REPORTING FROM INSIDE THE ROPES AT The Masters is the greatest professional privilege in televised golf. CBS began the practice only this decade. Even as a professional on the LPGA Tour for 17 years – I played on six US Solheim Cup teams and won 17 tournaments, including the Dinah Shore twice – the things I see at the Masters as- tonish me, and none of the 10 Masters I’ve worked as a CBS announcer quite compares to the one we just saw. The 2025 Sunday matchup of Rory McIl- roy vs Bryson DeChambeau, the great supporting cast who had chances until late and all the chaotic ups and downs made it the most thrilling Masters I’ve been to. A friend irreverently referred to it as “bipolar golf,” while I called it the “Rorycoaster.” Neither of us were wrong. On Sunday at the Masters, first impressions matter. When Rory and Bryson arrived at the first tee, their countenances were very different. Bryson made a gladiator entrance, exuberant. He was trying to create an atmosphere he could feed off. Rory was tighter, more serious, a little edgy. On the first hole Saturday, McIlroy carried his tee shot 343 yards and cleared the fairway bunker by
48 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
MAY 2025
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator