When you think of Verne Lundquist at the Masters, one call comes to mind: “Here it comes… Oh, my goodness! … Oh, wow! In your life, have you seen anything like that?” That, of course, was Lundquist’s iconic call of Tiger Woods’ hole out on No. 16 back in 2005.
Fast forward 19 years and Lundquist is making his 40th and final call of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. Still here and still competing is Woods, now 48 and a five-time Masters champion. Woods made the cut at Augusta National for a record 24th time and wouldn’t you know it, Lundquist was waiting for him as he approached No. 16 during his Final Round on Sunday.
The two shook hands and exchanged pleasantries for the final time at Augusta National.
An all-time tree blocking moment, yes, but a moment, nonetheless.
Woods, speaking with the media earlier this week, touched on what Lundquist meant to him.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that call a couple times,” Woods said. “I mean, he has just an amazing ability to bring in the audience and describe a situation and just be able to narrate it in a way that is poetic but it’s also – he describes it with emotionality. He just draws the audience in. It’s amazing. It’s I think his 40th year … to be able to call the Masters. That’s what I grew up watching. I grew up listening to Verne. And he made a nice call there at 16, and it’s one that I’ve been lucky enough to – I will have that memory with Verne for the rest of my life.”
Verne Lundquist steps aside from Masters coverage after four decades
Lundquist’s career spans across six decades. After bouncing from networks such as ABC, CBS and TNT from 1974 to 1997, Lundquist returned to CBS in 1998 and remained there for the rest of his career.
He is most known for anchoring CBS Sports’ coverage of college football play-by-play for the SEC on CBS from 2000-16. Lundquist was on the call for many classic SEC and Big Ten games throughout his career.
Lundquist’s final football game was the 2016 Army-Navy game and he then retired from college basketball broadcasting before the 2018 NCAA Tournament. He continued being the voice of the Masters until now, when he officially steps aside after four decades.
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