Late in 1996, I decided I wanted to get out of editing and page design, which I’d been doing at four different newspapers for most of the previous five years. There’d been some turmoil and turnover in the Greensboro (North Carolina) News & Record sports department, so they were desperate enough to let me leave the desk and be the minor-league hockey/backup motorsports guy. (In retrospect, I was a little desperate, too.)
Months later, I had inherited the golf beat from Helen Ross when she left to join PGATour.com. In typical newspaper fashion, the editors were looking for places to slash costs, and cutting the Masters during a changeover looked to be a good place to start. My sports editor, Allen Johnson, called me into his office in January 1997 when it was time to apply for credentials, and I’ll concede that I was nervous knowing what was coming. “Why do you think we need to cover the Masters?” he asked.
“Because Tiger Woods is going to win it, and it will be the biggest story in the world and we’ll look like idiots for not covering it for the first time in more than 50 years,” I said bluntly.
“You really think that?” my editor pressed. I reached into my wallet and pulled out a $20 Vegas betting slip – which I’d gotten that fall during a friend’s bachelor party weekend in Las Vegas – picking Tiger to win his first professional major start at 20-1 and slammed it on his desk. “Yeah, I really do.”
My editor picked up the slip and studied it before handing it back. He knew how much money I made, and that $20 was not a frivolous prop. “Well,” he said, “you’d better be right.” He approved the travel.
Woods shot 40 on the front nine. I figured that would be my first and last trip to Augusta. For golf’s sake, and mine, he got better. (I never did cash the betting slip.)
This week will mark my 27th consecutive Masters. Like every golfer on tour today, I owe Tiger Woods a debt of gratitude.
Scott Michaux
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