Devastating News: Masters Online Coverage Will Be Missing Bobby Clampett's Wit And Wisdom

Hate to start the week off on such a dark note but here goes...

I've read this CBS press release about their tournament coverage five times and still no mention of...Bobby Clampett.

What will Masters online be without his book plugs and other assorted ramblings about his favorite topic, himself?

PHIL MICKELSON LOOKS FOR FOURTH GREEN JACKET AS HE DEFENDS 2010 MASTERS® VICTORY
 
CBS SPORTS BROADCASTS MASTERS® FOR 56th CONSECUTIVE YEAR
 
Masters® Is Longest-Running Sporting Event Broadcast on One Network
 
The Masters®, the most renowned tournament in golf, will be broadcast on CBS for the 56th consecutive year from the majestic setting of Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga.  This year marks the 75th Masters Tournament, one of the most highly-anticipated sporting events of the year.  Last year, Phil Mickelson won his third Green Jacket with a three-shot victory over Lee Westwood, becoming only the eighth player to win three Masters titles.
 
CBS Sports will bring viewers all the color, artistry and drama inherent to the world's most prestigious golf tournament and first major of the year with live third-round coverage of the Masters on Saturday, April 9 (3:30-7:00 PM, ET).  Final-round 18-hole coverage is scheduled for Sunday, April 10 (2:00-7:00 PM, ET).  Highlights of early-round play will be presented by CBS Sports on Thursday, April 7 and Friday, April 8 (11:35-11:50 PM, ET; both nights).
 
For the 26th consecutive year Jim Nantz will cover the Masters for CBS (his 24th year as host).  He also handles coverage of the Highlight Shows, originating from Butler Cabin on the grounds of Augusta National. Three-time Masters champion Sir Nick Faldo joins Nantz in the 18th hole tower as lead analyst. Peter Oosterhuis will describe the action at the 17th hole; Verne Lundquist, the 16th hole; David Feherty,  the 15th hole and Highlight Shows;  Bill Macatee,  the 14th hole; Peter Kostis,  the 13th hole; and Ian Baker-Finch will tell the story at the 11th and 12th  holes.  Ian Eagle and Matt Gogel return to call the live streaming video action for Amen Corner , along with Jerry Foltz and Billy Ray Brown for 15 & 16 and Andrew Catalon and Billy Kratzert for  Featured Group. 

No Joke: Hope Classic Lands Sponsor?

Golfweek's Alex Miceli says it's Humana, provide of PGA Tour employee health care since 2005.

The Site Plan For Masters Week

Here's the plan for GeoffShackelford.com 2011 Masters Coverage coming to you live from...Santa Monica:

- Wednesday, my Daily Racing Form inspired breakdown of the top names heading into the tournament.

- Wednesday Par-3 Contest and Pre-Tournament Speculation Live Chat: We'll start this one a bit before ESPN signs on for the annual PGA Tour Day Care Open Par-3 Contest and since this will mostly be about the kids (that's about all ESPN shows in its promo). We'll spend some time bickering about who is going to win and then calling it a day after an hour or so. This will also be a fine opportunity to make sure the Cover It Live software is working for Sunday.

- Starting Tuesday morning and running through Monday, the much adored, carpel-tunnel inducing "Daily Clippings" of Masters must-reads of the morning. Typically posted by 3 am ET.

- Q&A with Tom Weiskopf about the 1986 Masters telecast. (Now, I just have to transcribe it and upload a few clips to YouTube, but I'm feeling like I can pull it off).

- Open comment threads Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

- Sunday, Final Round Live Chat. We'll get through this one together courtesy of Cover It Live. Get your laptop or ipad (I think it'll work) ready and starting 15 minutes before CBS comes on the air this will be the place to air your grievances, complain so your significant others don't have to hear it and when it's all over, cheer on the 2011 Masters champion.

- And of course, non-stop coverage in between all of the above. Hope you'll come back and come often.

Congrats To Daniel Utley!

