Charles Coody, 1971: Caddie's plight eases road to win

Whenever I come to Augusta, I always make it a point on the first day to drive down Magnolia Lane ... real slow. It puts a little tingle in your spine, a little shot of adrenalin. It reinforces the appreciation for what you were able to accomplish by winning the Masters Tournament.

When I won in 1971 it was just a great week. Three couples, who were friends of ours in Abilene, Texas, came down to Augusta with us and we rented a home. All of us are compatible and had a great time. The week started off on a high note and never got off.

When I think back to how I won, I think first of 1969 when I had a chance to win, leading by one with three holes left. But obviously I wasn't quite ready for it. I made the mistake of looking in the bag of my playing partner, George Knudson, on No. 16. He hit 4-iron and it didn't get to the back level of the green. So I didn't know if 6-iron was enough and pulled a 5-iron. I hit it in the bunker and made bogey. I bogeyed my way to the house.

Two years later, I felt like I was walking in the same footsteps on Sunday. The yardage was exactly the same, the pin the same and the shadows seemed the same. It was a carbon copy, except I was behind Johnny Miller by one. So I learned from it, grabbed a 6-iron and hit it about 12 feet behind the hole and made my second straight birdie on the day and went on to beat Miller and Jack Nicklaus by two.

Maybe the difference was I was a little looser, probably because of my caddie's situation.

Walter Pritchett - everybody calls him Cricket - caddied for me in 1969 and we almost won. He didn't come back in 1970 and I started out with another caddie in 1971. But that caddie didn't know what he was doing. After the practice round on Sunday, I was walking through the parking lot and there was Cricket. He had gotten off from his bus-driving job in Atlanta and was just looking for a bag. So, since they assigned caddies, I had to go down to the tournament office and really discuss the situation. Well, I got Cricket to work for me.

On Saturday, we were in contention and walking down the eighth fairway. Cricket asked what hole the TV coverage started on. I didn't know and wondered why he needed to. Cricket said he had told his boss in Atlanta that he was going to visit his sick grandmother in Houston. He didn't expect that I would play this well. I laughed all the way up to the green.

When TV came on that afternoon and on Sunday, it looked like I had an Arabian caddieing for me. Cricket had taken a towel and draped it over his head to hide from the cameras. When Cricket went back to work on Monday, his supervisor said, `You had a nice week, didn't you Cricket?' But he was a nice guy and understood.

The thing about winning at Augusta is that people always remember. They might not remember the year but they always remember your name, that you're a Masters champion.

And that's an indescribable feeling. It's something you can't sit here and put in a nutshell. Sometimes I wondered if I was having one of those hallucinating dreams or something.