Getting an opportunity to watch The Masters in person can be as tough as trying to hit the green from a fairway bunker 200 yards out. Maybe even harder. I live just shy of two hours away and I've only been able to make it one time in my 36 years of living. The Masters is the most famous tournament in the world. Golfers from all over the world come to play this one event in the hopes of winning and wearing the infamous Green Jacket. For those who haven't been able to see this tournament with their own eyes this is what my experience was like in April of 2019. Yes, the year that Tiger won it-more on that later.
I have been trying to get tickets to this tournament for years. Practice rounds would be fun, don't get me wrong, but I want to see the tournament in its full action. I'm not a millionaire that can throw money around and the prices on Ticketmaster or StubHub can be outrageous. They can run in the thousands. My best chance of winning tickets is through the lottery, not the actual lottery, but The Masters lottery pool. And that's exactly what happened.
I went into the lottery pool, along with my entire family (as we do every year), and set up tickets throughout the week, mostly on tournament days. I was lucky enough to win 2 tickets for the opening round, Thursday. When I got the email that said I won, I couldn't believe it. Not only could I believe I had won, but they were only going to cost me $150 apiece! I must have opened and read the email five times before it truly set in. And man, when it did set in, I felt like Charlie, or better yet, his Grandpa Joe from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory for having the "Golden Ticket". I let my family know and told everyone I knew. Most people didn't believe me and those that did cursed me because they have been trying for years and haven't been so lucky.
Now the question became, who do I take with me, because selling wasn't an option. This was my one chance and quite possibly only chance to go to The Masters and I wasn't going to miss it. So, should I take my wife, who doesn't care much for golfing? A family member? A friend? Just as quickly as I was excited about winning the ticket, anxiety began setting in that I had to pick just one person and break many others' hearts. My wife is amazing, just the best in every way, and I knew she wouldn't care to go, so that eased one burden of let-down. But then, who else should I take? As I started thinking about it, I thought about my crew, the 4 Coursemen, as they are all die-hard golfers, but I quickly realized I knew who I had to take-my big brother, Pat (Piz).
He loves golf and I knew he'd love the opportunity to go. And once I gave him the news, I knew I made the right choice. He went crazy with excitement. I mean jumping around like a wild beast. It was awesome to watch.
The weeks and months felt like an eternity. Finally, when the badges came in, I (once again) couldn't believe what I was looking at. It was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen. The Masters was coming up soon and we were officially going.
Fast forward a few weeks and its tournament time. My brother and I planned to leave at 5 AM, as entering time started at 7 AM and it was a two-hour drive. I barely slept the night before just like someone starting their first day of high school. I was pumped and ready to go. 5 AM rolls around and I call Pat ready to get this show on the road. Wouldn't you know it, he doesn't answer the phone. Now, for those of you that don't know my big brother, he can be late on an occasion or two. So, I call him again, and again, and again, all the while sending texts saying, "WAKE UP". After about five minutes of pure panic thinking he's overslept, he calls and lets me know he was in the shower and was heading my way. Whew! After about 15 minutes, we set off on our quest to watch the greatest golf tournament in the world.
We made it to Augusta, GA from Greenville, SC in record time. Luckily no police were waiting for us on the way, as we got into Augusta right at 7 AM. Traffic was already backed up with cones directing traffic into the parking lots. There is a Walgreen's right outside of the course and to get a camera (since no phones are allowed in The Masters) we pulled out of the line we were in to go there. Well, it turns out there wasn't a way to pull in and instead the cones took us into another section. Thinking we were turning into some VIP access we kept going passing a cop that we thought would jack us up because we didn't belong. He did not and we kept going. The golf gods were shining on us because by pulling into this line we went straight into the parking lot right outside the front entrance. It was amazing and we both knew that this was going to be an awesome day, even without a camera.
We had been told by others that had been to find a spot to sit your chair and it won't be touched the whole day. We were told by multiple people were to sit and each had their own personal favorite spot. When we went in, my bro asked someone that was working there where the best spot was. He said Amen Corner was the best spot because you can see players finishing the 11th hole, teeing off on the Par 3 12th, and drive the Par 5 13th. So that's where we decided to place our chairs.
Now, the walk to Amen Corner is a daunting one. It is practically on the other side of the course from the entrance. You do not realize from watching on TV how hilly this course is. You can see how the ball rolls sideways on some of the greens, especially on the Par 3 16th, but you cannot imagine how hilly the entire course is, unless you've seen it first-hand. We had to cross multiple fairways and wait for the rope people to let us pass, but we finally made it. As luck would have it, we only had one row of seats sitting in front of ours. Our view was perfect.
