Just so you know ahead of time, this column is about golf, and more specifically, the Masters. Proceed, if you wish, to the Jumble, where the answer is most likely not golf related.
I'm convinced that there aren't a ton of people who are lukewarm on watching golf on television. Most sports fans either hate it or love it and, citing the slow pace, most seem to hate it.
But, I'm begging you, watch the Masters this weekend -- there's a solid chance you'll love it. Even if it's just the back nine on Sunday, you are almost guaranteed to get caught up in the Augusta atmosphere.
This isn't completely about the golf; it's about the Hogan Bridge, Butler Cabin and Amen Corner, and if you watch or have watched before, you'll know what all three of those features of Augusta National are. There is a reason why businessmen have pictures of Augusta's holes in their offices; it's a veritable Garden of Eden. Combine that setting with the best golfers in the world, and The Masters is actually, as CBS bills it, "A Tradition Unlike Any Other."
Let me explain, beginning with who will and won't be watching the Masters. There are a great many people who have played golf and won't watch the Masters. This group plays golf because they enjoy an activity-- yes, when these people play it, it's an activity, not a sport -- where you can smoke cigars during a round and often end up at the local Hooters afterwards. These people love driving a cart around, but they aren't going to be analyzing Padraig Harrington's shot choice anytime soon.
The main contingent that'll watch the whole thing are the die-hards. Golf nuts and duffers certainly will be glued to the television. This is the same group that is constantly buying a new driver with the goal of taking two strokes off their 112 average per round.
But for the Masters, there's a specific demographic of sports fans that give golf only a portion of their attention the rest of the year and will be completely plugged into this tournament.
I can be categorized under this heading most accurately. I started playing golf early in life with a set of junior sticks, knocking the ball around a nine-hole track in Tarboro, N.C. My dad was a solid high school golfer who can knock an iron dead from 100 yards out. I'm currently a below average occasional golfer who is excited simply to put the ball in the fairway.
Despite my lack of natural or cultivated talent, I have more golf trophies from my youth sports days than all other sports combined. It seems that in July 4th Father-Son tournaments in the early 1990s, only one part of the team had to be good -- you guess who carried the duo. These days some kid who walks 36 holes, hits 20,000 balls a day and is being called "the next Tiger Woods" would have paired with his dad and beat my dad and I by 15 strokes.
So, yes, I'm predisposed to enjoying golf on television, and I do watch at least all the majors each year. But the Masters isn't just for people who played golf as a kid or worship the game like another major world religion.
Watch Sunday and you'll understand the passion that this tournament brings out of the players. Take last year, when Phil Mickelson won by one stroke on the 18th green, while Ernie Els, tied with Mickelson before the final putt, waited in the clubhouse. Mickelson finally got the monkey off his back as the "best player not to win a major," and celebrated as if, well, as if he had just won the Masters. There was more emotion wrapped up in those few moments than any television program could ask for.
Golf will never be must-see TV every weekend. Events that are decided over a number of days don't translate perfectly to television. There's a reason nobody is clamoring to get a 24-hour cricket channel started in the United States. For a lot of people, golf simply requires too much commitment.
But the Masters is different, and even if you've never been to Augusta National, which I haven't, you'll know when you watch. But, if you can't give the Masters four days, at least give it a Sunday afternoon. You owe it to yourself, and you certainly won't regret it.
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