This Monday (April 6) I should have arrived in Augusta for my annual golf pilgrimage. For almost 10 years now, I have always arrived in Augusta on the Monday of the Masters week. Be it on a flight from New York or by the bus from Atlanta.
The wait for the flight at airport in New York or at the at the bus stop in Atlanta to get to Augusta is always the most anticipated one, for I know I will be in Augusta in a few hours.
It is a ritual. Get to Augusta; check into the house; pick up the credentials in the day time; visit T-Bonz Steakhouse on Washington Road in the evening and the week is all set for the most beautiful tournament the game of golf has.
I first came to Augusta when Jeev Milkha Singh became the first Indian to tee off at the Masters in 2007 – I will come to that later. Jeev was to play twice more in 2008 and in 2009.
Arjun Atwal won the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour in 2010 and earned a start at the 2011 Masters.
As for me, it was only from 2012, that I became a ‘regular’ at the Masters and the Indian papers would carry the reports nicely and display it superbly.
The Masters became a part of my life – it was the tournament I would wait for the whole year. No sooner did one Masters get over, I would start thinking about the next one scheduled 51 weeks later.
In the subsequent years I would see Anirban Lahiri play in 2015 and 2016 and then Shubhankar Sharma in 2018.
This year that streak has been broken – at least the April trip – I keep hoping the Masters will re-appear on the schedule sometime later in the year! Chairman Fred Ridley released a statement on Monday saying that the Augusta National Golf Club is looking at November date – the week of November 6-15, 2020. I really hope it happens.
In recent years, I have been fortunate to stay with my great friends from the Asian Tour, including Cho Min Thant, the CEO and Commissioner of the Asian Tour, who plays some mean golf himself. He is a busy man with meetings through the day in the Masters week.
Then come the evenings when he goes to official parties and dinners, and I head to the Media gatherings. One of the dinners is with the European Tour chief. The host used to be George O’Grady initially and nowadays it is Keith Pelley.
A sun-downer followed by an amazing dinner and awesome wine. It is always a formal affair, a sit-in dinner and great golf chatter as scribes from all over are gathered at the venue, which is the ‘next door’ club – Augusta Country Club.
One day during the Masters week is reserved for the special party thrown by Dr. Pawan Munjal, CEO and Managing Director of Hero MotoCorp, sponsors of tournaments on multiple Tours – the PGA Tour, European and Asian Tours and the Ladies European Tour.
It is an ‘Indian evening’ and Munjal takes great pride in showcasing India – the food and ambience is superb. And yes, late into the evening he also shows his love for jazz.
Then there are dinners and parties by leading Sports Management companies, top managers and many a sponsor. Each adding to the festivity that makes the Masters week so memorable.
Memorable indeed. And we have yet to come to golf course, the prettiest in the world and at its best in the year. Then there are all those landmarks – starting with the Magnolia Drive, the Founder’s Circle, the Crows Nest, the Rae’s Creek, the Hogan Bridge, the Nelson Bridge, the Sarazen Bridge, the Butler’s Cabin, the Eisenhower Cabin, the Arnold Palmer plaque, the Jack Nicklaus Plaque, the Record Plaque, the Ike’s Pond and the Eisenhower Tree, which was so badly damaged by the ice storm in February 2014, that it had to be removed.
My favourite sitting place – the Grandstand in front of the Amen Corner and I am always armed with a couple of Pimento Cheese and Eggs-Mayo sandwiches and a beer. Make it two!.
Going back in time, it was in late 2006, the season Jeev Milkha Singh turned corners after years in the wilderness. I saw him end a seven-year title-drought drought at the 2006 Volvo China Open in Beijing. He achieved a Volvo double by winning the season-ending Volvo Masters of Valderrama. A slight digression – Indians seem to love events sponsored by Volvo – in December 2005, I saw Shiv Kapur win the Volvo Masters of Asia in Bangkok.
Back to Jeev – he won twice in Japan and rose to get into Top-50 of the world by the end of 2006 and was crowned Asian Tour No. 1.
That year he called me up during the Christmas week. I was out shopping with the wife, who was irked at my taking a call even in the market.
“Guess what I got as an advance Christmas and New Year gift,” said Jeev from the other end. I couldn’t and impatiently said, “Don’t tease, just tell me.”
He replied, “The official invite from the Masters.” A stunned silence.
So, an Indian would finally set foot on the haloed turf at Augusta National. And then Jeev said, “You know where you are going to be that week, right. No ifs and buts. Just be there.”
End of conversation.
My next job was getting the credentials. The Media department at Augusta National was amazing – they understood what it meant for Indian golf. And it was all set.
I was off for the Masters – with two other Indians journalists – Joy Chakravarty, who now lives in Dubai, and Prabhdev Singh, a former editor of Golf Digest, India.
