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The grand traditions at Augusta evoke everlasting memories, from the Green Jacket to the Champions Dinner, the Masters theme music to magnificent Magnolia Drive and on to the flashes of one thousand bulbs as the victor holds his arms aloft on the 18th green. FOX SPORTS, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch the 2025 Masters LIVE | New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer.
It is scarcely surprising that at an event so mytholigized, the story of Augusta is complete with quirks and fables, hair-raising adventures and tales that seem to be too good to be true. In a chat with Fox Sports leading into the Masters, Aussie golfer Rod Pampling lamented that while the sport he loves has lost some traditions, Augusta remains home to many. Patrons can snare a sandwich at 1980s prices.
But the bargain concessions do not cause a rush, with reason. Breaking into a trot at Augusta can lead to an escort from the course. “Get in the HOLE!”.
It’s rare to hear that at Augusta, at least not without risking the wrath of golf stewards, with 2005 runner-up Chris DiMarco among those who treasure the priority placed at a course where the dip from the 10th tee to 12th green is the height of Niagara Falls. And as for the professionals taking pride of place whilst displacing those who tread the fairways from one week to the next? READ MORE Smith void that exposes LIV’s biggest Masters problem — and ‘BS’ debate that won’t go away Everything you need to know about the 2025 US Masters — and how to watch Maybe the winners, who dine with the Members after their triumph on Sunday night, which includes former champions. And for defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who has chosen the menu for Tuesday night’s Champions Dinner.
But the rules are there for a reason and, as another Aussie golfer Mark Hensby said, it is made abundantly clear to the aspirants at Augusta that they are guests at the pleasure of the club. It is their club, not the professionals’. With one week to go to the 2025 Masters, which will be broadcast in Australia exclusively on Fox Sports and Kayo, foxsports.
com.au delves into some of the legends surrounding Augusta. THE SNUB THAT SPARKED THE MASTERS .
.. AND THOUSANDS OF TWISTS AND TALES While the world of golf is split at the moment given the war between the PGA and LIV Golf, a standoff proved the catalyst for the introduction of the world’s most famous tournament.
It is now 90-odd years since course founder Bobby Jones and chairman Clifford Roberts made a bid for the course to host the 1934 US Open, only to be snubbed by the USPGA. Patience is a virtue at Augusta — one of Pampling’s favourite quirks about the course is that running is banned — but the Augusta crew were not prepared to wait their turn. Instead they decided to run the Augusta National Invitational, which was won by Horton Smith at 4-under, with the annual event ultimately renamed the Masters five years later.
There have been some truly wild moments at Augusta since then, with arguably the most surreal occurring in October, 1983, and involving US President Ronald Reagan. The former Hollywood actor had apparently made an absolute hash of the famous 12th hole when playing alongside a Republican donor and cabinet members when all hell broke loose at the club. A fired millwright broke into the course, stormed the pro shop and held several people hostage at gunpoint while demanding an audience with the US President.
They spoke briefly on an early-model mobile phone while Ronnie was on the 16th — clearly the no phones policy only stretches so far — before the Secret Service whisked Reagan away from the course. Charlie “Smiley” Harris later told Associated Press that he had wanted to discuss the plight of the unemployed in the US “eye to eye”. But the phone connection was spotty, which only added to Smiley’s angst.
After releasing hostages, he eventually gave himself up a few hours after taking off from Augusta. Losing his temper at the pro shop proved costly, with Harris serving four years in the clink before dying in 2007. From deranged millwrights that have invaded Augusta.
Back in World War II during the time frame the Americans were involved in the global battle, the esteemed course hosted cattle on its lush fairways, but through this period wild turkeys were able to roam freely across the grounds. Time, too, has done wonders when it comes to how manicured the course is now. There is scarcely a blade of grass that has not been combed and the magnolias have been in pristine condition for weeks on ground that was once home to a business named “Fruitland Nurseries” when owned by Belgian Baron Louis Mathieu Berckmans in the 1800s.
