In his first Masters Tournament as mayor, Garnett Johnson is breathing new life into a mayor’s office event.
The Augusta mayor said he “couldn’t be more excited” about the arrival of the tournament and his plans for countywide cleanups and the Mayor’s Masters Reception.
“When you’ve got company coming, what do you do? You spruce up; you plant new flowers; you put new pine straw out,” Johnson said. “You stick out your chest and say, ‘Come let me show you my beautiful abode.’”
Johnson, who takes living up to Augusta’s “Garden City” moniker seriously, made beautification a centerpiece of his campaign and launches a countywide cleanup series March 25, a week before the golf begins.
He also has big plans for another Masters Week tradition, the Mayor’s Masters Reception.
The return of a Masters champion honoree
Founded in 1999 by former Mayor Bob Young as a way for locals to mingle with golf greats, the event has evolved over the years to attract fewer of them. During the 2000s, tournament champions Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Raymond Floyd, Gary Player, Ben Crenshaw and Fuzzy Zoeller each were reception guests of honor.
In the mid-2010s, however, interest seemed to wane, and while other golf legends have been honored, no Masters Tournament champion has appeared since Craig Stadler in 2013.
That’s about to change, said Johnson, who has worked behind the scenes with golf officials to identify a tournament winner to headline this year’s Mayor’s Masters Reception. The name isn’t public yet, the mayor said.
“We’re going to, of course, give him a key to the city,” which was a tradition continued by Davis, Copenhaver and Young.
A new date: Sunday, April 2
Johnson is making other changes to the event’s current format and is moving the date to April 2, the first Sunday of Masters Week and the day of the Drive, Chip and Putt youth golf finals.
The reason? Augusta National Golf Club and tournament players “have so many things going on, and we’re going to try to stay out of their way as much as possible,” Johnson said. “We’re going to try under my leadership to do it the Saturday or Sunday prior to the tournament, and this year it’s going to be on Sunday.”
A fundraiser for Paine College
The event will serve as an annual fundraiser, as other mayor’s receptions have.
‘We’re going to use this as an effort for philanthropy. Our beneficiary this year will be Paine College. They’re in a 60-day capital campaign and as part of my administration, I want to try to help them raise as much money as they can,” Johnson said.
Many Black Augustans who went on to leadership positions attended Paine, one of the historically Black colleges and universities of the south and eastern U.S.
A regional event
Another change is that leadership in Columbia County – including Commission Chairman Doug Duncan – and other adjacent jurisdictions will attend, Johnson said.
“This is going to be a local leadership effort. This is more than just Augusta,” he said. “That’s what I’m excited about more than anything.”
The reception will feature music, numerous food vendors and additional special entertainment after the sun sets, Johnson said.
“We just want to make it a celebration and make it all about Paine College and for people who ordinarily don’t go to the tournament to get a chance to participate,” he said.
Questions linger about past events
Traditionally funded by private donations, the reception lost its budgeted city funding during Davis’ tenure. The event was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19.
A former employee told The Augusta Press last year Davis was using the reception account as a private slush fund. The Augusta Press sued for release of the Augusta Mayor’s Masters Reception Inc. records but the matter remains undecided by the court.
Johnson, a successful business owner, said he’s currently using his “personal money” to make arrangements for the reception but hopes it can raise enough this year to fund future receptions. “There’s not going to be any tax to the city,” he said.
