Tom Watson shares what he did when Augusta National called and asked him to be an honorary starter at The Masters

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Few events across sport are steeped in tradition quite like The Masters with almost every second of the opening major of the year inspiring feelings of nostalgia.

Whether it be the iconic layout of Augusta National or the vivid colours on show, The Masters just seems to hit a little differently for every golf fan, whether they be watching at home or patrons under the mesmerising Georgia pines.

And of course, one of the traditions every year has been the honorary first tee shot, with some of the most legendary figures within the game getting the chance to kick the first round off in style.

Jack Nicklaus joined Arnold Palmer as an honorary starter in 2010, while Gary Player completed the trio two years later. They would continue together until Palmer’s death in 2016.

Tom Watson shares his reaction to being asked by Augusta National to be an honorary starter at The Masters

Lee Elder joined Nicklaus and Player in 2021. And in 2022, it was Tom Watson who became the 11th honorary starter.

Watson won The Masters on two occasions during his career, while he has won eight major titles overall. Nevertheless, speaking on The Masters Podcast, the 75-year-old admitted that he did not believe that he should have that honour.

“I got the phone call from Fred Ridley. He said, ‘Tom, you’ve been a great champion here at Augusta, you’ve conducted yourself very well. We’d love to have you as an honorary starter along with Jack and Gary’. And my first response was, ‘well, I’m not in the same league as those guys. Why don’t you just have those two guys tee off, you don’t need a third guy’. He said, ‘no, Tom, we’d really like you to consider doing this’, and I said, ‘well, it’s a great honour, I accept’. With that, he said, ‘Tom, you may have this honour for however long you want to do it’,” he said.

“And I said, ‘well, that’s so generous of you’. Here I am, this is the third year. To be able to tee off and start the tournament that I love, I played well in over the years, and shared the memories with Sam Snead and my good friend Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, it’s just a tremendous honour to be asked. Of course, I was going to accept, but I just wanted them to know if it were me, I’d probably just have Jack and Gary be the honorary starters and not me, but when he insisted that they wanted to be the honorary starter, I said of course.”

The 11 players to be honorary starters at The Masters

Watson does not appear to have aged at all in recent years, while it would be no surprise at all to see Player still being an honorary starter for the 2050 Masters – perhaps outdriving Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

There have been 11 since the tradition began in 1963, with Jock Hutchison and Fred McLeod the first players to take on the responsibility.

Byron Nelson, Gene Sarazen, Ken Venturi and Sam Snead would all take part, while the 2012 Masters saw Palmer, Nicklaus and Player together for the first time.

And as mentioned, Nicklaus and Player have been joined by a third person again every year since 2021, with Elder honoured just months before his passing.

Despite what he may think, Watson is certainly in no way out of place alongside Nicklaus and Player given the career he enjoyed.