MASTERS WEEK: Reliving the '07 tourney

This is written Monday night.  First thing in the morning, Delta Airlines willing, I fly non-stop from Cedar Rapids to Atlanta, then drive from Atlanta to Augusta for the 2009 Masters.

It's my fourth Masters. Once I flew to Columbia, S.C., another time to Savannah, Ga. You can't afford to fly commercially to Augusta during Masters Week unless your last name is Buffett, be it Warren or Jimmy.

I don't think I'm superstitious. I stayed on the 13th floor of a Portland hotel last month, though it was called the 14th floor, like most hotels that go that high.

So I'm not taking the same route to Augusta because I think it'll get me a reprise of perhaps the best sports story I've ever covered, Zach Johnson winning the 2007 Masters. That's just the way it worked out. I love the non-stop flights, even if it means a two-hour drive afterward.

In '07, I flew to Atlanta the same day Todd Lickliter was introduced as Iowa's men's basketball coach. That was a huge story in Iowa, and I was leaving it for a golf tournament that didn't have any guarantee of being much of a story at all for a Cedar Rapids sportswriter.

So I actually went to the Masters with misgivings, knowing the real news was back home.

Five days later, I had what is known in my business as a story.

I wouldn't dream to suggest you wade through all 16 minutes of the interview I did with Jon Miller on his KXNO Radio (Des Moines) show the day after Johnson's Masters win, speaking while I was driving back to Atlanta from Augusta. But maybe if you heard a minute or two you'd be reminded of how worked up a lot of Iowans got that Easter Sunday.

The link:

The day after Zach won the Masters

What will this week provide? Who knows? Johnson is still the Cedar Rapids guy. He's played extremely good golf so far this year. The only time he has had a let-up was when he was sick for a couple weeks. His latest effort was a third-place at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He is sixth on the PGA Tour's money list this year.

And guess what? Easter is on Sunday of Masters Week again.