Charles Coody - "49 Champions Dinners" SHORT TRACK

Bruce Devlin 0:17

There's one thing there's a tradition at the Masters, as I understand it, for the champion's dinner. And uh everybody uh everybody puts together a menu for the for all the participants that are that there that year. And uh I understand that you changed things up a little bit uh for your dinner.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Uh no, it wasn't me because when when the when I uh when I you know the the the privilege that the defending champion has, which is uh back then it was quite expensive, you know. I think the uh the defending champion gets to host the dinner. And and I think the uh uh the dinner that uh that evening uh in 1972, I think it cost me about twenty five hundred dollars or three thousand dollars or something like that, which was a pretty hefty expense.

Mike Gonzalez 1:15

And uh I I didn't know the defending champ had to pay for it.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Oh yeah, he pays for the dinner. And uh anyway, at least I assume they do, I assume they still do that. I don't know. But anyway, in 19 uh, you know, Sandy Sandy Lyle won uh won Augusta in uh in seven, what was it, 77? No, 87, I'm sorry. Yeah, and anyway, we come back and and uh it's uh it's announced that uh uh Sandy Lyell has decided that he wants to have a special dinner. Prior to that, it was you ordered off the menu. Uh you ordered a steak, either a chicken of some sort or fish of some sort. And then you had all the uh hors d'oeuvres and cocktails beforehand, and then the drinks and et cetera, and so forth. And but he had announced that he wanted to uh have a specialty from Scotland, which he was gonna have was, and what he was gonna have was Haggett's. I mean, Bruce, I know you know what Haggett's is. You might when I when I found out what Haggett's uh was, I said, there's no way that I'm I'm eating Haggett's, I'm having a steak. And so whenever whenever somebody brings a specialty in, that uh it's like when Tiger Woods won in uh in 90 97, then he uh coming back in 98. He he he had gotten a little bit of publicity about loving cheeseburgers. And so he was going to serve cheeseburgers. And I told Tiger, I said, Tiger, you're you're not getting out with the cheeseburger on me. You're getting I I'm ordering the best steak I can get. So whatever we're saying, whatever side in fact, this next year, not that it gets sushi, but I will not eat sushi. I will probably have a steak.

Mike Gonzalez 3:13

Put us put us in that room. I mean, for for our listeners who are uh listening to you recount uh your experiences at the Masters, Jez. You mentioned uh next year will be your 50th champion's dinner over that time. And and uh there's certain traditions at the dinner, there's certain seating patterns and seating arrangements, there's certain guys that speak and certain guys that don't. Why don't you just kind of put us in that room?

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Well, it's uh it's a wonderful evening. In fact, it's uh, you know, to somebody like myself being uh totally retired from uh any type of competitive golf now, it's uh it's really the the highlight uh of the year from a golf standpoint, or uh definitely a highlight of going back to uh Augusta each year for the tournament. And uh uh for years Byron Nelson was the uh master of ceremonies, and then uh Byron uh or a few years before he died, he he kind of decided that he was going to turn over the reins of that. Uh and I don't know if he handpicked uh uh Ben Crenshaw or not, but Ben is now the Master of Ceremonies and does a nice job. And what you will have at the head table, you will have uh uh Ben as the Master of Ceremonies, the uh defending champion and the chairman, and then probably unless they have uh more than that, sit at the head table, they'll have maybe uh a golf professional or former champion that the uh detenant champion has picked that will sit on either uh either end of the table. And then everybody else, there's no assigned seating, you just uh you just sit with uh whoever you like. For a number of years, uh when it was held up in the uh uh upstairs area of the clubhouse there, uh the table was kind of in a rectangular uh type of uh setup. Uh and down at the far end was the uh the master of ceremonies uh where he sat the fending champion and the chairman and etc. And on the very far end of the table was where I call sometimes uh I call the reprobates. That's where the rest of us sat. I sat down there with uh Billy Casper and Gary Flair and Fuzzy Zeller and uh you know, just different players and stuff like that, and it was it it it it I won't say it got kind of wild, but you can imagine with Fuzzy down there, there wasn't a quiet moment. But it's it's a it's just a it's just a great evening. Uh and the guys are are pretty good. Everybody is pretty good at that at that at on the cocktail hour before the dinner of signing flags for one another that uh guys take back and uh and in most cases give them to charity. Like I brought a I brought a flag back this year this year that I've given to a local organization here in Abilene which does a great job called Meals on Wheels. They uh they have those uh organizations in other cities, I think, too. But this one here really does a fine job for the local community and uh and they're gonna auction that off and they'll probably get somewhere between three and four thousand dollars for it for the uh for the charity. And that that's what a lot of guys do is they uh uh they they take the flags back home that they get signed and uh and give them to somebody that can raise some money for their uh their their organization, whatever it might be.

Mike Gonzalez 6:51

And there's probably a few stories over those 49 years that probably just need to stay right there, huh?

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Yeah, the uh uh the one the one story that probably most of everybody remembers is uh uh R. Wall, who R. Wall was a very, very good friend of mine. He he was probably the the the first really the name player on the tour that really befriended me when I came out. He came up to me at one of the early tournaments when I was playing and introduced himself like I didn't know who he was. Of course I did. And um told me that uh you know if I needed any help getting any uh shoe sponsor or shirt sponsor or something like that, that uh that he would be more than happy to try to help me with the uh company that was uh sponsoring him. And Hart and I became very, very good friends and uh and uh and he was so quiet. You know, uh Art uh I think he would have ye uh I don't I don't think he would argue with anybody hardly at least it it just seemed that way. Anyway, and uh and one year they had uh they had brought uh I forgot who it was that came in and uh and did some redesign of uh you remember how the 13th green used to be, Bruce, and they uh uh they they widened over to the left there and dropped it off to where now when you miss the green to the left you're down that little valley.

Bruce Devlin 8:24

Right, which is a tough little spot down there.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

And then stuff. And anyway, and some and some players were kind of complaining about that. And anyway, uh, and that's when Hard Harden was the uh chairman of of the tournament. And and art, like I said, he he you know, a few a few players would get up and and and tell stories or say something through the years, but Art never had. And we had no more than finished the uh uh what you might call the program of presenting the locket to the uh uh for the player's wife, to whoever it was that had won the that year that was defending champion that year. And Art stuck his stuck up his hand and he stood up and he said, uh uh Chairman Harden, I would like to ask a question. And and uh Mr. Harden said, uh, what is it, Art? He said, I always want to know what the hell it is you people are trying to do with this golf course. And and and for Art to stand up and say that, you know, he must have had a very, very strong feeling about some of the changes that have been made. So uh uh and not that not many people probably remember that, but I remember it very well because Art was such a good friend of mine.

Mike Gonzalez 9:48

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