The Masters Invitational Golf Tournament April 8 - 11, 2021

 

This is the thirteenth fairway and green at Augusta National

The Masters is back and filled with Azaleas, tall Pines and colour completing the transposition to Spring. We hear its Pundits declare that Spring is here and so is the Masters. For the last eleven years I've reflected on my visit to these grounds with Duncan McGregor on the occasion of his 70th Birthday in 2010. We were physically fit and thrilled to visit this shrine to the game of golf. We toured this incredible site for two days and then played a game of golf at a nearby golf course for another two days. The weather was perfect and so was the camaraderie. Two additional friends of Duncan's rounded out our foursome. Our accommodations were very nice which had been pre-arranged by Lynn McGregor including sending out the notice announcing her plan to celebrate the occasion. 

It's not difficult to notice the manicuring of the greens, riverbeds and surrounds and more, if you choose to click this link. The golf courses in and around Toronto are opening for the season after a fairly mild winter compared to ones I can recall as burby-playing kids. At that time we were hockey players who switched to hardball and league play all summer for Pape Playground and East Riverdale. Golf was a game we never touched that is until we had work that paid enough money to afford the fee, not to mention the cost of the clubs. My first set came from a pawnshop on Church Street for $20.00 for all 14 of them and a golf bag; they were right-handed. Figure this one out for me: I shot left handed in hockey and hit baseballs left handed, so why buy right handed clubs? No reason I can think of (perhaps it was too good a deal to pass up). I was right-handed and wrote and threw with my right hand.

After years of little golf and a whole lot of tennis at Kew Gardens Tennis club, around the age of 45 my knees felt the negative effects of stopping and starting on hard courts. They weren't shot but they were not going to last much longer if something didn't change. I had played a few games of golf with friends at work like Ted Woodford and clients like Grant McDiarmaid of Fiberglas Canada Ltd. who was a member at Mississauga Golf Club - an expensive track just west of the GTA - whose waiting list was seven years with an initiation fee of $75,000.00. (Years earlier Duncan's father Reid had invited three of his salespeople for a game at Mississauga; that was a special day. I can hear him saying after one golf shot landed, "That's position A.") Years later when apprised of the financial and availability information regarding Mississauga GC I looked around for an option. That option was Brampton Golf Club with no waiting list and an initiation fee of $3,000.00. The General Manager Len Smale took my check and said, "Go dig it up." Coincidentally, this club was exactly 5 minutes from Arthurs Jones' new plant and office; it was perfect for another reason: our family was moving closer to work. Over time I met plenty of very nice people to play golf with, and I'm still at it 37 years later. I use a motorized golf cart now and the knees and back are willing victims of my sporting life - but I'd do it all over again.

I am watching The 2021 Masters Invitational on a 42" Television with remote control and video recording this amazing annual sporting event. Shell's Wonderful World of Golf comes to mind with great golfers  like Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, The Squire, The Black Knight, Palmer and Nicklaus magically appearing on our tiny little screen to pick up a golf tip that would foreshadow straighter and farther shots with backspin landing like a feather on the green. It was the 1950's and '60s when golf on TV would eventually get better and better to the point where The Masters is now shown with one minute commercials once per hour. Who is paying for this party? It's still the sponsors but the price to be associated with this event is higher than I would want to hazard a guess.

The third round is over and one very talented Japanese golfer Hideki Matsuyama went out in one under par and back in after a storm delay of one hour and fifteen minutes with an incredible seven under for a total of eleven under par for the three rounds. Justin Rose had led after two rounds and a young man named Will Zalatoris was with him neck and neck. The amazing part of Zalatoris' time as a professional is that he was ranked at 2100 on the tour seventeen months ago and is now in the top 20. He is tall, quite slim and nails it every time he hits it. It is said that he could be at the very top quite soon. A week ago the Masters second annual Women's Amateur Tournament was won by a 17 year old Japanese player Tsubasa Kajitani. Matsuyama and Kajitani are sports heroes back home. If they win the men's Masters Japan will go crazy.

The leader board reveals at the end of the third round Matsuyama at 11 under with a four shot lead over Schauffele, Leishman, Rose and Zalatoris with their final round starting Sunday afternoon. This should be a great show unless one of them takes off; it's been known to happen. I'm betting the show will settle on Matsuyama and Zalatoris of the limber back. We'll see.

Another weekend binge watching the event of the golfing world is over. Matsuyama has won the green jacket by one stroke over Zalatoris; it was a thrilling finish after the Japanese super-star hit one in the water to keep the decision alive until the last putt was holed. See you next year Golf fans the world over.