AUGUSTA, Ga. — The Masters got underway beneath whispy white clouds and a bright blue sky Thursday when Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson once again struck the ceremonial tee shots down the first fairway at Augusta National.
Well, mostly down the first fairway.
After the 90-year-old Player struck his shot down the middle, and celebrated with a big leg kick, the 86-year-old Nicklaus stepped to the tee. With the temperature in the low 50s, he offered a tongue-in-cheek warning to the patrons lining the tee box — “Oh, boy, watch out,” he said, “and I don’t mean that facetiously” — and then proceeded to hit a low hook right toward those down the left-hand side.
Nicklaus chuckled to himself as he walked back to the group.
Last up was the 76-year-old Watson, who used the tee that the Golden Bear had left stuck in the ground. “May I use your tee?” Watson asked. “It’s why I left it,” Nicklaus replied, and the two-time Masters champion proceeded to strike his drive right down the middle.
With that, the 90th edition of the Masters was underway.
The honorary starter has been a tradition at Augusta National since 1963, when Jock Hutchinson and Fred McLeod hit the opening shots of the tournament. The idea had come to club founder Bobby Jones years earlier, and over time, it has become a treasured part of the Masters mystique, with 11 dignitaries and past champions serving in the role over the years.
Byron Nelson, Gene Sarazen and Sam Snead performed the duty throughout most of the 1980s and ’90s, while Arnold Palmer was joined by Nicklaus and Player for many years. When the King died in 2016, it left just Nicklaus and Player in a twosome, so Watson was asked to join them, and the trio continues to this day.
How much longer is a big question surrounding the Masters these days.
So is who might take on the role next.
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