Dream team: Nagys knock one off the bucket list

Bears coach’s view from Augusta: ‘There is nowhere else in the world like this’

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Matt Nagy looked out on the most famous spot at Augusta National, the postcardperfect 12th hole, and marveled.

“Nothing like it,” he said.

The Bears coach attended his first Masters on Saturday, taking 14-year-old Brayden on the father-son trip of their dreams.

They set up their chairs on the 18th green to watch Tiger Woods complete a glorious round of 5-under 67.

They munched on pimento cheese sandwiches, listened for the echoes in Amen Corner.

They did some damage in the golf shop, with Brayden overcoming a short bout of claustrophobia in the massive emporium.

“We spent $1,000 on the button,” Nagy said, “and I thought that was light.”

Nagy did purchase some visors. How could he not?

But he seems to prefer wearing those at night.

On Saturday he blended in with a Masters green baseball cap. And like so many first-timers on the property, he was struck by the Southern politeness.

“No doubt, it’s phenomenal,” he said. “People want you to go first. The ‘thankyous,’ the ‘pleases.’ The etiquette is there. You feel it when you get here, this aura: There is nowhere else in the world like this.”

If Nagy’s syrupy prose sounds like it could have tumbled from the lips of Jim Nantz … well, he can be excused.

Nantz greeted the Nagy twosome at Butler Cabin, even performing a mock green jacket ceremony. Nantz shook Brayden’s hand and told him: “Congratulations, the green jacket is yours.”

Brayden will be a freshman at Lake Forest High next year, and his dad sounded a bit like a coach in saying: “I’ve been around a lot of different golfers on different levels. He has one of the nicest swings I’ve ever seen. It’s absolutely gorgeous. But what he needs to learn is the practice and the work, all that.”

Matt is roughly a 13-handicap who will put his game on display in July at the American Century Championship, the celebrity event in Lake Tahoe that Tony Romo won last year.

Asked if he had any hesitation to enter, Nagy answered before the end of the question.

“No,” he said. “Are you kidding me? I love it. It’s just the time commitment, that’s all. And making sure it wasn’t during (training) camp.”

Nagy’s golf style is just what you’d expect from an ultra-aggressive play-caller.

“I like par-5s because I’m always going for it on the second shot, never laying up,” he said. “I don’t care if I go in the water, I’m going for it. From 245, it’s a 3-wood and I’m hitting it as far I can. It’s worth it, right?”

Nagy has made several eagles but never an ace.

“And my putting game right now stinks,” he said.

With four boys between the ages of 10-14, he rarely gets out. He joined Royal Melbourne, in Long Grove, but might need GPS to find it.

“I wish I had more time,” he said. “I’ve had a gazillion offers to play every course in Chicago.”

Nagy was able to take Brayden on what he called another bucket-list event, the North Carolina-Duke game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. His family will spend a few days with relatives in Pennsylvania in June. And they’ll get a four-day vacation in New York City before going to Cooperstown, N.Y., for a baseball tournament.

Those getaways are not as extreme as the experience at the Masters, which outlaws cellphones.

Asked whom the ban would be harder on, father and son ribbed each other. Brayden: “I would say you.”

Matt: “Not even close. This kid can’t stay off of it. He almost didn’t want to come when I told him.”

Nagy loves that Masters spectators make eye contact with one another. He already plans to alter his cellphone policy for both players and coaches. Following meetings that last no longer than 30 minutes, anyone who remains in the room will be devicefree.

“You have to interact, to talk,” he said. Matt and Brayden chatted on the way to Amen Corner, arriving in time to watch Henrik Stenson hit a gorgeous iron to 17 feet.

“How about that?” Nagy said. “Impressive.”

Nagy had a basic badge Saturday, affording the same access as everyone else. New Bears defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano said he had a line on passes to Berckmans Place, the heaven-on-earth hospitality suite with three replica Augusta National greens.

“Next time,” Nagy said.