Couple has made Masters a tradition for decades

The only thing William Branan has been dedicated to longer than his wife of 56 years is the Masters Tournament.

It’s a love affair that started 62 years ago, no interruptions, no exceptions.

“It’s a high priority on my list,” Branan said. “People that know me call Masters Week my high holy days.”

This week marks the 62nd consecutive year Branan has attended the Masters. His wife, Carolyn, is behind at 61 years because she skipped the 1978 tournament to visit her sister in Germany.

The couple, both 79, started attending when they were in high school – she at Tubman High School for Girls and he at Academy of Richmond County.

They started dating after high school and got married around when William Bran­an attended the Medical College of Georgia. The couple moved to Decatur, Ga., after he graduated.

Even when he was a practicing pediatrician and she was a busy mother raising three children, the couple never missed a year.

“It’s a tradition in our house,” Carolyn Branan said. “Every year they (the Masters) make it better.”

This year was the first tournament for their 12-year-old grandson, who came along with his mother and father. The family began the day Saturday eating egg salad sandwiches and drinking coffee under an oak tree.

The Branans’ routine has been similar through the years. They walk most of the course and take a break at the most interesting holes.

Both have their eyes on Fred Couples as a winner this year.

William Branan remembers well the 1986 Masters when Jack Nicklaus stunned the world with his sixth win at age 46. He followed Nick­laus on all of the back nine holes, realizing he was watching history.

“It was the most exciting time in golf,” he said.

Besides the golf, the couple said what keeps them coming back is the atmosphere – seeing the generations of patrons change.

“It’s the great panorama you see of people around the course,” Carolyn Branan said. “We like to see the passing parade of people through the years.”