Masters is in a class all its own

If there is a better run sporting event than what is going on in Augusta this week, I am not aware of it. The Masters is in a class by itself. As a cub reporter, working for WMAZ Radio and Television back more than 50 years ago, I got the plum assignment, starting in 1965, to cover the tournament and did so for the next dozen or so years.

I would leave Macon on Tuesday and be at the Augusta National Golf Club for practice rounds Tuesday and Wednesday and for the 72-hole tournament Thursday through Sunday. I had permanent hotel reservations at Horne's Motor Lodge, Room 206. Food was no problem as the Masters provided plenty for media and the pimento cheese sandwiches were, and are still today, in a class by themselves.

Back in those days, before ESPN and wall-to-wall coverage of the Masters, I would provide hourly reports back to the radio station and also file a report for Channel 13 news at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. I was given 100 feet of film to shoot the action and then hopefully find someone from Macon who was going back home to drop it off at the station to be developed and used in the newscast. It always seemed to work out.

The media headquarters were located in a quonset hut, just below where the gift shop is now. Hazel Salmon was responsible for media credentials, and you always wanted to make sure you remained friends with her. The same rotund Pinkerton security guard, "Tiny," who was anything but, was there every year checking to make sure you had a badge to enter.

The only issue I had with media setup was there seemed to be a double standard for print and broadcast. The print media was on one side of the building and the broadcast on other. Golfers would come in and sit at a table and answer questions from the writers while broadcast had to wait and take part in a gang type interview with the professionals once they had finished with the print people. You could occasionally get an opportunity to talk one-on-one with the players. I recall that I had missed a gang interview with Jack Nicklaus and really wanted his comments. He was eating in the grill in the famed clubhouse, and I nervously approached him and asked if he would do a separate interview with me, and he graciously agreed. To say the least, I have always had a great deal of respect for the "Golden Bear."

Nicklaus won my first Masters, shooting a record score of 17-under-par 271, winning by nine strokes to take home the $20,000 first-place money. His record total was tied by Raymond Floyd in 1976 and then broken by Tigers Woods in 1997 when he shot an 18-under 270. Jordan Spieth matched Woods' score last year and took home $1.8 million.

The 1968 Masters is my most memorable. That is the year Argentina's Roberto De Vicenzo signed an incorrect scorecard, attesting to a 4 instead of a 3 on the 17th hole on the final day of competition. As a result, he missed the opportunity to meet Bob Goalby in an 18-hole playoff. De Vicenzo's "stupid mistake," as he called it, gave Goalby his only green jacket.

The 1965 tournament is also memorable for a reason other than being my first Masters. That is the year that the Chi Phi fraternity at Georgia printed up and sold counterfeit Masters badges. That chapter was found out, and the fraternity was shut down and placed on inactive status. Masters officials changed the material and look of the badges the following year, but counterfeit badges have been discovered several times during the years.

Media members had the opportunity to play the Masters course the Monday following the tournament, and to tell you how smart I am, I never took advantage of it because I have never considered myself much of a golfer and didn't want to embarrass myself. But today I wonder, what was I thinking?

Contact Bobby Pope at bobbypope428@gmail.com

This story was originally published April 4, 2016 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Masters is in a class all its own ."