College football fans throughout the South know Associated Press reporter David Brandt’s name from his terrific coverage of SEC college football, especially for Ole Miss and Mississippi State. David freely admits to not being a golf nut, largely because he doesn’t cover golf regularly — and, in his words, “I’ve played just enough to know that I suck.” But this year, the AP enlisted him to cover his first major championship at — of all places, and in all years — the 2019 Masters.
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LYING FOUR: How are the media accommodations at Augusta National? I only know what I see on social media, but it looks posh.
DAVID BRANDT: It’s insane. It’s a cathedral, essentially. It’s the nicest media workroom, it could almost be like a concert hall. The food’s good. You’ve got your own wood desk. There’s 30-foot-high televisions showing everything. Honestly it’s probably a little bit of overkill, but I’m not gonna complain. It’s definitely nice.
LYING FOUR: Alan Shipnuck has a horror story about working with Augusta National. How were they to work with? Were they helpful or were they a pain in the neck?
DAVID BRANDT: No, they were fine. What’s interesting is that they’re extremely secretive. Only one person speaks for the club, and it’s Fred, the chairman. I did a story on the technology advances on the Masters website — they captured video of all 20,000 shots at the Masters — and I talked to a bunch of people, but I couldn’t quote anybody. It was just background. I wouldn’t say it’s restrictive, but it’s a little weird sometimes. But for the most part, if you want to do your story, you can do your story.
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LYING FOUR: So what was the vibe like in the press corps on Sunday morning? What were people expecting?
DAVID BRANDT: It’s really fun to cover. It’s one of the few places where the vibe — I mean, obviously, Tiger was in the hunt, so there was a lot of excitement. I’ve never covered another major, so I can’t compare it, but everybody thought it was gonna be a good round and that some good golf could be played, except everybody was also worried because it looked like thunderstorms were coming and they didn’t know if they’d get the round in. It’s interesting at the Masters — it’s sort of like covering the Olympics — in that there are a lot of foreign journalists. There were quite a few Italian journalists covering Molinari, there were some Spanish journalists covering Jon Rahm; there were Chinese journalists; I think there were a few Japanese journalists, and some people over from England. It was fascinating, because at times, I was in the press room and at times I was on the course, but when that crazy back nine started happening and the leaderboard was just going nuts, every time something happened with Molinari, the Italian folks were talking and getting real excited. And when Tiger would do something, everybody would get into that. It was a really fascinating atmosphere. And I think for everybody, Tiger was playing pretty well but it seemed like Molinari was just so steady that he just wasn’t gonna give shots away, but then he went in the water on 12, four of the last six guys in the last two groups went in the water, and that’s when things kind of got crazy. Especially when Tiger got on the green there and made par, that’s when it looked like this could turn into a classic.
LYING FOUR: I saw your story on Molinari. I think he would’ve been the last person in the entire field that I would’ve guessed would put two in the water. Was there a sense of shock about that? Because I was stunned.
DAVID BRANDT: Yeah, there was. He went 49 straight holes without a bogey. I mean, that’s incredible. Augusta National was playing a little easier than normal, just because it was soft from the rains, and it wasn’t as windy as it sometimes is, but that’s a pretty incredible streak. He just does such a good job of staying out of trouble, doesn’t take risks, and makes par. And that’s what made him so effective. The thing that shocks me the most about going in the water on 12 was that there was plenty of instruction in front of him that you needed to club up — Ian Poulter had gone into the water, somebody else in that group in front of him went in the water too. So it was obvious that the wind was playing kind of weird there, and I was surprised that with all that information, he still went in the water. He had the right club, he just didn’t hit it hard enough. So No. 12 was surprising. And on 15, he just ran into a little bit of bad luck hitting that tree. But yeah, everybody was shocked, because he was so rock solid for so long. I don’t think nerves got to him. I just think he made some bad decisions.
LYING FOUR: Were you out on the course at all, or were you in the media center?
DAVID BRANDT: I was out on the course for the last two or three holes, so it was hard to see anything. Sometimes you think that the press gets special access, as far as viewing, and at some places you do but the Masters is not one of those places. You’re fighting for views with the crowd. Getting out there that late, there was no seeing what was going on. I was up on the hill behind 18, and the atmosphere was just electric. Everybody kind of knew that they were witnessing history.
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LYING FOUR: So when something like that is going on — when something is going on that everybody except Mrs. Molinari wants to see happen — how do you, as a journalist, keep your objectivity?
