by Gary Williams | Apr 6, 2023 | Blog
The Masters is the youngest major, yet it has established several traditions because of the returning to Augusta National every year that has allowed the tournament to catch up in some ways to the other three monster events in the men’s game. The honorary starters have transitioned from generation to generation and currently the combined Masters titles of Nicklaus, Player and Watson is eleven and their overall major championship haul is 35. Their mere presence together on Thursday morning on the first tee made me emotional watching from a monitor in the press building. I saw Gary Player in person 50 years ago at the Greater Greensboro Open in 1973 when I was six years old. I was on the grounds in 1980 at U.S. Open when Nicklaus shot 63 in the opening round and went on to win that year at Baltusrol. On that same Thursday in 1980 I saw Tom Watson make a hole-in-one on the 4th hole at Baltusrol. These three men are part of the soundtrack of my life loving golf, and you simply don’t know how much longer they will do this wonderful exercise together.
My day centered on four live hours hosting the radio coverage on SiriusXM with a rotating cast of people from Carl Paulson, Brian Katrek, Taylor Zarzour, John Maginnes, Fred Albers and Chantel McCabe. All with the gift of gab that is essential on radio, and we were focused primarily on the featured group of Tiger Woods, Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele. Tiger was simply not sharp. He labored all the way around, and on a day ripe for scoring, his 74 felt higher. Hovland was almost spotless and produced a stellar up-and-down on 10 to hold the round in place and after thirteen holes he was 7-under and looked like he might be headed to something very low.
I got out on the golf course at 2:30 and caught up with the group of Jason Day, Zach Johnson and amateur Gordon Sargent. Having attended Vanderbilt, I was able to catch up with their terrific golf coach Scott Limbaugh as well as a dear friend and Sigma Chi fraternity brother who flew in to meet his two sons who attend Vanderbilt. I bumped into the Walker Cup captain Mike McCoy, the reigning British Amateur champion, who was out watching Sargent who is destined to be on the US team next fall at St. Andrews. Conditions could not have been better for scoring, and it showed on the white, hand-operated scoreboards.
Quick hits
- The tenth hole is the most majestic inland hole in my estimation in the world. Grand in scale with big and bold features from the Mackenzie bunker to the cascading loblolly pines it embodies the grandness of the golf course.
- The landing zone for good tees shots from the new tee on hole 13 make the hole what Bob Jones intended. The decision to go for the green should be “momentous” and it is once again.
- From the top of the hill on 15, the green looks like an extended island green with the pond on 16 at the far exterior of the 15th green.
- No lunch report today as I simply did not have time to grab anything, and I was not eating a pimento cheese sandwich on the course because they are grossly overrated. My Mom makes great homemade pimento cheese, so the bar is high but the sandwiches here are living on a reputation that is part nostalgia and maybe an ounce of fear that you shouldn’t say anything negative about the staple Masters food item. Sorry, they are not good, its o.k. The event’s reputation will be unaffected.
- Best dressed media member. Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press. He’s a lion in the business and his uniform of a Hawaiian shirt and shorts with his well bronzed face is one of the iconic looks in any media center.
- We wait for the impending weather rolling in late tomorrow.
by Gary Williams | Apr 6, 2023 | Blog
The eve of any major championship is challenging for players, fans and the media. With the constant flow of content being put out into the ether, even world-class media gasbags are about tapped out with thought or original conversation by Wednesday. How many times can we extrapolate whether Rory is in the right headspace? Players have installed their game plans and any player searching for a swing thought on the eve of the Masters will be on a Delta regional jet connecting in Atlanta or heading to Hilton Head on Saturday morning in a courtesy car.
