Keying in on Masters Weekend brings back fond memories of the six trips I was able to take to Augusta to cover the year’s first major tournament on behalf of The Salem News; ancient history in one respect, but quite memorable in another.
The years were 1978 (Gary Player was the winner), 1979 (Fuzzy Zoeller), 1980 (Seve Ballesteros), 1981 (Tom Watson), 1988 (Sandy Lyle) and 1989 (Nick Faldo). Six different winners, all of whom made unique Masters history.
Player was at the time the oldest winner, at 42. Zoeller made double Masters history as the first sudden-death playoff winner and first first-time participant winner.
Ballesteros was the first Spaniard Masters champion. Watson’s victory was his fifth of eight major championship successes (the sixth most all-time). Lyle became the first British (Scotland) champion, while Faldo was the first English champion who one year later became only the second player to win back-to-back Masters (Jack Nicklaus was the first, Tiger Woods the third).
It was great fun –- and plenty of gratifying work –- an experience I would never have enjoyed were it not for the support of my reports during those glorious days at the Salem News under publisher Cy Newbegin, editor Jim Shea (both big sports fans) and sports editor Bill Kipouras.
The saga began when Shea, Kipouras and I were covering the Red Sox home opener from the Fenway Park press box in 1977. It was Masters week in Augusta, and all of a sudden Shea closed the newspaper he was reading between innings and blurted out, “Gary, why aren’t you at The Masters?”
“I don’t know,” I replied, a bit stunned. I’d never asked either of them about it.
“Well, get to work on it for next April. I want you at Augusta National one year from now, and that’s an order,” he barked with a smile.
And that’s how it happened.
Following that week’s Masters, I contacted Roger Barry of the Quincy Patriot Ledger, the dean of Greater Boston golf writers, and asked him how I go about applying for credentials. He was happy to guide me through the process, though he was pessimistic the Masters folks would provide credentials to such a small daily newspaper in suburban Boston.
But they did, much to my – and Barry’s – surprise, and much to the delight of Shea, Kipouras and Newbegin.
Traveling was burdensome, but well worth the trouble. The first year was the toughest: one clothing bag, one shoulder bag, a telecopier that weighed 35 pounds (the forerunner to fax machines and the first hint of the technology coming for journalists), and my golf clubs, since the Masters folks invited me as a first-time Masters media type to play their famed layout the morning after the final round. Sadly, that was a tradition/courtesy that did not last much longer.
I secured accommodations through the Masters Housing Bureau – thanks, Roger — and was assigned a bedroom in the gorgeous Tudor-style home at 2231 Kings Way of Eloy and Nancy Fominaya, Chicago natives who had become music professors at Augusta College. The other available room went to Bill Tanton of the Baltimore Sun. We became good chums that week and reunited annually at the same address those first four years.
I stayed with the Fominayas all six trips I made to Augusta spanning 12 years; they were wonderful hosts. I looked forward as much to seeing them as I did covering the golf at ‘The National,’ as the locals called it.
The press building, a restored Quonset hut, believe it or not, in those days (the media center today is palatial in contrast), was run by two ladies: the elderly, soft-spoken Hazel Salmon, who could be as firm as a Marine Corps sergeant when necessary; and Janet Lovering, who gave me quite the pleasant shock when she informed me that her husband, Earl, was from Salem, too. Thus began a warm friendship with them that continues to this day; we connect every Masters week by phone.
The Masters membership appreciates the media. They fed us breakfast (Krispy Kremes galore), lunch and supper and had an open bar on Sunday night as we wrote about the new champion.
I had a chance to interview, in large groups and small, all the greats and lesser knowns of the time. I also got to meet the esteemed British writer and Masterpiece Theater host Alistair Cooke, as well as renew acquaintances with Myopia member and former Massachusetts and French Amateur champion Bobby Knowles, who wintered in nearby Aiken, S.C. and worked countless Masters as a scoring official.
I cranked out three stories a day for The Salem News: a lede, a sidebar and a column. But before I did any writing, I took a walk out on the course for two hours every morning to catch early action and soak up the unparalleled Masters atmosphere. I often walked with the King of American golf writers, Massachusetts’ own Herbert Warren Wind. We often sauntered down to Amen Corner, that marvelous stretch of Nos. 11, 12 and 13, which Wind had named first. Our conversations made my day, his observations so astute and use of the English language so poetic.
I witnessed two colossal choke jobs. One was by Ed Sneed when he bogeyed the last three holes after leading by three shots with three holes remaining, setting the stage for Zoeller’s playoff win. The other was by Scott Hoch, when he missed a two-foot putt to win in ’89 on the first sudden-death hole, setting up Faldo’s 25-foot winning birdie putt on the next hole. Hoch was not liked by the media but our hearts broke for Sneed, as nice a guy as you would ever want to meet.
Oh yeah, about my own round at Augusta National in 1978.
Incredibly exciting and depressing at the same time. I had a veteran Masters caddy (an old-timer, really) who never got used to my yardage limits. I hit a lot of good tee shots and irons, but I often overshot the greens. I made only one par (no birdies) but it was a goodie, on the par-3 12th – 7-iron to 12 feet right of the pin and missed the birdie bid. My playing partners, Tom Boswell of the Washington Post and Ron Rapaport of the Chicago Sun-Times, both bogeyed. They congratulated me heartily. I ended up hitching a car ride to Atlanta with Rapoport to catch our northbound flights home later that day.
Six years at The Masters. Unforgettable.
Gary Larrabee was a sportswriter at The Salem News from 1971-95. He has covered golf on the North Shore and beyond for more than 50 years.