As in any other year, talk about the Masters begins long before the start of golf’s preeminent major tournament. The House that Bobby Jones Built is Number One for a reason: It’s a veritable walk down memorable lane. Everything — from the way members comport themselves while in the Augusta National Golf Club to the way its leadership goes about hosting a competition for an extremely limited field — is a reminder of a time long past, critical for a gentleman’s sport that, for all intents, claims no small measure of its lure and allure from its capacity to turn back time.
Granted, Augusta National hasn’t had a spotless history, and there is ample evidence to support the contention that it’s slow to change of the meaningful and certainly necessary kind. For instance, it didn’t have a single female for a member up until 2012 — and not before significant public pushback from outside interests prompted its caretakers to reexamine its values, indeed, even while chairman Hootie Johnson contended otherwise, “at the point of a bayonet.” In any case, change did come, and, most importantly, continues to come, as evidenced by the course’s crowning of its first Women’s Amateur champion yesterday.
Timeliness may not be one of Augusta National’s virtues, but timelessness definitely is the biggest. For all the tweaking it has done to Tiger-proof its pride and joy, the venue for the Masters continues to be golf’s most intimidating — and awe-inspiring — risk-reward test. It’s why those casting moist eyes on the Green Jacket invariably declare their first shot of the competition to be the hardest; the gravity of their situation as both an opportunity and a challenge sinks in as they are introduced on the first tee. And in the midst of their respective rounds, they are compelled to come up with shots as picture-perfect as the well-appointed layout they feel privileged to negotiate.
The Masters isn’t the best at everything, to be sure. The British Open offers an unparalleled real-links feel. The United States Open requires the most of shotmaking. The PGA Championship is unabashedly egalitarian. On the other hand, it’s the finest at evoking emotions battle-hardened players are conditioned to precisely keep in check. Little wonder, then, that Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez, all-time greats with 145 professional victories between them, couldn’t help but get teary-eyed yesterday — even though they were around simply for ceremonial tee shots.
So, yes, the Masters will again dominate discussion for the foreseeable future. And, yes, it will in and of itself drive discourses as the site of four day’s worth of gripping golf. It’s the sum total of the experiences of those fortunate enough to have walked its fairways and greens, and its mere promise of more helps it keep its status as first among equals.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.
