By Art Spander
The Masters always has been a tournament of equal parts pretension and competition.
The insistence to call spectators “patrons” can be discomforting.
The intent to put on an event CBS’s Jim Nantz calls “a tradition unlike any other” — is that pretentious enough for you? — can be satisfying.
A month from his 45th birthday, Tiger Woods will appear in this Masters, which starts on Thursday. As both defending champion and symbol.
He has become not only the face of the event but, because of his ethnic background and singular recognition, the voice as well, interesting especially for those who remember the bad old days of racism in the game and at the club.
A sport once as white as the balls used for play, golf crept slowly into the present. The Masters began in 1934. No African-American appeared until 1975, when Lee Elder was in the field.
The current Masters chairman, Fred Ridley, a former U.S. Amateur champion, announced Monday that Elder, now 86, next April would join Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player to hit a ceremonial first tee shot.
Woods tweeted his delight, and on Tuesday, interview day for so many of the big guns, Tiger said in affirmation, “Lee was a pioneer. He was the one that broke the color barrier here and paved the way for players of color like myself to be able to play in this event.”
Woods also was aware of a chronological connection.
“It’s ironic he did it in ’75.” Woods said of Elder. “I was born in ’75, and when I won in ’97 (Elder) was on the back of the green. So to have him here Monday, and to be able to see him and have him as our honorary starter next April — it’s awfully special and important in the history of the event. But for me personally, it’s probably even more important.”
When it comes to importance, no one at the moment compares to Tiger. As ESPN is all too well aware.
The network may not care that much for golf — the NFL is the hot item, of course — but it cares for personalities and ratings. Since ESPN has the Thursday and Friday rounds (CBS has Saturday and Sunday), it has overwhelmed us with Tiger.
Look, Woods’ come-from-behind victory 19 months ago was stunning, but it wasn’t a world changing, “where were you when?” sort of occurrence like the moon landing. Big in sports? Absolutely. But let’s not get carried away.
Tiger’s first Masters was in 1995, when he was 19 and a freshman at Stanford. A quarter century later, he recalls a Wednesday practice round with a couple of tournament champions named Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.
“I was a little punk college student,” a chuckling Woods said, “and we’re playing for skins (dollars) and I didn’t have any cash in my pocket.”
Through the years, even after he earned millions, Woods was notorious for not paying off golf debts.
“Arnold makes a putt on 18,” said Tiger. “Takes all the skins away from us. And Jack and Arnold asked me, ‘Hey, do you want to go play the par-3 contest?’ Well, I’m scheduled to go later. ‘Well, just follow us.’ And we played together, and that was awesome.”
The word is overused in sports, but it very much applies to Woods. He won the ’97 Masters, and as the TV folks tell us, he “made the dial move.” Anytime he’s out there, it still moves.
Woods has won five Masters and 82 pro tournaments. He’s won the love of golf fans — well, patrons — and manufacturers of golf products, not a small percentage of which have shirts and hats with his logo on the front.
A fixture in April, the Masters in 2020 has been shifted to late autumn because of the coronavirus pandemic.
”We’ve never played it in the fall,” said Woods. “The grass is different. The conditions are different. The run-up to the event is different.”
But it still is the Masters, pretension and competition. Wonderful.