Masters Leaderboard 2020: Updates on Golf's Top Scorers on Thursday

The 2020 Masters is being played in mid-November with Tiger Woods as the reigning champion, a statement that would have been hard to believe before last year's tournament teed off.

After the event was delayed from its usual April placement on the sports calendar, play finally began at 7 a.m. ET on Thursday amid rain at Augusta National Golf Club. It led to an early weather delay as storms rolled through Georgia.

Let's check out all of the important details for Thursday's action. That's followed by a closer look at some storylines to follow throughout the weekend.

TV, Mobile Viewing Information

Where: Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia

TV Coverage: 1 p.m. ET on ESPN

Live Stream: Masters Live

Leaderboard: Masters.com

Tournament Storylines to Watch

Will Length or Accuracy Prove More Important?

Bryson DeChambeau has been the talk of the golf world and for good reason. He's leading the PGA Tour in average driving distance (344.4 yards) and that was a crucial factor in his six-stroke triumph at the U.S. Open in September.

His play throughout the year, which included seven straight top-10 finishes from the Genesis Invitational in February through his win in the Rocket Mortgage Classic in July, is surely forcing a lot of players to think about whether they need to start bulking up to add more length to their game for 2021.

Augusta National is a different type of challenge, though. In theory, being able to crush the ball 350 yards isn't going to provide as much of an advantage as it does in a normal Tour event. The shape of the course and the tricky nature of the greens often makes chipping and putting what decides the winner.

That's the traditional perspective, though. Perhaps the game is changing even more than people realize on the surface. If DeChambeau or another long hitter is able to conquer Augusta with ease as the weather improves, the question will shift to whether the niche for more tactical players is being eliminated.

Weather Should Fade As a Factor After Thursday

The early rain delay put a damper on the hype that built throughout the week. The forecast looks more promising for the remainder of Masters week, though.

Here's the forecast for the coming days, according to the Weather Channel:

• Friday: high of 78 degrees with a 10 percent chance of rain
• Saturday: high of 72 degrees with no chance of rain
• Sunday: high of 80 degrees with a 20 percent chance of rain

It may take awhile for the course to fully dry out into Friday, but from that point forward, all signs suggest the weather will no longer hamper the event.

If the tournament is pushed into Monday, the forecast calls for sunny skies and a high of 68 degrees.

Hole Locations Will Play a Key Role

When tournament organizers announced the hole locations for the first round, it was clear they wanted to provide a serious test right out of the gate, perhaps playing into concerns about length playing too large of a role in determining the winner.

Some of the holes looked more like something you'd see on a Sunday at Augusta, only a few paces from the edge of the green:

It represented a high-risk, high-reward setup that'll likely continue throughout the week. Golfers will have to play ultra-aggressive if they want to go low, but danger will lurk around every corner given the difficulty of handling the greens.

All told, it should help keep scores lower and allow more players to have a chance heading into Sunday.