Augusta doctor witnessed Masters' birth, growth
The New York Times obituary of Gene Sarazen hangs in a frame in the house on the Hill where Dr. Ed Bailey has lived for more than 50 years. It is a Bailey family favorite, for obvious reasons.
"One of (Bobby) Jones' favorite stories is of Ed Bailey, a noted amateur golfer from Augusta, who encouraged Sarazen to play an aggressive shot from the fairway," the story reads.
"Not enough credit has been given to Dr. Bailey," said Jones. "Given his knowledge of the game, he was able to impart a competitive fire in Sarazen that led to a fabulous golf shot and forever changed the Masters Invitational Tournament and the game of golf."
Just sharing it again with another unwitting stranger draws a chuckle from the 91-year-old retired pediatrician.
"We have people who read that thing and really believe it," Bailey said.
"I think my father has read it so many times he's starting to believe it himself," said Georgia Bailey Usry, his youngest daughter.
The passage in the story is a hoax, generated by Dr. Bailey's son, Bernard, who got a friend at The New York Times to re-create the page for him.
The truth is, Ed Bailey heard the "shot heard round the world" in 1935 from the adjacent hole.
"I didn't see him strike the ball, but I was standing in the fairway on No. 17 and heard all the commotion," he said. "I looked over and saw Gene Sarazen go after his ball."
Sarazen's famous double eagle on No. 15 is about the only thing Bailey has missed at the Masters. He has attended every Masters Tournament, starting with the inaugural invitational tournament in 1934. That's every single Masters - and still counting.
"I never even thought about it," Bailey said of a streak that he might be the only one to claim. "I don't know if there are any others. I'm sure there are some, but I don't know who they are."
You can't be so sure there are. There is only one surviving player from that first Masters, Errie Ball, so the links are dwindling.
Streaks like Bailey's don't come about in any planned fashion. He was 18 and only three years shy of finishing medical school in 1934, when he followed Bobby Jones every step of the way in the first Augusta National Invitation Tournament.
Tickets were handed out downtown on Broad Street just to get people to attend.
During World War II, Bailey served as an Army doctor in the Pacific theater for three years, but the Masters cooperated by shutting down during that period.
"I didn't miss any because they had cattle on the golf course eating down the grass," Bailey said.
By 1991, Bailey had seen enough golf during the Masters that he thought he would skip a year and leave his allotment of tickets for his six children.
"It was a year he thought about taking a break, and we said he couldn't or he would break his streak," Usry recounted.
The streak didn't end three years ago either, when Bailey's wife, Georgia, died after a long illness during Masters Week. His children quietly ensured he made it to Augusta National at least one day to watch players on the driving range.
"The tradition could not stop," Usry said. "My mother, Georgia, would have wanted my father to go."
Bailey and his wife attended together for years. He laughs about the time she was mortified when a surprise rain shower doused her linen shirt, which shrank so much she had to cover up in a man's coat.
"She was never more embarrassed in her life," he said.
Bailey has enjoyed the tradition "from the word go," even though he never had any idea it would grow as huge as it has. Born, raised, schooled and employed in Augusta, he remembers vividly the anticipation of the community when Jones bought the old Fruitlands Nursery property off Berckmans Road. Before the course opened, Bailey hit balls on the developing fairways.
He started playing golf when he was 6 or 7, taking two cut-down clubs and three balls his father gave him to a field on Fenwick Street. He moved on to the sand greens at the Augusta Arsenal, then Augusta Municipal and Forest Hills. Eventually, his family got a summer membership at Augusta Country Club.
He's played Augusta National plenty of times with friends who are members.
It seems appropriate that Bailey has his picture in the original issue of Sports Illustrated, published Aug. 16, 1954. In a photo spread labeled The Golden Age Is Now, one shot from the Masters is of the gallery watching play on the 11th hole. Bailey, wearing his telltale large, dark glasses, is prominently featured leaning over the ropes.
"He loves that picture," said his daughter Sarah Duncan, who owns the house she and her siblings grew up in on Bellevue Avenue.
The entire Bailey family loves the Masters, during which they convene every year in the house that has always served as party headquarters.
Bailey used to attend all four rounds every year and walk the entire course, but in recent years he's limited himself to sitting in the bleachers on the practice range. That stems from a conversation he had with his favorite golfer, Ben Hogan.
"The most notable person I kept an eye on was Hogan," Bailey said. "I talked to him once. He was always perfectly nice to me. He told me the thing that really counts is practice, practice, practice."
He used to watch Hogan beat balls while his caddie stood in the distance, never moving and shagging the balls on one bounce.
He walked every step of the 1954 playoff between Hogan and Sam Snead. He saw Augusta native Larry Mize chip in to win in sudden death in 1987. He's never walked with Tiger Woods, but he watches him warm up.
He's had plenty of encounters with storied figures at Augusta National through the years. He's spoken with Jones, had lunch with Sarazen, eaten breakfast on Masters Sunday at the Catholic church with Jimmy Demaret. He considers Greg Norman and Nick Price friends.
He also attended most of Augusta's other major - the LPGA's Titleholders at Augusta Country Club. He got to play with Patty Berg and once played behind Mickey Wright.
Bailey - who will attend today's round only - has watched the Masters grow from its quaint roots to become an iconic international event.
"It's changed a lot with time," he said. "Now people just want to go there to breathe the air."
Dr. Bailey is still breathing the air at Augusta - 71 Masters and counting.
Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.
