A victory at The Masters carries intangibles that no other golf tournament in the world possesses.
Maybe it’s because of the founder, Bobby Jones. Maybe it’s because of some of the players who've won it, icons such as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods; take your pick of legends.
Maybe it’s because of the beauty of Augusta National in the springtime, with the riotous pinks and purples of the azaleas, the shimmering white petals of the dogwoods, and the always undulating carpet of green underneath it all.
It might be golf heaven. And when you see the grounds for the first time in person, you’re pretty sure it is.
The golf crew at CBS Sports provided a conference call for media members this week, speaking about Augusta National and The Masters with reverence. Having been there a time or two, it’s easy to see why.
The Masters is about more than reverence and natural beauty. It’s about the skill of the golfers, the difficulty of the shots, the wonder of the accidentally lucky bounce, the shot that rolls off the front of the 12th green into Rae’s Creek, and the one that doesn’t.
It's about the long eagle putts that wind their way to the hole on the back nine, or as they say, the second nine. Yes, even the language is different at Augusta National.
In the end, it’s about golf history, and CBS consistently presents it as history in the making. The behind-closed-doors nature of the telecast plans won’t change any time soon, so says Sellers Shy, Coordinating Producer.
The workings are so “secret” that Shy, honoring his name, was pretty discreet about what’s new this year on the call, as he wants us to discover it as the telecast unfolds. However, he did hint that there will be a new camera location for the 12th green, the 13th tee, and perhaps the 11th green. We’ll have to wait and see where.
He also mentioned flight cams, Atlas(es), cinematic feel, but no specifics.
They won’t be showing us any before-and-after photos of the storm damage from the the hurricane that rolled through Augusta last year. Really, that’s an ugly memory, and no one wants to relive it.
Many think when the leaves finally show themselves in full, unless you’re a member or have played the course often, you might not know the difference. Augusta has been known to move in shrubs and trees as needed.
If you happened to watch The Players Championship, you’ll recall seeing the process involved when a fully grown oak tree was moved to replace one that had been shattered in a storm; the better to annoy players teeing off on the 6th hole.
Dottie Pepper, the highly-skilled former LPGA star who walks the grounds with the golfers, mentioned more about carnage than anyone else on the call. She noted there was damage to the trees on the right side of the 3rd hole and added that some trees were no longer there between the 6th and the 16th due to the damage. The changes, she thinks, will get the attention of players early in the week.
“The practice rounds are going to have a different focus because some of the natural targets, they may not be there the way they have been,” Pepper said. “I think there's going to be a different focus, a different awareness about what start lines are.”
Trevor Immelman, winner of The Masters in 2008, chimed in on the players' preparation as well.
“Their attention will be heightened to exactly how the course is playing, and if there are opportunities for the wind to be swirling in different directions, and so just another reason for them to really be paying attention in the practice rounds,” he said.
The reason Augusta National is such a test, Immelman added, is the incredibly small size of the targets.
“The areas that you're hitting to on approach are so tiny, these little shelves and portions in the greens are so tiny, and when you're playing from an uneven lie in the fairway, maybe the ball is slightly above your feet or a downhill lie to a small area like that, any type of doubt that creeps in, whether it be is that wind still going to be the same as what I'm used to it being the last few years, or how is it going to be affected by the elements right now,” he explained. “That's what really causes havoc for these players is that little shred of doubt.”
One additional thing Pepper added to the conversation came from Rory McIlroy, this year’s sentimental favorite.
“Rory even mentioned 16 because of some of the trees that are no longer there,” she explained. “It’s a darker part of the golf course, especially as we're finishing towards 7:00 p.m. Eastern. He feels like it might be a little bit easier because the shadows won't be as big of a factor.”
Immelman said it could be a similar situation on the par-5 13th.
Pepper added, “Those are the things that could change a little bit, and it doesn't necessarily always make them more difficult.”
So, depending on the amount of light as a player comes through the final nine holes, depending on whether there is a playoff, the missing vegetation could affect the outcome.
One way or another, it will be another memorable Masters Tournament because every one of them is.
“Where you were when you saw Tiger in '97 win his first Masters? Where you were in '86 when Jack won his sixth? That was the tournament that made me fall in love with the game,” Immelman recalled. “It was the first time I had watched the Masters on TV in South Africa as a six- or seven-year-old kid.”
For lead CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz, a Masters legend in his own right, his romance with golf also started when he watched golf on TV. He was mesmerized.
This year is Nantz's 40th as a member of the CBS golf team, and he still remembers the day that Frank Chirkinian, the late and revered executive producer for CBS and the network's coverage of The Masters, told him that he was going to be at the 16th hole.
“At first, I couldn't believe I was going to be a part of it. But to be that late in the game, be there for the 70th hole of The Masters on Sunday, that was a very weighty assignment, and of course, I'm trying to act like I'm unfazed,” he confessed. “I was just in the college dorm not even four years ago. Are you sure you entrust me with this hole? I was scared out of my wits.”
Despite that, Nantz has never put a foot wrong, not just on television but in his interactions with people. It’s a big responsibility to be a sports anchor, and in some ways, he carries the weight of the network on his shoulders.
In any event, Chirkinian invited him to return the next season and the season after that, and here he is four decades later.
“I never lose that thought, that feeling, the gratitude of having another one. That's why we take them one at a time, and we put everything we have, everything we're trained to do into one show without looking down the road,” Nantz concluded.
The great part is that the world loves it. Happy Masters season, everyone.