We’ve reached the eve of the greatest tournament in golf. In less than 24 hours of this posting, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Tom Watson will be hitting ceremonial tee shots in the early morning light, and the 88th Masters will be officially underway.

Maybe. More on this later.

Let’s first get you prepared with some viewing and player info. And of course being Dawg Sports, we will focus on former Georgia Bulldog golfers in the field:

Harris English is Playing in his 5th Masters, having previously made the cut 3 out of 4 times. While his best finish here is a T-21 in 2021, he’s been top 10 in the US Open 3 of the last 4 years, so knows how to play majors.

Brian Harman is the second former Bulldog golfer to win a major, capturing the Claret Jug last July. So he knows how to play majors too. The lefty has only made the cut 2 times in 5 tries here, but with his new confidence and recent form, I expect him to make noise on the weekend. And he’s coming off a runner-up result at the Players Championship.

Russell Henley has also been playing well of late, having placed in the top 5 three times this season including last week and at the tough Arnold Palmer Invitational. Not to mention his T-4 finish in last year’s Masters. This is the 8th Masters for Henley, and he’s made the cut 6 of 7 previous tries. He also turns 35 this Friday!

Chris Kirk returns to Augusta for the 2nd straight year after a break going back to 2015. He’s been consistent, but without a high finish. Kirk made the cut 3 times in 4 attempts, and his best finish is a T-20 back in 2014.

Sepp Straka is playing in his 3rd straight Masters, and has made the cut both previous years. He has results of T-30 and T-46. I’m not sure what to expect this week, because Straka had a T-16 finish at The Players but then missed the cut last week in San Antonio.

And let’s not forget Bubba. Since his departure to play the LIV Tour, we haven’t seen much from the mercurial southpaw. All I know is he’s the leader/owner of a LIV team called the Range Goats, which is... curious. Believe it or not, Gerry Watson Jr. is 45 years old now. He has played in 15 previous Masters tournaments, making the cut 13 times - that’s not a bad item to list on one’s CV. His best finish of late was a T-5 in 2018, and of course was the Masters Champion in both 2012 and 2014.

I’ll mention the TV broadcast because that’s how many will consume the golf, especially Saturday and Sunday. On Thursday, the Masters will be on ESPN from 3:00-7:30 pm EDT, and the same schedule Friday. Saturday coverage will move to CBS from 3:00-7:00 pm EDT, and Sunday starts on CBS at 2:00 pm EDT until the conclusion.

I’ll mention the non-TV coverage because the Masters once again conducts a master class in streaming, comprehensiveness, and a sports app that is actually enjoyable to use. Both Masters.com and the mobile app (available everywhere) allow you to watch every single shot, or to customize it to your heart’s content.

A given is choosing your favorite players to track on the leaderboard. And you can watch the TV broadcast online as well. But it also gives you coverage every day of the Practice Area (the range), and playing coverage of designated featured groups. Plus, they have dedicated coverage of holes 4-6, another one focusing on the critical par 5 15th and par 3 16th, then another centered on Amen Corner. Or you can follow the pairing of your choice, and follow every shot of their round. It’s truly a great consuming experience.

Now that you know how to watch, here are some other pairings of note that you might want to pay attention to:

9:12 am EDT Chris Kirk is paired with Sergio Garcia (who bothers me) and Ryan Fox (whom I like a lot, and his father is pretty cool too).

9:24 am EDT Harris English is playing alongside Clemson’s Lucas Glover and former US Amateur champ Byeong Hun An.

9:36 am EDT Sepp Straka continues this Bulldog heavy morning wave and tees it up with Phil Mickelson and Tony Finau.

9:48 am EDT Russell Henley will be the 4th straight ‘Dawg on #1 tee, and he is with Nick Taylor of Canada and Joaquin Niemann of Chile.

10:18 am EDT Hideki Matsuyama, Will Zalatoris, and Justin Thomas

10:30 am EDT Defending Champion Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Nick Dunlap.

10:42 am EDT Scott Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Xander Schauffele

10:54 am EDT US Open Champ Wyndham Clark, FedEx Cup Champ Viktor Hovland, and 2022 British Open Champ Cameron Smith

12:36 pm EDT Bubba Watson is paired with Nicolai Hojgaard (whose twin brother Rasmus is also a winner on the DP World Tour) and Adam Schenk. Schenk is a Purdue Boilermaker, so he might not be in a great frame of mind after Monday’s basketball game.

1:24 pm EDT Tiger Woods is playing in the afternoon alongside Jason Day and fellow SoCal guy Max Homa.

1:36 pm EDT Brian Harman gets the lucky slot behind Tiger (the crowds will all be in front of him) and is paired with Brooks Koepka and Tom Kim. About as diverse as you can get, but all 3 are fierce competitors and all are very confident.

1:48 pm EDT Jordan Spieth, former wunderkind is paired with Ludvig Aberg, current wunderkind, and Sahith Theegala.

2:00 pm EDT And to cap it all off, 2020 Masters Champion Dustin Johnson gets to play with Collin Morikawa and Englishman Tommy Fleetwood.

The forecast is looking great... after Thursday. The cold front will be passing through Augusta Thursday bringing a certainty of rain, and likely even thunderstorms. And it will be windy, with possible gusts over 30 mph. So it’s possible that all of the information above is thrown out the window with the bathwater.

It looks like the play will be affected, we can only hope it is a minimal delay. But there’s a chance the afternoon tee times are postponed for several hours and only play a few holes before darkness halts play. Which means playing a lot of golf Friday in dry, but also breezy conditions. Saturday looks to be ideal, and Sunday’s final round should be filled with warm sunshine and a typical spring day in Georgia.

Hard to say if the morning or afternoon wave will get the better advantage, but this is a tournament where players won’t gripe. They’re just happy to be there. And we’re happy you’re here. Enjoy the par 3 Tournament today (ESPN at 3:00 pm EDT, and starting at 12:00 pm EDT on Masters.com and the Masters app). And as always...

GO ‘DAWGS!!!