The contrast back to the days post-war was stark, as the social media post contrasting the current look to 1952 demonstrates. One extremely lucky American man thought all his Heavens had come at once when landing tickets to the 2018 Masters, only to suffer a massive heart attack standing at Amen Corner. As retold by The Drop Zone podcast, by chance a doctor was standing nearby and he and another patron conducted CPR on the man named Johnny Pruitt as he was transferred to a medical tent.
The fan was near-death for weeks but responded well enough to return to Amen Corner the following year for what must have been a religious experience on a couple of fronts. And while every step of the course will be familiar to fans who have tuned in from Australia in the early morning to watch the great event, Augusta has not been immune to change. Golf Digest reports that as many as 10 architects have tinkered with the design delivered by Alister Mackenzie, with the iconic Par 3 16th-hole starkly more challenging now than its incarnation.
The hole Tiger Woods birdied on route to his famous fifth triumph in 2019 was initially a 130-metre iron across a creek. But the addition of the magnificent pond, which reflects the pine, dogwood and azaleas that feature on the course on a clear day, was added in 1947. And in the infancy of the event, the club actually swapped the front and back nines before reverting back, in part to dodge the heavy clouds which would descend on Amen Corner in winter.
Given the drop from the 10th tee to 12th green is the height of the Statue of Liberty, it could be tricky finding the green when the fog set in. As a sad aside, there is a plaque at Augusta commemorating Roberts, who used a shotgun to kill himself at the course back in 1976. And there was also a notable absence at the club until Fred Couples righted a wrong in 2021.
It has become a tradition for champions to donate a club used in their success, with Smith giving Augusta National his putter back in 1934, though the following year’s winner Gene Sarazen instead gifted the ball he used when scoring an albatross on route to victory. The display has the sand wedge Larry Mize used to chip in from more than 40 metres awar in his playoff triumph on the 11th hole over Greg Norman. It has the metal driver Tiger Woods used in 1997 when he overpowered Augusta National to win by a record 12 shots.
But nobody, it seems, told Couples and the absence of one of his clubs from his 1992 victory over Raymond Floyd remained a quirk until the American read about it while perusing an email from the club in 2021. He found a persimmons driver — a MacGregor M85 model — and gifted it to Augusta almost three decades after etching his name into golfing history after showing it to modern stars including Rory McIlroy on the driving range. “(The) guys were laughing.
I think they were laughing because they think I won in 1970, not 1992,” he said. FAVOURED QUIRKS OF THOSE WHO HAVE PLAYED THE AUGUSTA COURSE IN THE MASTERS Walking is one of the chief recollections Pampling, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour who finished in a tie for fifth in the 2005 Masters won in famous fashion by Tiger Woods, has of Augusta when asked about its quirks. The 55-year-old, who played the Augusta tournament four times, said the rule regarding walking is a lovely distinction in a world where some events cater for fans keener to party than view the golf.
“I guess my favourite (quirk), which is interesting, is that there’s no running on the golf course, so when you see the gates open, people are kind of speed walking,” he said. “It’s sad (at other events) when you see the older people and the younger people trying to do it just to get to their spots. But the ‘not running’ is always quite interesting, just to see how people get to their spots and what not.
“It’s one of those things that’s so old and traditional, but it’s so good to see still. We’re losing a lot of the traditions in the game and it’s just nice to see a few little things (remain).” And Pampling, who won the 2008 Australian Masters, said discipline is the key to this tradition being maintained.
“(The patrons) honour it. They make sure of it because they know if they’re not, they’re out of there,” he said. “It’s black and white.
If you mess up, you’re out. Done. Done forever.
So people don’t want to miss out on Augusta, so they make sure they follow the rules.” DiMarco, who also has runner-up finishes at both the US PGA and British Open along with a top 10 finish in the US Open, said “every green you walk on there exudes history”. “There’s something about that place.
