Jim Nantz had a decision to make as the final, dramatic moments of the 2019 Masters played out before him at Augusta National.
Does he stay in the broadcast tower behind the 18th green to watch what he believed would be the finishing touches on Tiger Woods’ victory? Or does he head over to the Butler Cabin — roughly 200 yards away but with a slew of spectators to navigate — where he’d be hosting the post-tournament green jacket ceremony?
Over the years, the longtime voice of CBS Golf had gone nearly 50-50 on that decision, sometimes electing to stay in the booth, other times feeling it best to get to the Butler Cabin, where time and the demand of live television often impacted his decision.
“It’s always been a bit of a circus act for me to climb down the stairs on that tower when the last putt has been holed to make it through the crowd, even with assistance, to the cabin,” Nantz said during a recent interview. “Really, every second you are behind is so crucial. So I decided to break early and watch the last hole play out.
“After what happened at 12, I really wanted to be in the cabin early. It was going to be Tiger Woods coming in after so many people had given him up for dead in the game of golf. I would never put it past him. I would never put it past him giving up on the idea he would win again.”
Woods played the last hole in 5 strokes, pitching onto the green and then two-putting with a tap-in for the victory.
“The return to glory!” Nantz said as Woods pumped his arms to boisterous chanting and cheering.
And then Nantz said … nothing.
For 2 minutes, 45 seconds, he let the scene play out, as Woods was congratulated on the green, then headed through the chute where he met his son, Charlie, daughter, Sam, mother, Tida, and others on his team before a loud, chanting walk to scoring, where a slew of fellow competitors greeted him.
“My instincts through all these years: Never step on a big moment,” Nantz said. “I don’t know if there has ever been any moments bigger than that.”
Nantz, 59, has seen his share of them. His first Masters for CBS came when he was just 26 years old, when called the action at the 16th along with Tom Weiskopf for Jack Nicklaus’ victory at age 46 in 1986.
He became the lead voice on golf for CBS in 1989 (he remains the lead voice on the NCAA basketball tournament as well as the NFL), so there have been plenty of big moments to call — and reflect upon.
“I’ve had so many different situations where I’ve been moved by a moment,” he said. “There have been a million of them. But it definitely touched me when Tiger had that moment behind the 18th green with his children. As a dad, it struck a chord. I didn’t say anything. And that was pretty moving.”
Nantz had a good bit of perspective to draw on. Woods has acknowledged that two years earlier, prior to a fourth back procedure, a spinal fusion surgery, he had no designs on competitive golf. He was struggling, in pain and looking for relief. Quality of life superseded good golf shots.
On the day of the 2017 Champions Dinner at Augusta National, Woods needed a nerve block just to be able to attend. Those in attendance noticed that Woods appeared sluggish and hurting. Later that night, he would leave for a long trip to London, where he met with specialists who recommended the spinal fusion that occurred a few weeks later.
But earlier that day, Nantz met with Woods. He conducted an interview with the then-four-time Masters champion that was produced for Augusta National and never to be aired, meant for the club’s archives.
And Nantz could have never dreamed then that Woods would be fitted for a new green jacket two years later.
“I thought he was uncomfortable,” Nantz said. “His every movement I thought brought pain. We sat down and I can’t tell you how long it went. He just did a good job on that interview. He was so openhearted.
“There was a sense of resignation in his voice. He was talking in the past tense. He wasn’t looking forward. He was reviewing his career at Augusta as if it had been completed. That’s what struck me most of all. He wasn’t talking like he was still in the game at Augusta. He was reviewing what he had done there without leaving any sliver of any indication of hope that he was going to be coming back there. He didn’t say he was done. He talked like someone who was reviewing his playing days as if they were final.
“With all the highs and lows he had to live with and being very public in his life, I think the lowest of the lows for him was probably that very night. Coming to the Champions Dinner and having to turn around and leave. From a golf perspective, it had to be the lowest of lows. He felt a sense of being done.”
Woods, of course, was not done. After six months without being able to swing a club following surgery on April 19, 2017, he returned to the PGA Tour in 2018 and won the Tour Championship and contended in two major championships.
And while he didn’t contend for a victory in the early part of 2019, there was enough good in his game — and enough health in his body — to believe that he would have a chance at the course he knew so well.
Sunday dawned, and it was an early start due to projected poor weather, and there was Woods trailing by two shots as he played the back nine. Nantz sensed a Woods victory a short time later.
“It was definitely when Tiger was in the fairway on 11 and the group in front of him [Ian Poulter, Brooks Koepka, Webb Simpson] was dumping balls in the water on 12, and it continued when he stepped on the tee at 12,” Nantz said. “It was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, everything is lined up now. The stars are aligned. The karma is on his side.’ It’s like when he was on top of the world and others would always find a way to fall apart.”
Woods tied for the lead at the 12th when Francesco Molinari found Rae’s Creek. And Woods took the lead for the first time with a birdie at the 15th, then expanded it to two shots with another birdie at the 16th.
Then it was just a matter of getting it home, and Nantz, like the rest of the world, watched as that scene unfold behind the 18th green, waiting until Woods was almost near the end of the line before speaking again.
“I was electing to let it air out during that sequence,” he said. “I knew it was the right thing to do. ‘Tiger, Tiger, Tiger.’ Imagine trying to compete with that. What could be put on top of those pictures? I was touched by what I saw.”
“The intensity was incredible,” Nantz continued. “It’s one thing to hug your family on the 18th green at the Masters. It’s another to see the symmetry from ’97 when Tiger is with his dad. And now Tiger is the dad. It said so much about where he was in his life. That was true love between a parent and a child and a child and a parent.
“It was just one of the most riveting things I’ve seen trying to cover the world of sports these last 35 years.”