Dykstra on the Masters

Sports junkies anxiously look forward each year to three long weekends encompassing 19 days in March, whereupon 65 Division I colleges compete for the NCAA basketball championship, participating in the magical ride that is aptly labeled "March Madness."

For golfers, however, March Madness is merely a prelude to the Masters, an annual rite of passage that occurs on the long weekend following the crowning of the NCAA basketball champion on Monday night.

The promos, which air throughout March madness, are simple, elegant, dignified, and unmistakable. "A tradition unlike any other, the Masters."

For true golf aficionados, Augusta National, home to the Masters, is Mecca. Granted, Pebble Beach, Merion, Royal St. Andrews and Pine Valley are special places with rich histories. Augusta, however, is extraordinary.

Bobby Jones founded Augusta National in 1931 in conjunction with a businessman named Clifford Roberts, and three years later, the Masters was born, remaining etched in the American consciousness ever since.

Mere mention of the Masters elicits images of acres of emerald green grass, framed by magnolias and dogwoods, and accentuated by pure white sand, magnificent water and beautiful azalea-filled gardens. Undulating hills provide a contour and symmetry that help create the most breathtaking views in all of sport.

Similarly, magical winning Masters moments are carefully compartmentalized in the brains of golf's devout legions: freeze frames that can be accessed almost instantaneously.

« Previous Page

1 2 3

Next Page »