AUGUSTA, Ga. – At the place where they are forever connected, Tiger Woods and Verne Lundquist had a moment.
As Woods played the 16th hole Sunday afternoon at Augusta National, Lundquist, the legendary CBS announcer who is working his 40th and final Masters this week, was watching from a chair nearby. When Woods tapped in for par and walked toward the next tee, he stopped to shake Lundquist’s hand and say a few words.
Nineteen years ago, Lundquist was on the call when Woods’ Nike ball hung on the lip before falling for a chip-in birdie.
“Oh, wow!” Lundquist said. “In your life have you seen anything like that?!”
Woods, of course, went on to win the 2005 Masters. It’s one of Lundquist’s most memorable Masters calls, up there with Jack Nicklaus’ birdie putt on No. 17 in 1986, when Lundquist said, “Yes sir!” Speaking on “Live From the Masters” on Golf Channel earlier this week, Lundquist called those two moments the 1A and 1B of his Masters broadcasting career, though he leaned toward Nicklaus because they were closer in age.
Woods was asked about Lundquist during his Tuesday presser.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that call a couple times,” Woods quipped, smiling. “I mean, he has just an amazing ability to bring in the audience and describe a situation and just be able to narrate it in a way that is poetic but it’s also – he describes it with emotionality. He just draws the audience in. It’s amazing. It’s I think his 40th year … to be able to call the Masters. That’s what I grew up watching. I grew up listening to Verne. And he made a nice call there at 16, and it’s one that I’ve been lucky enough to – I will have that memory with Verne for the rest of my life.”
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