AUGUSTA - As Masters traditions go, this one is likely the least “Master-ly” one on the books. The sheer whimsy, the borderline irreverence of it, just doesn’t seem entirely in sync with the stiff and proper image of THE Augusta National Golf Club.
But there were Tiger Woods and Will Zalatoris Monday morning, the first to arrive at the par-3 16th during the opening practice round for the Masters. Their irons to the green were secondary to what came next.
“Skip it. Skip it. Skip it,” the fans horseshoeing the tee box began hooting as soon as the twosome took their first steps forward.
Playing in his 26th Masters, Woods was all too familiar with their demand: To throw down another ball in front of the pond guarding this green, pull a club and nip the ball just so to send it skipping over the water like a flat rock over a calm sea.
He and Zalatoris complied, and added the flourish of hitting their skip shots simultaneously. A bit of choreographed nonsense to break up the work of preparing for the season’s first major. Woods’ ball skipped once, twice, three times and was oh, so close to coming to rest on the green before lodging on the far bank of the pond. Zalatoris hit his with more steam, a low stinger that skipped once before scooting into a back bunker.
At least Zalatoris recognized progress Monday in his effort. “The first two years I did it I was absolutely horrendous,” he said later that day. “One of the places I play at has an enormous lake. Given how bad I did, I did practice it a few times.”
His goal: “At least get one bounce so I don’t airmail it over the back of the green.”
“It’s fun,” he said. “That’s just the tradition of this place that makes it so special.”
Somehow this little diversion got past the fun police, and now everyone is expected to attempt the skip shot at No. 16 during their practice rounds.
By heavens, Gene Sarazen never skipped a ball at the Masters. Otherwise, the history of this tradition is a great deal more muddy than that pond.
Ken Green, one of the great iconoclasts to play in the Masters, claims some credit for popularizing the No. 16 skip. While gearing up for the 1987 Masters, Green and playing partner Mark Calcavecchia put down a little bet on who could bounce a ball over the water and find dry land. There reportedly was a bonus for the greatest number of skips.
As the story goes, the lords of the Masters weren’t initially amused. Green is said to have received a letter from the then-Augusta National Chairman Hord Hardin – not the only scolding note Green would get from the chairman’s office – telling him to knock it off. Green deposited the suggestion in the trash and carried on, and eventually other players began following suit.
But was he really the first? According to Golf Digest, there had been sightings of Seve Ballesteros and Lee Trevino skipping the ball in the 1980s.
Further research by Golfweek magazine dated the skip shot back to the 1970s. Tom Kite and Billy Casper both laid claim to attempting the shot.
Whoever was the father of the skip shot, we thank him. Face it, practice rounds aren’t exactly great theater, even practice rounds at the Masters. What a fine bit of comic relief this has proven to be, something that all early-in-the-week visitors to Augusta National must see, or their experience is incomplete.
