AUGUSTA, Ga. — Every Tuesday of Masters week, Verne Lundquist commandeers one of the CBS golf carts — one of the very few allowed on the course at Augusta National Golf Club — and tours the course backward. He starts at the 18th hole, site of so many legendary memories, reunions and heartbreaks. He descends the steep hill away from the clubhouse, rolling past the famous par-3 16th where his calls still echo in the pines. He cruises through Amen Corner, and then back up the steep 10th in the direction of the clubhouse.
Lundquist knows this course as well as anyone, and he knows the 16th and 17th — where both Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus charged to victory, and where Lundquist himself narrated their triumphs — better than anyone. This year will mark the end of Lundquist’s 40-year run commenting for CBS at Augusta National, bringing to an end a career that’s included commentary of two of the most memorable shots in the history of the game.
“It will be emotional,” Lundquist said of his final calls. “This is the best-run tournament in captivity, and it is the best golf course, in my view, in America if not the world.”
For generations of Masters fans, Lundquist’s rich voice is as much a part of Augusta as the azaleas and pimento cheese. He’s spent the majority of his days at Augusta posted deep in the second nine, watching tournaments come together — and fall apart — on the 16th and 17th greens. His calls — understated yet warm, exuberant without being self-consciously showy — are part of the fabric of the sport.
“His calls are truly legendary,” says Jim Nantz, Lundquist’s CBS partner. “Augusta is a place that comes to life every April, and it’s not just because it’s a gathering of the greatest players in the world. There’s a golf competition, but it’s a week of history and voices. They come back. We hear them again.”
Perhaps no voice in the history of the Masters is as famous as Lundquist’s call on the 17th hole in 1986, when Jack Nicklaus claimed the lead en route to the most unexpected and beloved victory of all time:
And then there’s Woods’ magnificent chip on 16 in 2005, another unforgettable moment that Lundquist punctuated with “Oh wow! In your life have you seen anything like that?”:
The answer: No, not before and not since.
Lundquist has been asked for years which call he prefers, and he’s got an answer that rivals the Jack-or-Tiger question as a whole. “They are 1A and 1B,” Lundquist said. “I lean towards Jack Nicklaus in ‘86. Probably more so because of the fact that Jack is six months older than me, and I tend to remind him every chance that I get.”
Verne isn’t quite so spry anymore, and climbing the ladder into the booth above 16 is probably too much of a challenge. But he’ll be ready for the moment, wherever he’s watching.
“I’ll be emotional,” he said. “There’s a spot on my left thigh that I’ll be pinching to make sure I don’t shed a tear on the air. It’s been a great run.”
“Verne’s going to always have a home with Augusta,” Nantz said. “He’s going to be a part of Augusta forever. Those calls that he made, they’re going to be played back 50, 100, 200 years from now.”
Source Agencies
