Jack Nicklaus famously said the Masters really doesn’t start until the back nine on Sunday.
So why do we sweat it out, beginning with this morning’s ceremonial tee shots at 6:25 ‘round here? Wait, wasn’t the Par 3 Contest Wednesday really the start of this obsession?
Jack, Tom Watson and the prickly but charming and ageless Gary Player will gather at the first tee – something Nicklaus said he’d never, ever, ever do, but eventually acquiesced – and thrill the early patrons to signal the beginning of play by the 91 actual competitors chasing the fabled green jacket.
I will not be catching that action live.
But I will be watching far more than a normal amount. This is the first of the four spectacle weeks in the sport, the golf world’s major championships. I will catch more Golf Channel, ESPN and CBS coverage this week and during the PGA, U.S. Open, and British Open than I will the rest of the year combined. Unless it’s a Ryder Cup year, which it’s not.
It’s A Tradition Unlike Any Other. Well, not really in my case. The first two weeks of March Madness captivate me. They coincide with prime crawfish season. Crawdads, Cold Ones and Cinderellas are a fine combination.
Didn’t get enough of that last month. Sadly botched priorities. Can rally this weekend, though. If at no other time, for that back nine on Sunday.
The first indication that the Masters was a big deal came from the fine fellow across the street from us when I was in Hodge Elementary School, and my golf game was limited to Putt Putt. Mr. Torpy was a golfer, and he had lived in Augusta, Ga., for most of his life. One day he told me his family had tickets to the Masters.
I wasn’t sure what that was, but it sounded important. Planted a seed that eventually rose up 40 years ago this weekend.
I was aware of the Masters in my teens and early 20s – a fellow named Fuzzy winning (1979) was a pretty funny feat – but not until 1986, when the Olden Bear made his Sunday charge on, yes, the back nine and won at age 46, did it fully rivet me to the TV.
Now Jack IS 86, and still winning – in the courts. He regained control of The Nicklaus Companies with a $50 million lawsuit victory last fall over snaky former business partners, which forced a bankruptcy (a quadruple bogey!). March 12, he won the court’s approval to acquire (re-acquire?) the Companies for $36 million.
He’s got $14 million left over – and that’s not the half of it. Estimates of his net worth range as high as $1.1 billion. Most have him around $400 million. Suffice to say he is not buying Powerball tickets.
He will, however, be part of a new phase of Masters coverage this week – Amazon Prime Video makes its debut, streaming two hours today and Friday (starting at noon) – and Nicklaus will have a presence.
You bet he will. Yes, SIR.
Hopefully he’ll have reason to talk about our local phenom, Sam Burns. The Calvary Baptist graduate tees off at 8:19 this morning, 11:27 Friday.
Burns was 45th last year, and 29th in 2023, with missed cuts in his other two appearances in Augusta. But he did make the cut in all four majors last year, and led in the final round, on the back nine, on a rain-soaked Oakmont Country Club course in the U.S. Open.
Some people who know much more about the game say Sam’s game doesn’t translate well to Augusta National. I see he ranks 17th on the tour in driving distance, and 13th in strokes gained putting, and think, length matters there and putting really, really, really matters.
I also know he lives at Squire Creek Country Club in Choudrant, and it’s a Tom Fazio layout with turtleback greens and a lot of terrain that to some degree resembles what I believe he’s facing today. So I hope for the best.
Maybe he can channel some of Tommy Bolt’s game, minus the temper tantrums and club tosses. Bolt was a Shreveport golf pro who became one of the Tour’s top talents during the presidency of the first avid White House golfer, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower. He so loved the game that he parlayed presidential favor into many rounds at Augusta National, where he hated a tree in the 17th fairway.
They named it for him. A 2014 ice storm did it in.
Bolt had a great career record in the Masters: five top 10 finishes, three in the top five, with a tie for third in 1952 as his finest. He was eighth 13 years later.
How about our more recent PGA Tour greats?
Hal Sutton was basically allergic to azaleas, it seems, as he had 16 missed cuts, eight in a row, from 1980-2001. His best two Masters were his last, topped by a 10th place tie in 2001.
David Toms has three Masters top 10s – T6 in 1998, his debut there, T8 in 2003 and ninth in 2007.
At some point, hopefully as soon as this weekend, Burns seems destined to be in the mix.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com