By David Bulla
It’s a simple question. Even though the answer is just an opinion, I probably have some insight into a decent answer based on my years as a sports journalist, dating to the 1970s.
So here goes.
Is the Masters the best sporting event in the World?
Let’s take golf first. In addition to the Masters, I have been to two of the major championships, the U.S. Open and the British Open. I was fortunate to win the lottery and get tickets to the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst. I was there when Payne Stewart made his winning put on the 72nd hole and then pumped hisvictorious fist, unfortunately for the last time in a major in his outstanding career.
My son Viraj Bulla and I saw Tiger Woods nearly win at Carnoustie in 2018. We probably jinxed him as we picked up his play one hole before he made the horrible double bogey on No. 11. Leading at the time, Woods’ second shot hit a fan’s mobile phone (yes, they are allowed at the Open Championship) and landed out of the rough and behind a bunker, but his chip on his third shot was woeful, and he ended up with a six. Playing partner Francesco Molinari would go on to win, and Woods finished sixth. It was a rare missed opportunity for Woods in a major, but it, in a way, presaged what would happen the following April in Augusta.
Both Opens are wonderful events. Pinehurst is a delightful old course with lots of sand, and the USGA put in pin placements that were brutal. It also was a rare cool June week in the sandhills of North Carolina, so the Pinehurst folks could claim that it was almost Scottish weather that week 24 years ago. Carnoustie was warm for Scotland, but that meant the temperatures were in the 70s. It was also quite dry, so the course was yellow.
I grew up in Greensboro, N.C., and often went to what was then called the Greater Greensboro Open, an event won eight times by Sam Snead—the final time when he was 52. The GGO was always the week before Augusta, so Jack Nicklaus never played in the tournament. Most of Greensboro held that against Nicklaus, and since Arnold Palmer, four-time winner in Augusta, had gone to nearby Wake Forest, Arnie was the fan favorite at the GGO.
My family and I lived in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, for six years. Each January we would attend the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Rory McIlroy played every year, but he usually finished as runner-up. Woods and Phil Mickelson also made spot starts there and had similar runs to McIlroy. It was a very unusual atmosphere, as almost all the fans were Brits and Americans, the crowds were small and the purse quite large. You could stand right next to the golfers and their caddies.
I have also attended an NCAA men’s basketball championship—the 1974 title game between N.C. State and Marquette. (The Greensboro Coliseum somehow got the Final Four that year.) I have twice been to games the implicated the national title in college football—the 1998 Florida at Tennessee game that the Vols won in overtime on their way to a national championship and the Vols’ loss to Nebraska in Peyton Manning’s final college game (on Jan. 1, 2018, in Miami) that gave the undefeated Cornhuskers a claim to the title. You might remember the Nebraska quarterback, Scott Frost, who had a much better game that day than he did tenure coaching the Cornhuskers.
I covered Brian Snitker when he was cutting his teeth managing the Durham Bulls almost 40 years ago. Snitker led his Bulls’ team (then a single-A Braves’ affiliate) to a division half-season title and nearly a league championship. I also covered my share of Atlantic Coast Conference basketball games, which included the occasional night writing about Michael Jordan. I also interviewed Jordan a few times when he was a Chicago Bull. I covered Washington Redskins’ games when Joe Gibbs paced the sidelines at RFK Stadium, winning Super Bowls. I covered a few Baltimore Orioles’ games in an era when the Birds were baseball royalty, leading to their run to the World Series title in 1983.
One caveat: I have never been to a World Cup or an Olympics. Yes, I have visited Olympic stadium in Amsterdam, Athens, Atlanta, Berlin and London. I have seen the World Cup venue in Johannesburg, South Africa.
My favorite sports stadium is Oriole Park at Camden Yards, but I also have to admit that there is something special about the setting of Sanford Stadium in the heart of the UGa. campus.
Still, nothing quite compares to Augusta National and the Masters. No, it’s not just the greenest of greens and fairways. It’s not just the hospitality of the workers, the cleanliness of the bathrooms, the affordability of the drink and food, or the free parking. And, yes, Augusta National cannot control the weather, as was seen through two weather delays during Friday’s second round that ultimately led to a suspension of play just before 5 p.m.
And it’s not just the easy pace and rhythms of the place that belies the tension as it builds Thursday through late Sunday afternoon. It’s not just the azaleas blooming, the birds chirping, and the planes taking off and landing at Daniel Field. It’s not just the good walk mostly unspoiled for the patrons, who walk enough steps to keep the cardiologists at bay.
Rather, it is the memories—of Larry Mize, Mark O’Meara, Fuzzy Zeller, Raymond Floyd and Seve Ballesteros.
Of 1975 Masters when Jack Nicklaus edged Johnny Miller and the late Tom Weiskopf by a single shot in the greatest major ever.
Or of 2019 when Woods grabbed the lead late on a Sunday where the round was played early due to impending rain. It was an inspirational victory, his 15th major.
But most of all there is 1986, Nicklaus’ last of six Masters titles. It’s the “yes, sir” championship that the old-timers in Augusta talk about in reverential tones, and justifiably so.
The Masters is the only major played in the same place every year, and that builds on its tradition year by year. It is the first major of the year and comes just after college basketball ends and baseball is just beginning. It marks a turning point in the sports seasons.
No matter how great a facility it is—and Augusta National fits that bill—or the weather, it is the sport that has the most significance. It is the play of Nicklaus, Woods, Palmer, Floyd, Gary Player and all the others who make this the best sporting event in the world, for theirs is a level of expertise at this difficult sport which no amateur or duffer can really comprehend, or hope to match.
When Jon Rahm birdied back-to-back holes on Friday (April 7) just before the pine trees fell on hole No. 17, the tournament had turned into a contest between Brooks Koepka, the LIV standard bearer at 12 under par, Rahm, the world No. 3 at 9 under, and Sam Bennett, the amateur from Texas A&M at 8 under.
Koepka v. Rahmbo v. the Amateur, with Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa lurking at 6 under.
Game on, at, yes, the best sporting event in the world.
David Bulla is chair of the Department of Communication at Augusta University and a former sports writer. Teach him at dbulla@sugusta.edu