Once we had our seats placed, we decided to hit up the gift shop before it became too crowded. Again, the walk is daunting. Ropes, Tiger, and hills, oh my. When we made our perilously trek back to the front to the gift shop the line was looong. As we set there debating whether to wait or just come back later, the line continued to grow right before our eyes. We decided to jump in while we could. It took about 15 minutes to finally make our way inside, only to realize that the lines go back and forth like at a theme park. It was crazy. After another 10 minutes we made it to the inside. Now, the gift shop is awesome. There were shirts hanging up, souvenirs all around, and anything Masters you could think of. Realizing this could be my first and only chance here, I decided to get 2 polo shirts. I had a few other things to get for some family members & friends. When the total was ringing up, I thought I was about to pass out. Over $400 worth of merchandise on my end. I look over and I see Pat's bill of over $1,000. That made me feel better, but I still was sweating how my wife would feel about it. Once we walked out of the gift shop, we decided to drop our new apparel and gifts off at the car. You can only walk out of the course one time, so this was our only time we'd be able to leave and re-enter.
Once all the logistics and set-up were completed, we were finally ready to enjoy our time at The Masters. Since we were so close to the practice range when leaving the gift shop, we strolled over to peek at who was practicing. Wouldn't you know it, Tiger Woods was practicing his bunker shots. We saw and watched and marveled at how easy he can make every shot, especially from the sand. While we were standing there, I noticed another guy watching Tiger in a South Carolina Gamecocks hat. I quickly realized (being a Gamecock fan) that it was none other than Defensive Coordinator, Travaris Robinson aka T-Rob. A few minutes pass and we decided to head to our seats and take a break for a bit. As we were leaving the practice range I look over and see a man that wasn't necessarily tall, but his thighs were the size of my hips. I'm not trying to dote on the man, but his butt would have made Sir Mix-A-Lot shout. That person was none other than Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals.
As we are walking back to our seats, and almost there, we stop along Hole 13, the Par 5 right by our seats at Amen Corner. We see that Angel Cabrera is making his way towards us and we realize his ball is right by us by the ropes, so we decided to watch him hit his second shot. As I'm standing there, I look to my left and no more than two feet beside me a guy is gushing blood from his face. I mean it is pouring from his face. It turns out that Cabrera just ripped his drive into the dude's face. People kept coming up to him asking if he was alright, to which he continued responding, "oh yeah, I'm good". You could tell he was waiting for Angel to come to him and perhaps give him a little souvenir for his face being blasted on. Cabrera came up, put his arm on his shoulder, while shaking his head and sorrowful eyes said, "My friend.... are you ok??" The guy politely responded the same way he did to the other people that asked, "oh yea, I'm good". It was hard not to laugh at what he said (and I'm not laughing at the guy that was hit), because Cabrera knew the guy wasn't alright by the way he was shaking his head when he asked or the fact that he was profusely bleeding from his face. Either way, Cabrera stepped up to his shot, hit it and continued onto his play. As for the guy that was losing blood by the pint, some folks from The Masters pulled up on a cart and took the guy away, probably to the medical facility where I'm sure he got some nice souvenirs.
After that scene, we left and finally made our way to our seats. By this time, we were hot and tired and felt like we'd had a full day already. We sat in our seats for an hour or so and then decided to check out the rest of the course. Man was it beautiful. The grass was lush green, the azaleas were in full bloom, and just like you've always heard, there wasn't a blade out of place. Even the pine needles were perfectly positioned. The folks that work there really did it amazingly. What I found to be the wildest, though, was the smell. Rains had made its way to Augusta the day before and the smell of manure was in full bloom, too. It was so strong my nose hairs tingled, but in a good way, since it is The Masters, after all. You could tell that they laid that stuff on thick, but wow did it make that course pop with colors.
The rest of the day was just my brother and I walking around, talking to people here and there, and just enjoying the mystique that is The Masters. But what happened at the end of our day was the best part of my day.
We decided to take off and walk up 18. Just so happens, we caught up with Tiger hitting his second shot on 18. We watched him hit and began our trek to the green. The way you walk up 18, hole # 9 green meets up to hole 18's green. It was perfect because we could see Phil Mickelson and Justin Thomas hit their second shots and finish their front 9 round.
As Tiger was finishing up, we were behind the green on 18. You could see the guards (8 of them) lining up to escort Tiger to the clubhouse. I started realizing that he was going to be coming our way shortly. Sure enough, the rope guys started backing us up. My brother was the first in the corner where Tiger would be walking, followed by some random dude, and then myself. I tried to wedge myself in-between Pat and the dude, but the dude wasn't budging so I just stood beside him. As Tiger begins to walk past my brother, I stick out my hand for him to give me a low five. Sure enough, as he walks past, he just barely sticks his hand out and touches mine. Stunned, I look down at my hand as if it was somehow changed. With my eyes about to pop out of my head, I look up at Pat. His eyes are now huge and asks, "Did he just give you five?" I just shook my head, still shocked. Pat then looks angry and says, "Man, the guard walked by me and said, "Don't f*cking reach out". We both cracked up and decided that it was time to head on. There wasn't any more left we had to see or conquer.
As fate would have it, this was the tournament that Tiger came back to win his 15th major championship. I like to think that it was my sweet touch that gave him the juice he needed to win it. Maybe it's because he's Tiger. Either way, he did an awesome job of #keepingitinthefairway and pulling out the win. The Masters is everything you've heard it is and more. If you ever get a chance to land some tickets, go and don't sell them. Sure, you will make a lot of money, but money comes and goes. The experience you'll have will be remembered your entire lifetime, just like mine and my bro's.
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