The Masters 2023 — Does PGA Tour vs. LIV impact how majors create
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AUGUSTA, Ga. — Sometimes a late night is required. Other times it’s an early morning. But by now, Jeff Hall knows the drill.
As the USGA manager overseeing rules who has been working on U.S. Open pairings since 2006, Hall’s task is relatively straightforward: turn a field of 156 players into 52 threesomes. The process of doing so, however, is more complex. Some might find it tedious, but Hall, well, he finds it fun.
“2018! That was the best one. Daniel Berger, Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnson, and nobody can figure out why we put them with Kevin Chappell,” Hall said in a recent phone call, laughing as he recounted the meat-centric grouping. “Well, at least at that time, Ruth’s Chris was one of his primary sponsors on his clothing. Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.”
Hall’s voice skips from octave to octave as he explains this part of his job, displaying a kind of joy for matching hometowns and colleges and whatever connections he can concoct that makes one think he’d thrive as a camp counselor tasked with the similar, but different, job of picking a handful of individuals to spend an extended amount of time together. In this case, that time is 36 holes and about 12 hours.
“We try to build out that puzzle as efficiently and as effectively as we can and yet still trying to have a little bit of fun along the way,” Hall said. “We try to do some themes, but they still gotta fit together well. You’re trying to be thoughtful about putting guys together. Sometimes it’s a bombers group, or a few of the best putters, or maybe some Ryder Cup connections.”
Back in the day, Hall and former USGA president Mike Davis used to lock themselves in a room from 5 in the morning until noon, 156 3-by-5-inch note cards laid out in front of them with the names of every player, their hometowns and any other fun fact or description that could make them easy to pair. Last year, Hall sat in a room with Brent Paladino, the USGA’s director of administration, to do the same thing, except now they’re not writing things…
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