I mean, the fans know how to behave there,” he said. “Not hearing people who yell out stupid things because if you do, you’re gone. And there’s just a respect that’s at that tournament that there aren’t too many more (like it).
“A lot of the tournaments in Europe are like that. They’re very respectful of players. You don’t have these inebriated yahoos, like over here, screaming stupid stuff and they generally go there to watch golf.
A lot of tournaments that we have over here, especially on the PGA Tour now, they go there to drink and have a good time and it’s not necessarily about the golf. “It seems like at Augusta, golf is first and foremost. A lot of times I feel like even on this tour, I feel like we’re the fifth or six thing — there’s four or five things ahead of us that are more important than the players.
(Whereas) at Augusta ...
you certainly feel like it’s about the golf, and I think that’s what makes that place so special.” But Hensby, who shared fifth placing with Pampling in 2005 and also has a top 10 US Open finish, is not as certain that players are first and foremost at the club in Georgia. That privilege, he said, may be bestowed on former champions but he did not necessarily feel at home in the clubhouse on the two occasions he earned a start in the Masters.
“I think that when you get there, you feel like you’re the show, but you’re actually not. They make it quite obvious that you’re a guest this week and you’re just here for the week, so (you had better) enjoy it,” he said. “(On the) Sunday afternoon, I remember going to the clubhouse and everyone had their green jackets on and they gave us some weird looks because, I guess, we were in somewhere where we shouldn’t have been and they make you realise real quick you’re just a guest for the week.
You are nothing but a guest.” Hensby, who clinched a Champions Tour victory in the US a couple of years ago, said those who play the event do receive a locker for their week at the event. “(But) that’s pretty much it.
You get a locker, a practice tee, and if you want to buy some merchandise, you go buy it (with your own money),” he said. “Maybe when you win you get treated pretty well, but I wouldn’t say they go out of their way to make you feel that welcome, let’s just put it that way. “I always thought to myself ‘I’m not going to the Masters unless I’m playing.
‘ I’ve got no interest in going and watching (again). (I’ve) been there, done that. I played it twice and had some fond memories and got some crystal, but I’m not interested in just going on the ground to watch.
” HOW TO WATCH The only place to watch the 2025 Masters LIVE is on FOX SPORTS, available on Kayo Sports and Foxtel. Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer.
BROADCAST DETAILS (all times AEST) This year marks the first time that all four major golf tournaments will be broadcast live and exclusive on Fox Sports , available on Kayo Sports and Foxtel. The Masters coverage will feature Fox Sports Australia’s Warren Smith and former PGA Tour player Paul Gow, who will be on-location at Augusta National to deliver insights and analysis. Outside of coverage of all four rounds, the Masters offering will also feature a 4K UHD feed from Amen Corner in its entirety, as well as separate feeds for the 15th and 16th holes and featured groups at certain times.
Masters Week coverage will begin from April 7. Main Broadcast Thursday 10 April: Par 3 Contest — 0400 - 0700 Friday 11 April: Round 1 — 0500 - 0930 Saturday 12 April: Round 2 — 0500 - 0930 Sunday 13 April: Round 3 — 0200 - 0900 Monday 14 April: Final Round — 0200 - 0900 Live From The Masters Tuesday 8 April: 0400 - 0700 Tuesday 8 April: 0900 - 1100 Wednesday 9 April: 0900 - 1100 Thursday 10 April: 0800 - 1100 Friday 11 April: 0930 - 1130 Saturday 12 April: 0930 - 1130 Sunday 13 April: 0900 - 1100 Monday 14 April: 0900 - 1100 Amen Corner (also available in UHD) Friday 11 April: Round 1 — 0045 - 0800 Saturday 12 April: Round 2 — 0045 - 0800 Sunday 13 April: Round 3 — 0145-0800 Monday 14 April: Final Round — 0145 - 0800.
