as routine a par as you’ll see, other than the first-tee taunt.

You look around amongst the gallery and wonder whether everyone heard the announcement — and even if so, whether they’ll obey the rule.

• The gallery remains quiet throughout Reed’s round.
• There is more taunting throughout Reed’s round.

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