Amanda Balionis Renner handles post-round interviews with players each week during the CBS golf season, but this week at Augusta National Golf Club for the Masters offers a unique opportunity as an interviewer that other tournaments don’t provide.
Because of the connection to the course that players and fans all share, with everyone watching and playing understanding the history of Augusta National and the Masters tournament, Renner gets to dive just a bit deeper with players and, as she says, “nerd out” a bit about the course that is arguably the most famous in all of golf. Heading into this week there is no shortage of stories, with the headliners being the top-3 players in the world — Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Jon Rahm — all playing spectacular golf already this year, along with Tiger Woods being back on the grounds.
However, Renner’s excited to dive into whatever else pops up this week, from changes to the course to anyone who maybe emerges as a breakout star at Augusta. Ahead of the Masters, we talked on behalf of her partnership with Masters presenting partner IBM about the opportunities she gets that are unique as an interviewer, who could breakout this week, and some new features arriving on the Masters app for fans this week.
What have been your thoughts about how the start of this PGA Tour season has gone? Obviously, with the top three guys all kind of showing out and it seems like we’re coming in with a field where there’s a ton of storylines to be able to talk about.
Doesn’t it feel like no matter what the year is, the excitement always builds into this, right? It always feels like, holy cow. I cannot believe it works out that way. And it always does for the Masters, for whatever reason, but it’s exactly how I feel heading in to this Masters as well. We had a tremendous west coast swing. Those events with incredibly strong fields and the cream rose to the top every time. We had amazing champions, amazing battles down the stretch on Sundays, and it just builds that excitement even more heading into the Masters. You think about where Jon Rahm’s game is, how close he’s come to win, and it feels like it’s not a matter of if, but when for him. Rory McIlroy, obviously doing Rory McIlroy things, stepping up in his leadership role like we’ve never seen, and I think that’s given him some added conviction and obviously this is the one he wants now more than any other major. And then there’s Scottie Scheffler defending, and it really feels like the storylines are kind of endless this year. Yeah, it’s gonna be awesome. I cannot wait to get there.
The Masters is such a unique one because we go the same place every year and we know who plays well, we know who maybe fights some demons at Augusta, and it feels like the major where we have the most knowledge coming in. Because it’s not, you know, the US Open where we might go to a course none of these guys have ever seen. So from a broadcast perspective, what does that allow you to do in interviews and talking to these guys? Because you know that they know the course, and you know that they know all the spots that are gonna pop up. Does that allow you to maybe dig a little deeper, because people know some of the base level stories?
It certainly allows us to dig deeper and I was actually just talking about this earlier. It’s such a unique tournament because there is no detail too small that people are not going to care about or people don’t want to hear about, right? You think about the changes at 13, for instance. You read these quotes from Scottie Scheffler or Jon Rahm, or Rory McIlroy, or any player that has history — Jordan Spieth has history on this golf course — and they could talk for 20 minutes about these changes on one hole. And that is not something that we really find the rest of the PGA Tour season especially, like you said, at majors because we aren’t going to the same places for the other three majors every year. So, it is so unique, and it’s so cool, because everyone kind of nerds out the same way, if that makes sense.
Like everyone’s so excited to hear how the strategy’s gonna change off the tee on 13. And it’s a hole that we’ve seen over and over and over again. Everyone wants to talk about the fear on 12. It’s just, the nerves and the excitement around this course, no matter how many times we come there and no matter how many times players tee it up there, it never goes away. I actually think it almost feels the opposite. It continues to build. It’s just so unique. It’s so special. And when you hear players talk about it with the reverence they talk about it with and the nerves and the excitement they still feel, I think that is just contagious for the rest of us. So yes, for sure we’re able to dig a little bit deeper, but I also think not only because of the familiarity with the course, but because the passion the players have in talking about the course itself and what that tournament means and the history of the Masters. When everyone is equally excited, that’s when you kind of get this culmination of passion that we see at the Masters every year.
Yeah, I did something with Rahm a couple years ago before the Masters and that’s all we did, we just went through the course and kind of talked about all the different spots and the different areas where he’s had to learn. And I think it sets it up to where you get these builds where you get a guy like Rahm who we know early on, he had to fight the emotions at Augusta. It’s going to wear on you mentally and he had to get to the point where he can weather through that, now he’s to that point. Nw we’re waiting for the breakthrough and Rory, we’ve seen him come so close so many times. And when you get to talk to these guys after a round or after a tournament or before the tournament, what is it like knowing that these guys have that history and being able to tap into that and, like you said, they have the passion for this place in a way that we don’t necessarily get anywhere else?
