Tom Poland Column: Augusta National Masters Memories
The Augusta National’s Masters Tournament is the world’s best-run sporting event and a place of sublime Southern beauty, writes Tom Poland.
I never had time for golf, but I love the Masters. I never miss the Sunday round on TV. It almost always provides high drama.
I speak for a lot of Georgians in the Central Savannah River Area when I say we take great pride in Augusta National’s Masters Tournament. It’s the world’s best-run sporting event in my opinion and a place of sublime Southern beauty. Men built a garden of Eden on what originally was Fruitland Nurseries.
Dogwoods, azaleas, velvet greens, and snow-white sand traps of chipped quartz from Spruce Pine, NC, make for TV grandeur. CBS announcer Jim Nantz compares the sand traps to bowls of sugar. Threading through the course, blue-dye-enhanced Rae’s Creek reflects the course as do the ponds.
Amen Corner is a pocket of floral beauty and treachery and is the most-recognizable three-hole stretch in golf. It’s often a pivotal spot in deciding the Masters Tournament. Holes 11, 12 and 13 are respectively named White Dogwood, Golden Bell and Azalea.