Notes from the Sports Desk by Tyler Julson

 

After a couple weeks off, I’m back to writing my weekly column. We’re still in the beginning stages of the spring sports season, with only the NRHEG and United South Central/Alden-Conger track teams starting their season.

Both the men’s and women’s Gophers basketball teams have been eliminated from their respective brackets, the Cyclones are done and my bracket has been busted up bad. This is the point where I start rooting for complete chaos. How does an Oregon, Auburn, Virginia Tech and Florida State Final Four sound? Not great, but that’s what I’m hoping for.

The Masters tournament is just around the corner and I’ve got my favorites. Tiger (obviously), Jason Day and Tommy Fleetwood are my picks that have a shot at winning. Does Tiger have a real shot? Probably not, but I can’t not put him at the top.

I got an email recently highlighting some facts and figures about the tournament, and some of them are absolutely mind blowing.

• According to wallethub.com, there are 300 members at Augusta National Golf Club, where initiation fees are $30,000 and yearly dues are $2,200.

• Tiger returns to the tournament 8,036 days since he won his first and 5,117 days since he won his last.

• The cost of producing the coveted green jacket is $250 and takes one month to make — a small price when a previous jacket sold at auction for $682,000.

• The average cost of a ticket to each day comes in at just under $10,000 — the 2017 Masters brought in over $35 million in ticket sales alone.

• If you splurge on a ticket, don’t worry, the meals are super cheap at the course. The most expensive food items on the menu are the grilled chicken wrap and the chicken sandwich, which are just $3 each.

• If you’re like me and just plan on watching from home, we need to thank our friends at Delta Airlines, UPS, Rolex, AT&T, IBM and Mercedes Benz. These companies pay over $7 million each to be able to bring us coverage with only four minutes of commercial time per hour of golf coverage.

• The eventual winner will take home a whopping $1.98 million. Maybe we all need to think about a career in golf.

Here’s a link to some more stats relating to the Masters: https://wallethub.com/blog/masters-facts/2965/

Tyler Julson is the Tribune sports writer. Contact him at tyler.julson@albertleatribune.com.