‘Glorious and free’
Broadcaster Nantz forever linked to Taylor’s moment
If it’s Masters week, Jim Nantz must be issuing a dulcet “Hello, friends.”
The CBS broadcaster, here for his 39th Masters, is synonymous with the tournament. He’s the guy who first called it “a tradition unlike any other,” a phrase trademarked by Augusta National Golf Club. In Canada, he’ll be remembered for “Glorious and free!” — the phrase he punctuated the holing of the 72foot putt last June that made Nick Taylor the first Canadian in 69 years to win the Canadian Open.
Taylor, who is among four Canadians in the field this week, currently houses his driver in a custom head cover by Halifax’s Dormie Workshop embroidered with the crux of Nantz’s call. Nantz said he was “honoured” that his words rang true enough to be immortalized.
“I did not expect to hear that about Nick Taylor’s head cover. That’s pretty cool,” Nantz said Thursday. “That win last year was one of the favourite sporting events I’ve covered in a long, long time.
“First off, I had no idea he was going to make it. Who could have? So I had no idea what I was going to say. So when it went in from 72 feet, I felt like I was losing my mind.”
Nantz said “O Canada” was lodged in his head. All day that Sunday the raucous crowd at the par-three 14th hole — the famed “Rink Hole,” complete with hockey boards and marshals dressed in referee stripes — repeatedly serenaded Canada’s PGA Tour players with the national anthem.
“I do love your anthem. I think it’s a beautiful song. So it was ingrained in my head,” Nantz said.
And so went Nantz’s call on Taylor’s history-making birdie: “Good pace … Are you serious? … Oh, my goodness! … Glorious and free!”
Nantz said that, in the booth at Toronto’s Oakdale Golf & Country Club, he did what he usually does when the improbable unfurls in front of him: lived in the moment.
“I’ve had so many nice letters from people in Canada, and I still have people come up to me randomly, in some of the most unexpected places, and thank me for saying that in that moment.”