by Gary Williams | Apr 10, 2023 | Blog
Sunday at Augusta National is a long day and this year made longer by the weather delays that forced a resumption of the third round after 8 AM. The final group would wind up playing 30 holes on the final day, and for Brooks Koepka, it would be only the second time this calendar year that he would play 72 holes in one tournament let alone 30 holes in one day. The radio team was on the air at 8 AM and me, Taylor Zarzour and Mike Tirico set up the final day for 30 minutes on SiriusXM and then I made my way out onto the golf course to assess the conditions. Cold and still very damp was what the players found upon their routine to the golf course, and scoring in the morning was tough sledding.
I watched several groups play the 13th to get a sense of how long it was playing and despite playing into a north wind, both Cam Young and Jordan Spieth were able to fly their seconds onto the green. The hole requires two big strikes and we saw late in the day that Jon Rahm was able to hit a mid-iron into the green. The change to the tee was a big project and in time it will prove to be a smart and successful decision by Augusta National.
By the end of morning play it was Rahm and Koepka in the final group, but I found myself intrigued by the pairing of Jordan Spieth and Phil Mickelson. When my radio work was done, I made my way out onto the golf course to follow two guys who have won the tournament and have tremendous records in the Masters. They didn’t talk much at all, but they fed off each other and hot quality shot after quality shot. They were both too far back but watching them go around in 66 and 65 was the best two ball of the day. Phil Mickelson received what you would expect he would receive from the people on the golf course… adulation and appreciation for the play and the history he has at the Masters. That was no surprise, but his play was a surprise. He actually displayed a genuine smile when his round was over, which was the first one I saw from Phil all week.
The final round was about the coronation of Jon Rahm. He’s special in every way. His appreciation for the history of the game, his understanding of historic achievement and his performance in the final round was rock steady. He didn’t waiver and gave no crack to anyone at any time on the second nine.
I will end with these few thoughts. I’m exceedingly grateful to attend the Masters and I’m blessed to attend with a clear mind and full heart. I love being a part of a team and the SiriusXM team knows the game and collectively has golf bonafides. Sitting with the production team back at the command center and hearing Mike Tirico signing off and expressing his appreciation for the week and the collaboration made me very emotional. I have been gone from the Masters since 2019 as I was transitioning to a new chapter in my life and finding peace with the responsibilities that are required every day to live a sober life. Thanks for the support to all of you near and far, because these weeks are a reward for the empathy and love I have received.
Let’s go to Oak Hill.
by Gary Williams | Apr 8, 2023 | Blog
Catching up at a professional golf tournament can be an unnerving exercise for the players, caddies, television partners, tournament staff and the fans. The finish line is Sunday night and few other sports deal with the prospect of the event being pushed into an extra day. The 87th Masters felt the pressure of playing golf on this Saturday because in the absence of at least finishing the second round, a Monday finish was very much in play. When play resumed on Saturday morning it was in the upper 40’s with light rain but they were playing golf at 8 AM in Augusta and that was a good start to the day.
Our team at SiriusXM was in place when play resumed which meant we were all in route to the course at 6 AM. The Masters spectators are not an arrive early and leave late, kind of crowd. The traffic was legit on Washington Road at 6:15 for the gates to open at 7 AM. After a quick breakfast of egg whites and bacon I was prepared to go on the air in the event of a stoppage at any point in the morning. Golf writers and media members are very in-tune with the potential weather changes and despite the tedium of packing for four seasons the scribes in the Press building were outfitted for the extreme change in the weather conditions. Being able to drive from Charlotte allowed me to bring way too many clothes and I had four layers on Saturday morning. I would only need them for an hour because by the time I got on the golf course at 2:15 PM I knew that the amount of time they would continue to play was dwindling down to very few minutes.
Before going on the air today I spent an hour talking to Mike Tirico who is anchoring the radio broadcast after doing three hours on Golf Channel. He’s a generational broadcaster with greater range than anyone of his or any other generation. Mike isn’t just an elite broadcaster, he’s a sports nerd and broadcasting savant. We went from discussing the sports broadcasting landscape to talking about the careers of some of the top analysts in sports, not as broadcasters but their athletic backgrounds. Mike is a superstar in the industry but he’s the consummate team guy.
I walked out on the golf course to find Phil Mickelson, Gary Woodland and Joaquin Neimann playing the 8th hole and to observe three elite players today all have to play it as a legit three shot par 5 is rare. The golf course was beyond saturated, and the greens were approaching the unputtable stage. Mickelson currently being in the top 10 amplifies the adage that talent is timeless. He has institutional knowledge of Augusta National, but he has no form to speak of late so his place on the leaderboard is more than a little bit surprising.
I told you I was going to step out for my lunch order, and I did with an order of fried chicken and mac and cheese. It was pretty good but there were way too many breadcrumbs on top of the mac and cheese and the flavor was ordinary. I make a four-cheese mac and cheese a couple times a year and my standards are high, and their offering was average. The fried chicken was nicely done but I want some spice and they are trying to satisfy the masses so there was no kick. I dined with Taylor Zarzour, Justin Ware, one of our lead producers and Rocco Mediate. Producing golf on the radio is an art and science and Justin is Michelangelo and Einstein in one. He’s tremendous at his craft. Rocco is dipping his feet in the broadcasting waters this week and I appreciated his ordering of a cheeseburger with no bun. A naked burger is underrated especially if the bun offering is poor.
It was an early departure for our team when play was called at 3:15 PM. We recorded some segments for the postgame show, and I grabbed an oatmeal and raisin cookie for the road before heading to the media lot. Eating this garbage is research and not an indictment on my discipline. Maybe it’s both.
Best dressed media member… Brandel Chamblee. I saw the junior senator walking through the press building and he was resplendent in a muted maroon plaid jacket, adorned with a navy pocket square, and taupe-colored trousers.
It’s going to be a long and wonderful Sunday.
