The Grandest Slam – The Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, GeorgiaRead Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com
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"That's Tiger's ball!" a man shouts as
little white orb shoots past me and skids to a halt some fifty feet off
fairway, perched atop needles that have settled under
high pines of
ninth hole. (Opening photo: The scoreboard below
club house, right of
first fairway.)
As usual, he has out-driven
players in his threesome, but this time
shot is somewhat off course. We move quickly, gathering around
ball leaving Tiger just enough room for his back swing and a clear angle through
woods to
ninth green. He crouches to inspect
trajectory his ball must travel under
low-hanging branches and up
slope toward
yellow flag that marks
hole.
He confers briefly with his caddy and without hesitation pulls an iron from his golf bag, lines up
shot and, WHOOSH! He takes what has become one of
most recognizable and enviable swings in
game. The ball stays low for some 40 feet slipping under
trees before coming into
clear and climbing
hill in a perfect loft to reach
green and land inside 25 feet from
pin. The patrons, as spectators are known at this event, erupt in cheers sprinkled with expressions of "Get in
hole!" and "You're
man!"
Halfway through
second day of
2004 contest, we've just seen one more display of precision shot making by Tiger Woods,
game's best-known young player and its Number One icon worldwide.
We're here at
Augusta National Country Club in Augusta, Georgia, home of The Masters - golf's greatest competition. And we're here as part of this grand gathering due in large part to a young man who, nearly three-quarters of a century ago, had a magnificent idea for a golf course and a national tournament. Following his retirement from championship golf in 1930 at age twenty eight, Bobby Jones, winner of 13 major championships in
seven years prior and
game's first Grand Slam Champion (then completed by winning
U.S Amateur and U.S. Open and
British Amateur and British Open in
same year) was poised to pursue his idea of building a new kind of golf course.
He got together with Clifford Roberts, a friend of Jones since
mid- 1920s, and in 1931
two looked to Augusta with its Georgia Pines, soft hills, and temperate climate as
place to realize their dream. They purchased
365-acre property called Fruitland Nurseries and retained Dr. Alister Mackenzie as architect for what would become Augusta National.