AUGUSTA, Ga. — Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson walked across the dew-soaked grass outside the clubhouse to warm applause, and when they reached the first tee box shortly after sunrise Thursday at Augusta National, patrons who had staked out viewing spots with their green Masters folding chairs rose to their feet.
Then the three luminaries turned the traditional ceremonial tee shots that open the Masters into a comedy sketch about their aging bodies.
“The tee is yours,” tournament chairman Fred Ridley said to Nicklaus.
“Maybe. If I don’t fall down putting this in the ground,” the six-time Masters winner responded, referring to a golf tee.
Nicklaus pumped his fist after successfully teeing up his golf ball, then felt the need to warn the spectators: “Oh boy. Woo! Watch out.”
The 85-year-old Nicklaus said later that a primary thought in his head was not to kill anyone with an errant shot. He hit it solidly enough and found the left edge of the wide fairway of Tea Olive, the scenic opening hole.
He followed Player, the 89-year-old South African with three Masters titles. Player had offered a joke — “That fairway gets a little more narrow every year” —and then kicked his leg after his tee shot.
The 75-year-old Watson, a two-time winner at Augusta National, outdrove them both with a swing that has held up over time.
Club staffers positioned along the fairway scurried out to collect the three ceremonial golf balls, and this year’s first major championship tournament for men’s golf was underway. The first official pairing for the 89th edition of the Masters was Patton Kizzire and Davis Riley, going off in a twosome before groups of three the rest of the day.
Nicklaus — 39 years after winning the green jacket for the last time and 20 years after last playing the Masters — was joined by his wife, known widely as the First Lady of Golf. Dressed in the traditional white caddie bib of the Masters, Barbara toted her husband’s small bag with the single club he needed for his ceremonial duties: a purple-shafted driver.
The tradition of honorary starters officially began in 1963, when club co-founder Bobby Jones asked Scottish pros Jock Hutchinson and Fred McLeod to lead off the opening round. They served in the role into the 1970s, when the custom was paused for a handful of years. In 1981, Byron Nelson and Gene Sarazen assumed the job. Sam Snead joined a few years later.
Along the way, their opening tee shots became as much a part of the Masters experience as those pimento cheese sandwiches.
Arnold Palmer served as a starter from 2007 until his death in 2016. Nicklaus had joined him in 2010 and Player two years later. Watson made it a group of three again three years ago, forming a trio with a combined 11 green jackets — from a combined 140 Masters appearances across six decades — and 35 major championships to their names.
After getting relief from the chilly morning air, the honorary starters donned their green jackets and took questions about a variety of topics at a freewheeling and occasionally awkward news conference.
“I’ve got a young girlfriend who changed my life,” Player said. “How about that, at 90, finding a girlfriend. Tom’s not as old as me, but he’s also found a new one.”
Nicklaus and Watson were asked if they wanted to weigh in on that subject. Watson lifted his hands, smiled and shook his head no.
The trio of golfing greats agreed on two topics: They think Rory McIlroy is going to win this year’s Masters to complete the career Grand Slam, and they believe players should always talk to the media after their rounds, even if they played poorly — something McIlroy didn’t do after his heartbreak at last year’s U.S. Open, where he was the runner-up to Bryson DeChambeau.
McIlroy has won the PGA Championship twice and the British Open and U.S. Open once each, but he has been stuck on those four major titles since 2014. He also has dozens of wins since then across the PGA Tour and the Europe-based DP World Tour.
“He has the best swing in golf, without a question. He’s the fittest golfer. He does a deadlift of 400 pounds,” Player said of McIlroy, who’s currently second in the Official World Golf Ranking behind Scottie Scheffler. “It’s just the right time for him to win now, and the golf course, there’s no golf course that suits a man better than it does for Rory.”
Nicklaus said he had lunch with McIlroy last week, and the 35-year-old from Northern Ireland detailed how he planned to play every shot.
“He got done with the round. I didn’t open my mouth. I said, ‘Well, I wouldn’t change a thing. That’s exactly how I would try to play the golf course,'” Nicklaus said.
As for players talking to reporters — a subject that came up again this spring when Collin Morikawa told the media, “I don’t owe anyone anything” — Nicklaus said players could choose not to speak after their rounds, but he can’t recall ever making that choice himself.
Player said competitors should be required by the PGA Tour to talk.
“I think there should be a PGA rule, that if you’re requested to go after a round, it’s our obligation to do this,” Player said. “If you ask for somebody to go to the press room, whether you shoot 90 or you shoot 60, you should have to go there.”