The Sports Thread

How the Masters Became the World's Greatest Golf Tournament

With
the approach of this year’s Masters, it’s once again time for Jim Nantz
to whisper in our ears that we’re about to savor “a tradition unlike
any other.”

But it isn’t just Nantz’s repetition of
his Masters catchphrase that makes us buy into the belief that Augusta
National is every bit as unique a golfing experience as when astronaut
Alan Shepard turned the moon into his personal driving range.

Visitors
are bombarded by Masters traditions the second their vehicles roll onto
Magnolia Lane, where Augusta National’s entry road is lined with trees
planted before the Civil War.

The course is
punctuated with golfing landmarks, like Rae’s Creek, the trickling brook
in the heart of Amen Corner that gobbles up balls that fail to reach
the 12th green. Look one way, and it’s spanned by a stone bridge named
for legend Ben Hogan. Look the other and there’s another crossing
dedicated to Byron Nelson.

And for the duration of
the tournament, history lessons will emanate non-stop from Butler Cabin,
CBS’ broadcast headquarters. There, the Masters’ green jacket passes annually from last year’s champ to this year’s newly crowned king of golf.

Yes, it’s almost enough to make one think that this must be where golf was born.

But guess what? Of golf’s four major tournaments, the Masters is easily the youngest, starting only in 1934.