When you trawl down the list of Masters winners, you can see why many wrongly refer to it as the ‘US’ Masters, writes GARY LEMKE.
Since the tournament began back in 1934, players from the United States have tasted success 59 times. But here’s the interesting thing: the second most successful country in the tournament’s history is South Africa.
And South Africa has also provided three winners – Gary Player, Trevor Immelman and Charl Schwartzel – which is one more than Spain and England, with a raft of others delivering only a single champion.
To give it its correct name, The Masters is hosted at Augusta National in the state of Georgia and is unquestionably a most American affair. It’s also a throwback to a past era.
The committee still doesn’t encourage women to be members – although in 2012 it relaxed its rule by admitting two, including a former US Secretary of State – and until 1990 it also didn’t allow any black members through the gates.
The authorities were able to get away with their racist and sexist rules because they regard it as a ‘private golf club’ and golfers are invited to play. It’s the Augusta National party and they get to pick and choose their own guests.
Having said that, The Masters has become a jewel in golf’s crown. Tradition dictates that the winner receives a green jacket from the previous year’s champion, and gets to select the pre-tournament dinner menu the following year.
Tiger Woods, the former world No 1, found himself in the middle of a controversy when he exploded onto the scene back in 1997, aged 21. Having shot 70, 66 and 65 in his first three rounds of The Masters, he held a huge lead going into the final round. You could sense the old-school brigade didn’t like what they were seeing unfold: a black man tearing the famous course apart with a record-breaking performance.
As the members spoke among themselves about Woods’ pyrotechnics, the veteran American golfer Fuzzy Zoeller offered his opinion: ‘That little boy is driving well and he’s putting well. He’s doing everything it takes to win. So, you know what you guys do when he gets in here? You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year. Got it?’ With that he snapped his fingers and walked away. Then he stopped, turned around and said, ‘Or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve.’
Zoeller has subsequently apologised a thousand times but the quote reflected the occasion. If you’re black or if you’re female, Augusta National can be as welcoming as a Friday night in Oranje.
Woods duly went on to score an 18-under-par 270 and smashed all manner of records. Little did the members – or the world for that matter – know just how great he would become. He pulled on the Green Jacket a further three times – in 2001, 2002 and 2005 – joining Arnold Palmer as a four-time winner. Only Jack Nicklaus, with six Masters titles, has won more.
In 2016 Danny Willett picked up the Green Jacket, one of four first-time Major champions who came through that year. But, you have to believe there will be a South African in contention this time. It could well be the 2011 champion, Charl Schwartzel. Or it could be Louis Oosthuizen. Or the country’s top-ranked golfer, Branden Grace.
In 2012 Oosthuizen came agonisingly close to winning The Masters when he was beaten in a playoff by Bubba Watson, who produced a hallelujah of a (deliberate) snap hook to take the Green Jacket.
Ultimately, though, you just know there will be a number of American names high on the leaderboard and inevitably each shot hit off
the tee at a par three is met with a chorus of ‘Get in the hole!’ This is Deep South country and while some sentiments towards female and black club members may have softened, one thing the galleries share is a love for the United States.
The key thing, though, is that an American has won only four of the last nine tournaments and the winners’ roll has shown that if there is one nation that does not take a backwards step at Augusta National, it’s South Africa.
Ernie’s putting woes
Ernie Els made dubious Masters history in the opening round in 2016 by scoring a nine on the par-four 1st hole – the highest in 80 years of the tournament.
Els six-putted after chipping from off the green to within three feet for what appeared to be an easy par.
‘It’s hard to putt when you’ve got snakes in your head,’ Els said after signing for a first-round 80.
‘I couldn’t putt with a stick,’ he added. ‘You make some stuff up in your brain, you know; it’s difficult. It’s something that holds you back from doing your normal thing. I don’t know what it is. I can go to that putting green now and make 20 straight three-footers. And then you get on the course and you feel a little different, and you can’t do what you normally do. So it’s pretty difficult.
‘I couldn’t get the putter back,’ he said. ‘I was standing there, I’ve got a three-footer, I’ve made thousands of three-footers, and I just couldn’t take it back.’
Els missed and then did so again from distances of three feet, 10 inches, 11 inches and two feet. The last two putts he hit one-handed in disgust. ‘And then I just kind of lost count after.’
– This article first appeared in the April issue of Compleat Golfer, now on sale
