That, my friends, is a photo of my parents at Augusta National, taken this past Saturday as they attended The Masters. That is *the* golf tournament of the year, and it is held right here in Georgia (Augusta, not Atlanta).
"This is a 50-year dream," says my dad. "I remember watching the Masters in black and white on CBS when Palmer won in 1960 and Player won in 1961." Tickets are next to impossible to come by. They are literally willed from one generation to the next and are rarely available to the public. [I stand corrected. Tickets can pass to a surviving spouse once (not again if that spouse remarries), but they cannot be willed otherwise. Not sure if that is a newer policy or if willing the tickets is urban legend.] The wait list is years (or decades) long and is frequently closed due to overwhelming demand, which is why everyone thought it may well have to remain nothing but a dream. Let's just say that there really are genuinely nice and generous people in the world, and I honestly think that my parents being genuinely nice people ("living right," as my dad likes to say) is what allowed this particular chain of events to unfold, leading straight to Augusta National. Proof that good things really do come to good people!
No cameras or cell phones are allowed inside, so this is the only picture, but in this case, it is not only worth 1000 words, it was worth 50 years of waiting.
Currently feeling:
beyond thrilled for them!
I'm glad that your parents got to go. We hope to be able to go soon. As a correction, tickets actually are not willed. We are all too aware of that. Matt's grandfather has tickets and we will lose them when he dies.
ReplyDeleteI am the dad in the article. We did find out from our friend with the tickets (I asked when we got his badges for the day) that the policy is the tickets pass one time to the surviving spouse. Should that spouse remarry, the tickets will not pass again. I am not sure if it is urban legend about the tickets being included in wills, as I have heard that for many, many years.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was worth the trip and our friend was very excited to see others have the pleasure of fulfilling a dream. We also dined Friday night with some of his friends who annually go to the tournament and they were equally excited for us to get to go.
What a heartwarming entry!!! So pleased you had the opportunity, Papa, and were able to take it. Of course, watching it on TV nexxt year will be harder in some ways......
ReplyDeleteWe have a comparable thing in England with tickets to the opera at Glyndebourne and were lucky enough to go three times, courtesy of friends who were on the ticket list. Quite an experience.
I lived for 14 years just west of Augusta, and though I have never attended the Masters, Nathan and I love to watch it every year! It just feels like home to me :-) I am so very excited that your parents were able to attend, Erin, and I rejoice at a dream coming true!
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