Yeah, a cool thing is that when you interview a Rory McIlroy, right, he knows his history there. Every fan, every viewer knows the history. We’ve been talking about it the entire broadcast, and it’s not something that has to be so outwardly spoken about. The implications already there. The history is right in front of all of us. The tension is palpable. You know, Rory is one of the most open players on the planet, which I respect so deeply and appreciate so much especially as an interviewer, but it’s not something that necessarily has to be spelled out, which is also a unique thing. Like in a regular PGA Tour event, if I really want to take a player down a certain road, it does sometimes have to be spelled out where I want them to go and establish why I want them to go there. Not just for the player, but of course for the viewer at home, so they understand why we’re talking about this thing.
It doesn’t feel necessary to do that at the Masters. It kind of feels like everyone’s on the same page and the players are automatically going to go there because that is what is on their mind. That is what has been on their mind heading into that week. Rory McIlroy knows what we’re going to be asking him if he puts himself in contention heading into Sunday. Everyone knows what that storyline is. Everyone knows the scar tissue. Everyone knows how much he cares about putting that green jacket on. So it almost makes it more fun. It makes it a little bit easier in terms of the conversation because we don’t have to waste any time setting up the stage. The stage is set for us because we talk about it every single day — unfortunately for someone like Rory McIlroy, we talk about it every single year. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled when that narrative changes. But I I kind of think that’s the difference is everyone, it feels like people are so well educated in what’s on the line and how we got here, that it allows us to dive deeper faster.
The drive down Magnolia Lane doesn’t get old.@Amanda_Balionis caught up with @McIlroyRory on Monday at #themasters pic.twitter.com/Sx7O8d99GR
— Golf on CBS
(@GolfonCBS) April 3, 2023
We know the top three guys all battling for number one in the world and we know those are going to be the storylines coming in, and obviously Tiger is always one of them. But I think something that I love about the Masters is we always seem to have one guy that kind of makes a name at the tournament. We had Will Zalatoris, obviously Spieth, Scheffler crowned himself [last year]. Is there anybody that you’re looking at coming into this Masters who can kind of do that to make their name nationally, beyond just the hardcore golf fan who follows the Tour week-to-week, who’s going to have a chance to maybe step out on this stage and really take a take a step forward?
Yeah, I mean, Max Homa is one that comes to mind. Max has become a superstar in the golf space. I don’t know if that is necessarily the case nationally yet, but he just seems mentally so primed to take himself to to the next level. And we’ve already seen it multiple times this year, he’s a multiple time winner already in 2023. Winning at the Farmers, you take a look at his resume, not only the courses that he’s been able to win on, which a lot of them are major championship courses, but the fields that he has been able to beat and the mental fortitude that he has continued to sharpen to this point. I think if you asked Max, the goal is to go out there and win majors. Like that is what he has been working towards, in that self belief. So I feel like he is just so … you’re right, we always we expect certain guys to be at the top always coming into the weekend. I don’t think it’d be unexpected to see Max there, but I also think that might be a player that the general fan might say, “Oh, wow, like that funny guy on Twitter, that funny guy on Instagram.”
I think he’s so unique in the fact that Max became well known as a personality first, and is now earning his respect, which he very much deserves, on the course second, which is so rare in golf, right? Like, it’s so rare that we fall in love with personalities before the success happens. And Max now is earning that respect on the golf course and I think to be able to put himself in the mix, which I do think his game and his … again, it’s so mental when you get to a place like the Masters. He has the game, it’s just the mental fortitude to push through for four straight rounds. But I do think he’s there and I think this could be the one that people go from, “Oh, Max Homa, yes, he’s one of the six time winner now, he has some great wins, but the funny Twitter guy,” to “Holy cow, Max Homa the the major champion,” could be just around the corner and he’s one that I’m definitely keeping an eye on.
And some of it, I think, from a fan point of view at home or patrons on the course that’s unique about the Masters is how much you can watch now. I remember when the Masters was, you could only see the back nine. It’s been such a leap forward, and part of that is the partnership with IBM that gives us every single shot on the website. And this year they’re adding some new things to that. What are fans going to be able to look forward to this year that’s a little bit new in how we consume that and are able to watch everything?
