Legends recognize legends.
On a Masters Sunday in which Tiger Woods hadn’t played his best round of golf at Augusta National Golf Club, the five-time Masters champion still paid his respect to legendary and retiring broadcaster Verne Lundquist.
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Look: Tiger Woods acknowledges Verne Lundquist on Hole 16
As Woods was walking off the greens on Hole 16 at Augusta National, Woods stopped and shook hands with Lundquist. The CBS broadcaster watched Woods play the hole from behind the bunker in a lawn chair before he got set and ready for his call of the Masters.
As noted on the Masters.com broadcast, Woods rarely takes breaks away from the game itself when he is playing, so to break from action — however briefly — and acknowledge Lundquist was a pure class move from Woods.
Jim Nantz’s tribute to Verne Lundquist
As Collin Morikawa made his par putt on Hole 16, CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz paid a poetic farewell to Lundquist as he sent the broadcast to Hole 17, where Lundquist was ready for the call:
“Scottie Scheffler with another birdie, his seventh of the day as Verne said, ‘Wow.’ Verne wrote a book back in 2018 called ‘Play-by-Play’ and the last line of the book that he wrote. … I want to apply it to you. … ‘Thanks for the memories.’ Your voice has been a beautiful instrument. Thank you for a wonderful soundtrack for all of our lives.”
During a news conference this week at Augusta National, Woods spoke about Lundquist’s iconic call his historic chip on Hole 16 in 2005 and what he has meant to the Masters Tournament throughout the years.
“I’ve heard that call a couple of times,” Woods said, laughing. “He has an amazing ability to bring in the audience, describe a situation and narrate in a way that is poetic but also described with emotionality. He just draws the audience in.
“It’s amazing. It is his 40th year now to call the Masters. That is what I grew up watching, that is what I grew up listening to Verne. He made a nice call there at No. 16. … I will have that memory with Verne for the rest of my life.”
Lundquist will be on the call alongside Jim Nantz on CBS starting at 2 p.m. ET for the final round of the 2024 Masters Tournament.
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