Sky Sports Golf guru Nick Dougherty on The Masters tournament

Virgin Radio

6 Apr 2021, 10:26

The golfing presenter joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to talk about the infamous tournament, Augusta truths and myths - and golf being well and truly back.

He told Chris: "There is nothing that they won't do to present the greatest show in grass every year. For example, they do mess about with colours, that's not unusual. We see that quite a lot of different golf courses, especially at this level.

"But the fact is if the azaleas don't bloom for that long and if they somehow don't get the conditions for them to bloom correctly they will go and take azaleas from somewhere where they are blooming correctly, bring them in and replant them for the week there so they'll just move what they have to to make it look like the magical place that we are used to looking forward to every beginning of April, each and every year.

"I get super excited about it. It looks mega on the TV and it's one of those places when you actually get to go there, it more than lives up to the reputation. It’s something else."

On bringing the life back into the sport, he said: “It's absolutely mad busy. I'm glad it's like that to be honest. Without going into detail I think they should have been opened up earlier because it's not about people getting out for a game of golf.

"It's about focusing on being able to do something that allows them some interaction or the fresh air, the exercise. A lot of folks my dad's age won't go for a walk around the block.

"He looks at me like I've got three heads like, why would I go for a pointless walk? Whereas golf gives someone a purpose, especially some of the older folks and it's just great that they've got that back now and it's a nice feeling that the spring is here and the weather is improving and golf is back.

"Golf has really had a light shone on it, not just for what it does but for the mental health benefits and going down to our level and amateur golf as well so golf is booming at the moment.

"It's been a great time because when we've been stuck indoors a lot more recently we've had something to watch over Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday."

All four rounds are live and exclusive to Sky Sports The Masters from 2pm on Thursday 8th April to Sunday 11th April.