For anyone fortunate enough to attend the Masters, it’s almost a requirement to take something home from the experience.
A golf shirt. A piece of artwork featuring Amen Corner. A couple of packages of Masters MoonPies, if you don’t eat them before leaving.
For me, it’s the plastic cups the Masters uses in its concession stands. It’s not even intentional; it just happens, every year.
You’ve probably seen similar cups in a million places and have at least a few in a kitchen cabinet, maybe from a beach bar or a football game.
Having been fortunate to have covered the Masters for several decades, I have gradually accumulated more of these plastic cups than anyone needs. For me, they’re not collector’s items, just functional cups that are the right size and have the tournament logo stamped on them.
As a matter of full disclosure, I’m particularly fond of using the green cups for a Tanqueray and tonic, especially if there is grilling to be done.
If you’ve been to the Masters, you’re familiar with the cups. Most of them are a neutral color: not quite clear and not quite gray.
Those are the cups for sodas – they refer to them as cola, diet cola and lemon-lime at Augusta National – and for your domestic beers, which do taste good on a warm day when the pollen dries your throat.
The cups have dates on them, so when I grab a cup from 2011, I’m reminded of Charl Schwartzel winning (though it takes me a minute with that one) or 2015, when Jordan Spieth won.
Then there are the green cups, reserved for craft and imported beers. Like the beers themselves, the cups are a small but nice upgrade.
Should you have dinner at my house, chances are you’ll be drinking from a Masters cup, or at least given the option. We do have proper glassware, but with a cabinet full of Masters cups, you can pick your year if you want.
The Masters comes around only once a year but, at least at my house, it’s easy to raise a cup in its honor every day.
Ron Green Jr.
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