Masters 2025: Our favorite moments from the annual honorary starters ceremony

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Thursday morning's honorary starters ceremony at Augusta National was only the third I've ever personally attended, so it feels wrong to say that it "never gets old." But I'm confident in stating that if I'm lucky enough to attend another three and maybe another three after that, I'll still be saying it never gets old in six years time. That feels like official never-gets-old territory.

It's a tradition, and a scene, truly unlike any other. This year's started a bit earlier than normal due to the size of this Masters field, so myself and a few other co-workers had to wake up, and hustle up, a bit earlier than normal. It was worth not being able to hit the snooze button one extra time.

Here were my 5 favorite moments.

The walk out

There's nothing quite like the anticipation standing under the big oak tree next to the clubhouse as everyone from reporters to green jackets to 6-foot-10 former tennis star John Isner awaits the arrival of Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson. The clubhouse door swung open just before 7:20 a.m. local time, with Player first, followed by Jack and his wife Barbara, who he had his left arm wrapped over, and finally Watson. "Isn't that just the sweetest?" said my co-worker Meredith Bausback, referring to Jack and Barbara. Even myself, a very non-romantic guy (just ask my wife, am I right?) nodded in agreement. How can you not be romantic about the honorary starters ceremony?

A thinned-out crowd under the tree

Make no mistake, the first tee was packed to the gills with patrons, as always. Normally the same goes for the "under the tree" media hangout that we have access to. But it seemed the early start, and maybe the October Big 10 weather, seemed to deter some folks from making it out there, making it a much smaller crowd. It felt more intimate than it has in my past two trips to the ceremony.

Fred Ridley's introduction, the tee shots

"It's a little quiet around here," Tom Watson could be heard saying before the chairman's booming voice began speaking. Serious, Fred Ridley has some pipes. Speaking of pipe(d), Tom Watson can still move it out there. As for Jack and Gary, obviously they got a few years on, but the swings are still pure. We of course still got the famous kick from Gary and Jack making some cracks. By the way, with all the technology the Masters rolls out every year, how do we not get shot tracer for these guys? I want spin rate, SMASH factor, all of it! There's some serious betting opportunities as well. I'm only half-kidding.

Staking out Jim Nantz

Our annual tradition unlike any other? Waiting for Jim Nantz to come out of the clubhouse so we can get him for a stop-and-chat. All the credit here goes to Alex Myers, who has Nantz on speed dial (according to Alex) and always facilitates the meetup. Oddly, Nantz was nowhere to be seen for the first 15 or so minutes, and we were starting to get worried that he was still reeling from the Houston loss Monday night. Then, out he came, and Alex said hello and went to re-introduce myself, Meredith and our social guy Will Irwin. But here's the thing about Nantz - the man is a MAGNET. Next thing you know, he's getting pulled left and right into 10 other conversations, and he stops, says "Hello friend" and chats at length with everyone that comes up to him. The consummate professional. We waited and waited and waited some more. I would have waited all day. Finally, before he headed back in, we got to say hello, and he gave us a solid five minutes of his extremely precious time. He and I agreed Davis Thompson was live this week, he told Myers he mentioned him in an interview last week, and then he pointed at all of us when talking to someone else and said he "claimed us" as part of the family, but "I don't know if they claim me." Jim, we basically stalked you for 45 minutes hoping to say hello, you OUR our family. What a legend.

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