Accommodation in Augusta during the Masters week is a tough ask. But Jeev arranged it for us with the rest of his family. It was the greatest week of my golf writing career. Great golf, dinners and drinks everyday, great Japanese food courtesy his Japanese sponsor and trips in a stretch limousine, again courtesy Jeev’s sponsor.
On the golf course, Jeev made it better and even made a brief appearance on the leaderboard – an Indian on the Masters leaderboard. Wow!
He was T-10 at the end of the first day. He made the cut and there was a chance of a Top-10 or Top-15 finish, but a quadruple bogey on the tough green at the Par-4 first hole ended those hopes. He finished T-37 as Zach Johnson won the Masters. Jeev would play in 2008 and 2009, t0o.
Atwal became the first Indian to win on the PGA Tour in 2010 – and to date the only one to do so – and earned a spot into the 2011 Masters but missed the cut.
In 2015, Anirban Lahiri had a superb early season and rose into Top-50 and played the 2015 Masters. He played once again at Augusta in 2016.
His debut was a memorable one. On the second day, he had an eagle on Par-5 13th (earning him a pair crystal highball glasses – a prized memento for players) but also had a double on Par-4 14th. On the fourth and final day, Lahiri played an ‘all-par round’ with 18 pars for 72 – always a creditable showing at Augusta National.
In 2018, Shubhankar Sharma received a rare ‘special’ invite after a superb performance at the WGC-Mexico Championship, where he led at the halfway mark, but ultimately finished T-9th. Sharma was the toast at the Masters and he was even called in for a Press Conference and the young man handled himself with great poise.
Going down memory Lane my trip to the 2012 was made memorable by Bubba Watson. His amazing shot in the play-off is still talked about with great awe. Four birdies on the back nine brought him into a tie with South African Louis Oosthuizen, who himself had a ’shot-of-a-lifetime’ for an albatross on the Par-5 second of the final round. If Oosty had won the Masters that year, his shot for an ‘albatross’ would be the one we would be talking about as he jumped to 10-under. But Bubba caught up with him.
After both parred the first extra hole, left-hander Bubba pulled a massive drive into the trees right of the fairway. That was it, many believed. Then Bubba pulled out a 52-degree gap wedge and wove it around the trees and up the hill some 15 feet. He two-putted and beat a stunned Oosthuizen to second place. The Green Jacket was Bubba’s.
Adam Scott won in rain in 2013; Bubba won again in 2014 as if alternate even-numbered years no longer belonged to Phil Mickelson (winner in 2004, 2006 and 2010).
In 2015 Jordan Spieth, second to Bubba in 2014, won the Green Jacket and big things were predicted for him. A year later, even as the Green Jacket was being readied for him once again, he tripped badly and had his own ‘Tin Cup’ moment by twice finding water on Par-3 12thfor a quadruple bogey. He ended second and Danny Willett took the Green Jacket.
In 2017, Sergio Garcia ended a lifetime’s wait for a Major and in 2018, Patrick Reed broke the crowd’s heart beating favourite Rickie Fowler with a superb display.
Which brings us to 2019 and a moment etched in history. Tiger Woods battered and bruised for over a decade, completed a fairy-tale win for his fourth Masters win and a 15thMajor and the first since 2008. He stays the champion as the event gets pushed to a later date in November, 2020 because of Covid 19.
Each year brings a new drama, a new hero and a story that seems even more unforgettable than the previous one. There have been storms, Typhoons and much else but the Masters has overcome it all, till this Covid-19 put us all in a bind.
But golf and Masters will be back again. Soon.
STAT FACTS – Indians at the Masters
The Masters at the Augusta National Golf Club was due to start April 9, 2020, but has now been postponed because of Covid-19.
The Masters was first held in 1934, but it was not till 2007, that an Indian professional teed off at the Augusta National Golf Club. Only four Indians have played in the event, with Jeev Milkha Singh being the first in 2007. He played in three successive editions, to date the most by any Indian. He was 35 years, three months and 21 days old at that time.
Jeev Milkha Singh:
3 appearances: 2007 (T-37); 2008 (T-25); 2009 (MC)
Arjun Atwal:
2011 (MC)
Anirban Lahiri
2015 (T-49); 2016 (T-42)
Shubhankar Sharma
2018 (MC)
—–
First Indian: Jeev Milkha Singh (2007 – T-37)
Best Result: T-25 by Jeev Milkha Singhin 2008
Most starts: 3 by Jeev Milkha Singh(2007-2008-2009)
Most cuts: Two. By Jeev Milkha Singh (2007 and 2008); Anirban
Lahiri (2015 and 2016)
Youngest Indian: Shubhankar Sharma at 21 years, 8 months, 15 days
One Comment
A very good down the memory lane .Enjoyable&knowledgeable write up.