DAVID BRANDT: Objectivity doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t feel the emotion of the story and root for the story. I was definitely rooting for the story. And really, no matter what happened, the story was there. Obviously it was even bigger when Tiger won, with that crazy back nine and Tiger being in contention, but you always root for the story. It’s not so much like you’re rooting for Tiger, even though that’s an incredible story — he hadn’t won a major since 2008, hadn’t won at the Masters since 2005. I had hair the last time Tiger Woods won a Masters. I think it’s pretty easy to keep your objectivity. You’re just trying to tell the best story possible. In some ways, I think it focuses you even more, because there are these little moments — I’m kinda getting off track here — but one cool thing at Augusta National, obviously you can’t have cell phones. The patrons can’t have cell phones, and the media can’t have cell phones — you’ll lose your credential. What’s interesting about that is that it’s like a time warp back to 1993. For one thing, instead of everybody looking at their phones, everybody is just talking to each other. But probably the coolest moment of being out there was at No. 18, where they have one of those big, hand-operated scoreboards like you see at Fenway Park or Wrigley Field or something. The second group, with Koepka and Webb Simpson was on 18, but Tiger and them were on 17. No one knew what he had done at 17. Everybody knew he had a two-shot lead, and everybody was really waiting to see that score pop up. So they turned Molinari’s number over first, they turned Finau’s over next — and everybody was just sitting there — and then they turned Tiger’s over, and it was “14” again. And there was just this huge roar, like you were watching Jack Nicklaus in ’86. You could hear the roar on 17, and then the roars would cascade down the course as everybody heard what’d happened.
LYING FOUR: That’s incredible.
DAVID BRANDT: Yeah. It’s just so different, like it’s from a different era.
LYING FOUR: Was there any sort of a consensus among the press corps about what to expect from Tiger going forward? Because I’ve been in both places in my head. On the one hand, he’s the No. 6 golfer in the world now, and he’s been in the mix for the past three majors in a row, and if he weren’t 43 you’d probably pencil him in for at least another top five this year. On the other hand, he is 43, and he’s got all this scar tissue, so it’s just as easy to imagine him doing really well the rest of the year as it is to imagine that this is a one-off. Was there a consensus about what people expect from him the rest of the year?
DAVID BRANDT: Obviously, just like with everyone, it depends on health. But from an intellectual perspective, we all knew that Tiger was playing pretty well. He had been in contention in majors. But you wondered whether if he still had “it,” whatever that is — the ability to close, like he was so famous for in his early years. Obviously, Sunday was proof that he still can have it. And it may not happen as often as much as it used to. Certainly, Father Time is not really on his side. But I think the press corps also realizes, for the most part, that Tiger is an anomaly. He’s one of the all-time greats. It’s why somebody like Jack Nicklaus can win the Masters at age 46. Tiger is not typical. So I think everybody believes, health willing, that he will be in contention at majors for the foreseeable future, hopefully for the next three or four years.
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LYING FOUR: I saw you tweeted that the bar was open for the press after the final round. Do people just start walking around with cocktails while they file their gamer stories on Sunday afternoon?
DAVID BRANDT: There were a few. Golf is one of the few sports still — sometimes in college football too — where at the end, everybody’s wrapping up and somebody will bring out a 12-pack or something like that and some people might have a beer before they leave or something like that. But golf is a little more open with stuff like that. It was just funny — when they opened the bar, that was kind of funny, but when they closed the bar, they had to announce it twice because people kept trying to run up there and get beer. It just struck me funny, because all the AP guys, we were all chugging coffee and churning out as many stories as we can. I didn’t want to make it sound like a bar — nobody was in there getting silly or anything. It was just such a celebratory atmosphere, not because Tiger had won, but everybody knew that they had just witnessed one of the best majors of all time. There was an energy going through the press corps — knowing that more than just witnessing Tiger, that you’d witnessed history that day.
LYING FOUR: Did you pick up any merch?
DAVID BRANDT: Yeah, I went to the big pro shop and bought a bunch of stuff for my family, because I hope I cover many Masters but I never know how many Masters I’ll cover. I went and got some stuff for my daughters and my parents and things like that.
LYING FOUR: What was the coolest thing you brought home?
DAVID BRANDT: I saw a Darren Rovell tweet that says the Masters makes $850,000 per hour in the pro shop, which I believe. It’s incredible. The line is so long that you feel like you’re about to ride Space Mountain at Disney World. The line moves fast, but you wrap around, and it’s gigantic — just about everything you could ever imagine. I got some shirts for my family. My dad is really into puzzles, and there was a 1,000-piece Masters puzzle, so I got that for him. For me, the media guides are cool. I love going through all that stuff. I’m sure that in 20 years, that’ll be a pretty cool thing to have.