The poll closed at midnight Sunday and Daniel Utley won the 1986 Masters Memory contest in a tight vote, but I'll be sending all the finalists something for their time and great stories, including the promised goodies (Golf World subscription, special DVD) for 2nd and 3rd ("Matt" and "Mark") while Daniel gets both along with a copy of John Boyette's 1986 Masters book.

If you didn't see them, here's where you can read the memories of where folks were when Jack won the 1986 Masters.

Thanks to everyone for posting your memories and feelings about the '86 Masters, and if you hear a great "Where was I story?" please don't hesitate to encourage people to post.

Masters Makes The New Yorker Cover

No story, but a Bruce McCall cover.

Some Masters Badges To Be Sold Through Masters Web Site!**

Bob Harig with a real jaw dropper: a limited number of practice round and tournament badges will be offered through an application process online.

Golf fans will be allowed to submit their applications to both the tournament and for practice rounds via Masters.com. The club is moving all of its ticketing online, including ticket services for annual patrons.

"Moving the entire application process to our official tournament website is a safe and convenient way for those wishing to apply for daily practice round tickets," said Payne. "We are also pleased to provide a limited number of tickets for the individual tournament round days, which, up until now, have only been allocated to our series badge holders."

Daily tournament ticket applications must be submitted by June 30, with practice round applications allowed until July 30. Each allocation will have its own random selection process, with applicants notified by email within several weeks of the application deadline.

Update on 2011-04-04 16:32 by Geoff

**Here's the link to the application.

"How does a college graduate with a job offer to become a financial analyst end up carrying a 50-pound golf bag and stepping off yardage for a living?"

Scott Michaux goes in-depth and reveals quite a bit about Phil Mickelson's bagman, Jim "Bones" Mackay. A must read piece.

With Mackay, it started when he was a kid watching the caddies who got to share the space inside the ropes with his idols.

"I was a (Tom) Watson guy," he said. "This was 1980, and he was a great player, and the way he carried himself. So I thought (Watson's caddie) Bruce Edwards had the coolest job in the world, and that's what got me thinking about caddying."

Edwards was one of the first men who redefined the role of the professional tour caddie, but it was another old-school caddie who impressed Mackay.

"I'd go to tournaments and watch Bill Rogers, because he was this skinny Texan and I was skinny," Mackay said. "He had this caddie named Big Money Griff (John Griffin). At one point his caddie said, 'There's that kid again.' And he spoke to me and was nice to me, and that was really cool. That was another chapter with me falling in love with caddying, even though I'd never done it a day in my life."

While he played for Columbus (Ga.) College, Mackay worked at Green Island Country Club and befriended resident tour pro Larry Mize. Mackay often shagged range balls for the 1987 Masters champion.

A week before Mackay was supposed to start his career at Synovus Bank, Mize had broken up with his caddie after the 1989 season. Mackay begged for the chance to pick up the bag.

"I was really reluctant," Mize said, "because I said, 'You've got a good job here, Jim, and I don't know if you really want to do this caddie thing. Stay here and do that. But he was adamant about coming out and he talked me into it."

The opportunity changed Mackay's life.

"He gave me the greatest break I could ever have," Mackay said. "I knew nothing about caddying and had no idea what I was getting into or what it entailed. And it certainly entailed far, far more than I thought."

"I never had any problems with him because every time I came through the gate, I was in one of the member’s cars. But you could see that hate in his eyes."

Golf World noted that a book by Melanie Hauser featuring Carl Jackson and Ben Crenshaw's lives intersecting at Augusta was in the works and reading Carl Jackson's surprisingly frank memories for an SI/golf.com guest piece, I can't wait to read it. Besides not believing that Big Cliff decided on his own to join the Big Augusta In The Sky, he shares a story about a former club security guard who sounds like a deranged, humorless Buford T. Justice. Thanks to reader Rob for the link.

There is a fence dividing Augusta National from Augusta Country Club. We would walk about a mile from our neighborhood, crawl under the fence at the 13th tee at Rae’s Creek from the 10th tee of Augusta Country Club. That day the boys had caught 30 or 40 fish and were keeping them fresh on a line, even though earlier, Rogers Bennett, Augusta National’s nursery­man, had spotted the boys -- and Bud’s .410 shotgun, which he brought along in case of snakes -- and told them to get off the course. One of the boys did leave, taking the shotgun with him.