The Masters has just done such a phenomenal job in terms of the way when they progress, when they do something, it makes your jaw drop every time. It’s not like okay, this could be cool and they can work out some kinks. No, that is not what happens here. IBM and the Masters, they launched this app, you open the app, and it’s by far the best sports app any of us have ever seen. Like that’s just, it’s what it is. And nothing makes me more excited than being able to re-download the Masters app every year, because you know there’s going to be something else — I think I screen recorded it. Like, how many of us do that stupid thing of screen recording it as we put it back on our phones? Again, that doesn’t happen with any other app. It doesn’t happen any other tournament or any other sporting event probably throughout the whole year. We just can’t get enough.
But I think a huge part of that for me is as a broadcaster, the thing I love is that every shot on every hole for a player, that round in three minutes, that is huge. And when I’m running around, and we’re doing kind of a bunch of different things and we’re showcasing a bunch of different players and a bunch of different ways, you know, on Masters.com, we’re not necessarily watching every shot on the golf course. So if all of a sudden, I get done with something I’m doing on my workday, and I see so and so just shot four under and it has the early clubhouse lead. I’m no longer like oh no, where am I going to be able to go watch this. I can literally just say, “I know the Masters app already has it.” I could watch this player, every single shot on every single hole in three minutes. It’s crazy. I think those are the things that, for me, I get really excited about. I also think the predictive part of that, which is going to be a new feature which is kind of cool, not so much for the broadcasting side, but for fans at home and for viewers building their fantasy teams and being able to watch players.
I think there’s something to historically being able to look back on how they have played at Augusta National, and what that expectation is, and then what the actual results will be. And how much of that can we look and say man, historically, they’ve played really well on 13. But now they’re in contention for the first time, this was what the prediction was, this is what actually happened. Is that nerves, whatever that is. And that ability to build, everyone loves to build a fantasy team, right? So the ability to look at what that prediction is and everyday set that lineup and understand, maybe it does get a little bit more insight so you can beat your buddies at home. I don’t know, it’s just another cool way to dive a little bit deeper into the statistical data that is the Masters and all of those numbers. I think they’ve accumulated, I don’t know, over 20,000 shots or something like that for a player historically. There’s so much data that goes into it and we love that as golf fans. Statistics are a huge part of our game, for better or for worse, we love talking about strokes gained. We love talking about those things, so to take statistics to another level and implement it in a way that is going to help people have more fun, and maybe be more involved with their friends, and watching it and rooting for certain players. I just think that it’s cool. It’s just like another cool part of what they’re bringing to the table that we’ve never seen before.
Well, that goes to … we know the course and we have these data points for these guys that we don’t necessarily have at every other course. But especially on the weekend when we start scoreboard watching, and if somebody from the early wave posts a number, the predictive things are kind of nice because you can kind of figure out the flow of the course. Because we know the spots where bogeys can come up at the start of Amen corner, and then you get 13 to 15 where you’re supposed to score, and then you just try to hold on at the end. And I think the predictive thing is a unique way to see that visually, right?
Yeah, absolutely. That’s the thing, like you said, we can’t get enough of this golf course. And this is the one time a year we can all nerd out together on what this course does. Where you have to just survive, where you have to score, where you cannot three putt. Like all of these things are just, it’s facts. It’s statistical data that things cannot happen if you want to win the Masters and certain things have to happen if you want to win the Masters. So to see the predictions, and again, the predictions aren’t telling you that’s exactly what’s going to happen. I almost think that’s the cooler part is hey, this is what this person has done historically here, and maybe they’re playing the best golf of their life and you can see that differentiation.
Like for me, that’s where I think it’s gonna be really cool. Or if they are historically really good here, but again, they’re in a position they’ve never been in and they go the opposite way. You’re like, oh, man, okay, we can probably point to nerves on that one, right? Or like, what does that mean? Or what does that mean for the rest of the field? Maybe there’s weather conditions or wind directions that we aren’t used to seeing. And we have seen that in the past — really cold weather, really high winds, a really wet Augusta National. All of those things play a part, and, yeah, I think it gives us a better point of reference, maybe, to understand it on a deeper level. Which again, we can’t get enough of it. So anything that they’re gonna give us, we’re all gonna soak it in.