Wednesday morning for me started with breakfast with Taylor Zarzour. Taylor has followed me at three different stops in my career. When I left local radio in Charlotte he arrived at the station, WFNZ, that I had departed and quickly became a valuable voice in a market that is still experiencing rapid growth. When I left SiriusXM to head to Golf Channel in 2011 he took a position with the network in varied roles. He also currently handles the play-by-play job for the Carolina Panthers television preseason package, a position I occupied from 2006 to 2008. Taylor has become the visionary for the PGA Tour radio network, transforming the channel’s line-up into a collection of voices with personality and relationships with every top player in the game. It’s nice when you have a meal with a good friend who can nerd out about golf like I can and it was a super geeky conversation about distance reduction, the champions dinner and broadcasting ideas for round one coverage on SiriusXM for Thursday. When you eat in the dining room in the Press building, you order and within five minutes your food is delivered piping hot. How can a facility that operates one week out of the year with part-time help be so courteous and efficient? I don’t know, but the organization could teach virtually every other business in the service sector how to do what they do better. Egg whites and bacon for me. Rock solid.
Fred Ridley’s annual state of the Masters commenced at 11 AM sharp and it was standing room only. The weight of the Augusta National voice in the industry of golf is unmatched and Ridley holds the position to not only speak for the club, but to lead it into whatever is next, and their reach in the game is boundless. I asked the second question of Mr. Ridley after he finished his opening remarks and despite him touching on the recent announcement by the governing bodies on their proposed modified local rule on the golf ball, I felt it was necessary to get clarity on their position. I simply asked if they supported the proposal and he stated that they did, which came as no surprise. He spoke for 45 minutes and was asked about Greg Norman not being invited this year as a past major champion, the future exemptions of LIV players, the changes to hole 13, his own experience playing in the Masters and the Champions dinner.
The SiriusXM team had our final production meeting and just a reminder to those in the broadcast field, if you are standing next to Mike Tirico in a production meeting it means your career has not bottomed out just yet. Mike will be the lead play-by-play person for the radio broadcast because why wouldn’t he? He’s the most versatile and committed broadcaster in the industry and with some of the most significant assignments in all of sports television he’s willing and enthusiastic about doing radio. He also is a team guy, in every way.
After lunch with Eamon Lynch of Golfweek and Golf Channel, I had a cup of soup and a Caesar salad with grilled chicken and was anxious to get on the course for the first time. I always make my first trip around Augusta starting on 10 tee and the view is the most majestic on the golf course. Cascading loblolly pines are the backdrop behind the tenth green and the distinctive Mackenzie bunker that is recessed from the front of the putting green by 60 yards are the most profound images of the hole. The Mackenzie bunker lacks the uniformity and homogenous appearance of most of the other bunkers on the golf course and even though it is rarely if ever in play, it is one of the defining design features on the course from its original creation. You descend from the top of the golf course to the bottom in two holes. Walking downhill 350 feet to the 11th green and the stage that is Amen Corner. I grew up sledding on the hills of Arcola Country Club in northern New Jersey and I gaze at the hills and slopes at Augusta National and marvel at the potential for the greatest sledding experience in another lifetime. The hills on 10 and 11, the hill as you turn the corner on the second fairway, the hill on the 8th going back to the tee and the side slope on hole number five. The 12th hole is golf’s greatest stage. I mean that in the sense that the audience can’t actually approach the stage. Once the players hit their tee shots, they head to the solitude that exists across the Hogan bridge. Looking back at the new tee on 13 from afar, I can tell you that I love it. It’s elevated and it looks natural, and I’ve always been a fan of true chutes on back tees and the new tee is a cylinder in appearance. A few other quick observations on seeing the course again. The climb from the 14th tee to the apex of the fairway is underrated, the severity of the drop off in front of the third green is dramatic and the original range which sits between 9 and 18 is the perfect wide corridor for fans to make their way out onto the golf course.
A few final quick hitters:
- Steve Elkington still has great style. Five pocket pants, stylish shoes and a killer belt. Elk looked good.
- Gary Woodland is a good athlete. His wife might be a better athlete having seen her climb a rock wall years ago in the Bahamas and seeing their little kids has me betting on their athletic futures.
- The Oak Tree adjacent to the clubhouse is the greatest outdoor meeting area in golf industry history.
- Best dressed media member. Eamon Lynch in a light grey suit and a dark solid tie accenting by carmel-colored leather boots. Not bad for a writer.
- My pick is Scottie Scheffler. Let’s start this thing.