Shortly after 3 p.m. the boys saw Charlie Young, the club’s white security guard, standing on the Nelson Bridge, near the 13th tee. Young, who had a gun shop at his house, was carrying a homemade 12-gauge sawed-off shotgun with a barrel that was less than 17 inches long. When the boys started running toward the 11th at Augusta Country Club, Young fired one shot and hit three of the five boys, including Bud, who was struck in the right knee. Young later told the club’s general manager, Philip Wahl, that his gun accidentally discharged as he was trying to load it, but he never told the boys to get off the course until after he had fired.

I wasn’t surprised that it happened. Charlie Young had a bad attitude. He thought he was John Wayne.

“We saw the putter go up and we knew it was going in."

I still say the readers of this site offered the best remembrances, but there are a couple of good 86 stories filed, starting with Larry Dorman focusing on the iconic Nicklaus putt on 17.

It was then that Nicklaus knew his odds of winning had moved from possible to highly probable. The photographs show the change on his face as his last birdie putt of a remarkable final round approached the hole. With soft light from the setting sun streaming onto his face as it broke into a wide grin, Nicklaus bent his knees into a powerful, athletic crouch and raised the putter in his left hand aloft, like a scepter or Excalibur, as he stalked the putt.

This is the recollection Tiger Woods, who was 10 at the time, has said is his most vivid, “the way Jack was walking the putt into the hole.” It is what Nick Price remembers best from ’86, what he saw from the 15th fairway as he and the man who had been the leader, Greg Norman, were walking toward their tee shots.

“We saw the putter go up and we knew it was going in,” Price said. “And it was the loudest roar I have ever heard on a golf course right then and there. Incredible atmosphere and just, I don’t know how to say it, even when I won my majors, it didn’t feel anything like that, that atmosphere.”

Steve Elling talks to various golf dignitaries about where they were and what they remember about the 86 final round. Ernie Els:

"I was really coming into my own as a junior player, an amateur player in South Africa. That year, I won the South African Amateur as a 16-year-old, so I thought I knew what I was doing. So that was played in March.

"In April, I watched Jack win the Masters. It was basically a miracle happening in front of our eyes and it was really exciting to watch with my dad. It just gave me even more of an inspiration to play the game, knowing that a 46-year-old won. It was quite amazing.

"It was late. I had to ask my mom for permission to stay up."

Kraft Nabisco and Shell Houston Final Round Open Thread

Phil Mickelson's 63 couldn't have come at a better time and while it'll be fun to see what he does Sunday, he's vaulted himself back onto the Masters favorites list after a mediocre start to the year. But it's the LPGA's first major of the year that has the potential for a fantastic finish with World No. 1 Yani Tseng taking the lead over Stacy Lewis, with Morgan Pressel and Michelle Wie lurking just enough that things could get interesting if someone goes low.

"Mr. Woods at least has the practice course in his backyard. That is more than his partners can say."

Paul Sullivan files an NY Times Business section front page story on the state of Tiger's design business and it doesn't come to many conclusions that we don't already know: the economy stinks, the projects were excessive in their scope and his scandal didn't help matters.

There was one interesting bit though about how Tiger's design contracts are structured. It seems he was  paid to present lots of plans, attend press conferences but incentives for actual field-time during construction--when real architects get serious about producing something that will last--did not appear to be part of the deals.

Regardless, Mr. Woods’s work with these projects is largely done. He has been paid the bulk of his contract fees. “Traditionally, a course designer’s job begins and ends with designing a great course,” said Mr. Bell, the head of the company.

In the meantime, there have not been any new projects announced by Tiger Woods Design. “We are evaluating opportunities from all over the world,” Mr. Bell said. “We’re staying focused on our original mission of finding great sites, great partners, and creating spectacular designs. I’m very confident about our future.”