The Masters at Augusta has begun as tradition dictates. Twenty-five minutes past seven in the morning, local time, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson hit the honorary opening tee shot from the 1st tee. Some with more difficulty than others. Nicklaus, for example, cannot bend down to peg the tee or pick it up and his shot came out very short and to the left, just above the heads of the columns of spectators who get up early every Masters Thursday to honour these colossi

After the three shots, Player, always in good shape despite being 90, and Watson, impeccable, spoke to the media and offered a magnificent battery of pearls that deserve to be heard. They always contribute, whether you agree with them or not. They are pure wisdom

Let no one suggest to Nicklaus that he stop hitting this honorary shot…

Nicklaus: “I have no intention of stopping. As long as I don’t kill anyone, I’ll keep doing it because it seems an extraordinary tradition and a huge honour. I no longer play golf, last year I played one day and this year I played another in February. Five or six weeks ago I had carpal tunnel surgery and I didn’t know if I would be able to hold the club. Fortunately, I asked for and managed to lift the ball enough to pass over the heads of the crowd”

The 12th hole at Augusta

Gary Player: “It’s a magnificent example of a hole that doesn’t need much length to be difficult and fabulous. It’s an 8-iron and it causes more injuries than polio”

Nicklaus asks Watson how many times he hit it into the water and the playful rivalry erupts… “Now’s when you’re going to remind us that you only hit it in once,” Watson tells him. “That’s right,” says Jack: “I only went into the water once.” “Congratulations, I went in quite a few more times,” Watson replied with his brow somewhat furrowed

Player, incidentally, added that it is also the miracle hole, referring to that Fred Couples ball that miraculously stayed on the slope when it looked destined to end up in the water

Ball distance and the need to limit it

They all agree, although Nicklaus and Watson aren’t entirely sure how to do it or by how much. That’s the crux of it. Player, bolder, gives a figure. “Balls should be 60 yards shorter, though only for professionals; leave the amateurs alone because they are the ones who really sustain the game. But for the pros you have to reduce distance by 60 yards. It makes no sense to play par 5s with an 8-iron in your hands for a two, or that you can hit a 1-iron into many par 4s”

Nicklaus recalled that in 1930 Bobby Jones already wrote in a book that the great future problem of golf was ball distance. Between 1995 and 2002 players gained 50 yards thanks to technology

Who should be the United States captain for the next Ryder Cup

The question was for Tom Watson. He did not give a name, but he left a reflection that will surely liven the debate. “It’s not my job and I won’t name anyone, but what I think is that the captain isn’t that important. It’s all about the team and the players. If they perform, you win. If they don’t perform, you lose. That’s how it is”

Jack Nicklaus’s 19 runner-up finishes

To date, Nicklaus, winner of 18 majors, says he still chastises himself when he remembers finishing second 19 times. “I know it’s a great record, but I don’t like it, it makes me angry. Every time I think about it I think I should have won some of those.” Ambition intact. What a luxury

On Tiger Woods and his future

The three hope he recovers and can return soon. Everyone understands that golf needs him. Nicklaus offered his help, if he needs it, while Player went a bit further: “I can’t even imagine the pain he’s going through and what he needs to be able to sleep at night. I’m nobody to tell him not to take painkillers, I understand, but I would tell him to hire a driver. I think I still have very good reflexes, but I haven’t driven for a long time and I have a driver”

On the calendar, playing more, playing less and having the majors concentrated in four months

Jack Nicklaus sees pros and cons. “I like it because it adds more excitement to the PGA Championship. Before, when it was in August, you always knew you were going to have good weather. Now it changes much more. That’s good. What I don’t like is that they’re so concentrated; I’d like to see them more spread out because that would also be good for other tournaments played at that time that are overshadowed by the majors”

Meanwhile, Player told an anecdote: “Once I asked my father to help me draw up the schedule, how many tournaments he thought I should play. He had spent 30 years going down to the mine every day to work and he told me: if I had your job, I’d play a golf tournament every week. It’s good to put things in perspective”

LIV Golf and the return of Koepka and, in a few months, Patrick Reed

The question went to Tom Watson. “I’m clear about it. If I were the commissioner I’d have suspended them for life. They did something that goes against the rules and that harms the PGA Tour’s sponsors. And they did it only for money. I wouldn’t let them come back and, in any case, when their contracts with LIV end, I’d make them go through the Korn Ferry Tour”

Jack Nicklaus’s most special major

“I have no doubt. I’ve always said it and I will always say it. It was the 1986 Masters. It was very special. At 46. The best way to close a career that I thought had ended in 1980. I love all my victories, but obviously the one in ’86 was the one I wasn’t expected to win. I was already finished, on the way down and all that nonsense, and I won. So it was very special,” he says