Masters memories: Guests, former employees share unique stories from the Augusta National
The Masters Tournament has been an Augusta tradition for 90 years. The Augusta Chronicle reached out to the community in person and on social media to hear some of their unique Masters memories from over the years.
Andrew Florida and his family have worked in various positions at the Augusta National over the years. Among his positions was night-time security in the early 1990s.
"I would have to sit there 6 o'clock at night to 6 o'clock in the morning," Florida said. "I would have a white shirt on me. Now, the whole Augusta area got that pollen, right? I would leave 6 o'clock in the morning, my shirt is not white. It's yellow."
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Multiple people posted in the "History of Augusta Georgia" Facebook group. Dan Brown wrote, "In 1978 a friend and I were watching Jack Nicklaus and an amateur putt out on a green. There were thousands of people around the green and you could have heard a pin drop. All of a sudden three young men came over a hill talking very loudly. Everyone watching them as Nicklaus yelled, 'Hey,' and gave them the quiet signal while his partner tried to putt. I have never seen three more embarrassed people in my life."
Becky Price Bearden wrote, "In maybe 1970 I was at the tournament with my dad. We were standing a little bit behind a man who was sitting on a stool as Johnny Milller was approaching the green in front of us. Johnny was very young and thin at the time. We heard from the man on the stool, 'If he was wearing a bathing suit he’d look like a pair of pliers with a Band-Aid wrapped around it.' As soon as we heard the man’s voice we knew it was Tennessee Ernie Ford [a famous singer and TV host]. Everyone laughed at the joke and I’ve never forgotten it!"
Chris Jones wrote about his time at last year's Augusta National Women's Amateur: "We were standing at the First Tee box to watch the start of the round. Directly behind the tee box was an area roped off for members. My better half and I were standing there and Condoleezza Rice [former U.S. Secretary of State] touched Wendy's back and said, 'Would you two like to have a seat?' We looked at her with shock and Wendy said, 'Well, yes, we would!' Ms. Rice opened the rope and let us in. We were sitting with her, Annika Sorenstam [Swedish professional golfer] and a bunch of Green Jackets. ... Out of the 10-15 times I have been, this was one of the best memories. We will never forget."
Billy Fulcher wrote this on the Augusta Club Facebook group: "My brother Tim and I were junior golfers on the high school golf team and playing tournaments. Tim won the Georgia junior golf championship in high school. It would have been around 1965, there was no Masters week school break. Tim and I would skip school and attend the tournament. One afternoon sitting behind 18 green a shot landed in a lady's bag sitting next to me. The next morning we were busted with a large front page (picture) in the Chronicle with the lady."
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Keith Evans also contributed to the group post: "Me and my neighbor worked the scoreboards in the early 70s. His dad was in charge of finding the workers for that. This was before they had electronic score boards. There was a guy on the ground with a two-way radio who was given the scores and he yelled them up to us and we changed the score by hand. We stood on a catwalk on the scoreboard to do this. You could work four-and-a-half days and get four half days to watch golf or you could work two full days and have two full days to watch. We always did two full days and watched the tournament on Saturday and Sunday. We also took part in retrieving the golfers loaner cars from the airport on Monday after the tournament. They would take a van full of us to the airport and we would drive the cars back to the golf course."
Similarly, Nancy Berzins wrote, "My brother-in-law was a score keeper way back when. A little boy approached him and wanted his autograph, thinking he was Gary Player."
Would you like to share a unique story from Masters Week? Contact Miguel Legoas by emailing mlegoas@augustachronicle.com
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Masters Tournament history, Augusta-area stories from residents
