Times have changed, but she's a constant
AUGUSTA, Ga. - Because of an uninvited guest - thick fog - tee times were pushed back one hour yesterday morning, so a celebrated tour of Augusta National Golf Club was delayed: Gary Player's 51st Masters appearance.
As for 86-year-old Louise Sullivan's 52d Masters appearance? That went off as planned, though with far less fanfare. Just the way she likes it.
"I'm always so excited to get my application in January. That's the day that spring starts," said Sullivan, whose roots are in Garfield, Ga., though her home has been on Cape Cod for years. "I write a check and send it in that same day."
Having attended the tournament for the first time in 1955, Sullivan and her late husband, John, were put on the patrons' list in 1960, and she's been a badge-holder ever since. The only Masters she has missed since was in 1973 ("I don't know what the occasion was," she said) and while just about everything about the tournament keeps pulling her back - the green grass, the colorful flowers, the sun-splashed days, the proximity to the world's best golfers - as much as anything it's the annual opportunity to rekindle a native pride.
"Being from Georgia myself, the most important thing about the Masters is that it showed what Southern hospitality is all about," she said.
She married John, an attorney, in 1946, and his work took him to Massachusetts, where they raised three daughters and a son. But it was while visiting her mother in 1955 that Sullivan's love affair with the Masters took off.
"We were in Garfield," said Louise, "and my husband, who was a golfer, noticed in the paper that there was a tournament going on [in Augusta, some 65 miles away]. He said, 'I'm going to go see what this is all about.' "
Impressed with what he saw, John Sullivan returned to Garfield "and he told me, 'You've got to come. It's the most beautiful place I've ever seen.' "
Louise Sullivan went the next day and she's never stopped coming back, save for 1973, and the stash of priceless memories helps carry her through the long winter months. Few are as vivid as the mistake she made in one of those early years, when she snapped a photo of Player in his backswing. "He just glared at me," she said, though to this day she has the photo.
Another snapshot comes from last year's tournament, when she started her day as she routinely does - watching players hit balls at the practice range. For some reason she reached down and picked up a penny as Padraig Harrington walked by.
"I have something for you," said Sullivan. "It's a lucky penny if you want to have it."
The day of the final round, Sullivan again crossed paths with the Irishman, who confirmed he still had the penny in his pocket, and while he didn't win the Masters, she proudly points out that he won the British Open three months later.
While Arnold Palmer is the player most closely identified with Augusta National, Sullivan says she was a Jack Nicklaus fan, and now that he's no longer competing, those passions have been transferred to Tiger Woods and assorted others, including Harrington. Though just as she explains this, she says good morning to Ben Crenshaw as he makes his way toward the putting green. Sullivan smiles, because "Ben was a favorite, too."
She can remember when a badge cost $25, and while the current $175 for four days of competition is still relatively cheap, some things about the Masters have surely changed. Crowds are much larger, traffic is more confounding, the corporate presence is infringing ever so slightly on prime seating spots Sullivan used to covet, and she wonders aloud if Bobby Jones would "turn over in his grave" if he saw some of what has happened to the tournament he founded.
But by and large, Sullivan still has a passion for the Masters, which she shared for so many years with John. "My husband," she said, "was so enthralled with this."
John Sullivan died in 1995, and while that's an irreplaceable void in her life, Louise Sullivan carries on with the Masters love affair and is able to include her loved ones. Son-in-law Bruce Work was due to arrive last night and will be with her today, accompanied by two of Louise's grandchildren, John Work, 18, and Nick Sullivan, 16. Years ago, John and Louise Sullivan took advantage of the offer to buy badges for their children and this is the first year of a policy that allows children 8 to 16 to attend free of charge, so long as they're accompanied by a badge-holder, so the week continues to have a personal touch.
Perhaps all these visits to the Masters can explain what came over Louise Sullivan when she neared the age of 50: She took up the game herself. "I'm very fascinated with the game," she said. "It's a way of keeping active."
Within a few years, she was a polished player. She won a women's club championship at Dennis Highlands, and as she neared her 80th birthday, she shot a 75. That was the year when her handicap went from 18 to 13, a stunning achievement for anyone, let alone a 79-year-old.
For this week, however, her thirst for golf will be quenched with a routine that has served her well on 51 other occasions. An early-morning visit to the practice range, a walk around the course, a few hours sitting behind the green at the par-5 second, then a trip toward the 18th hole to watch the day come to a close. No longer can she count on visits to next-door Augusta Country Club, where Sam Snead might be holding court with a sing-a-long, nor do players tend to sit out with their families for lunch on the vibrant green lawn, but Sullivan is where she wants to be in April, where she feels she needs to be.
A piece of Masters tradition.
