Patrons' long wait pays off at No. 18
Web posted
Monday, April 10, 2006
WHEN: Sunday, 2:18 p.m.
WHERE: Sitting area around the No. 18 green
Welcome to the arena.
Augusta National Golf Club is 17 holes of splendor. It is the most naturally beautiful sporting venue on Earth, carpeted in green grass and decorated with flowering trees and bushes.
At the 18th green, though, it morphs back into a serious place. Here, it's all about golf.
Agony and ecstasy.
Winning and losing.
There are no azaleas to behold, tranquil creeks to be mesmerized by or sweeping views of holes.
If Amen Corner is a church and the area around the 16th green is an amphitheater, this is the Colosseum. The golfers are the Christians, and the two huge bunkers and a deceiving slick green constitute the lions.
The patrons here are golf-thirsty. They arrive before the play begins, head straight for the sitting areas that form a horseshoe around the green and wait.
Many stake out a spot and form alliances with their neighbors. You sit here and watch our chairs while we walk around for an hour, and one of us will come back and do the same for you. No use in all of us sitting here for eight hours before even the first group comes through.
Those who remain behind pass the time in the usual ways. They read the newspaper or socialize with friends. Some even nap.
The wait is worthwhile. The past three Masters all were decided by a stroke or a playoff, making the scene at the 18th green like the last two minutes of a basketball game - the only part you really need to watch.
The chairs around No. 18 start to fill in as the first group makes its way through Amen Corner. By the time the golfers make the No. 15 tee - within view of the grandstands at Nos. 7 and 17, where many 18th-hole campers hang out early in the day - the Colosseum is almost full.
The newspapers disappear, conversation stops and the sleeping are woken up. Attention turns to the leaderboard towering near the green, and anticipation builds.
It's almost showtime.
