How Tom Watson’s letter led to Gary McCord’s Masters broadcast team firing

Thirty years ago, Gary McCord was famously fired from the CBS Masters broadcast team for comparing the speed of a green to a bikini wax. But Augusta National’s reaction to the comment wasn’t immediate — in fact, it was only after receiving a critical letter from Tom Watson that McCord’s ouster was set in motion.

How did it all go down? McCord relived the story alongside his longtime CBS broadcast partner Peter Kostis in the latest episode of “Kostis & McCord: Off Their Rockers,” a GOLF production.

“What happened was, we’ve got Jose Maria Olazabal, he’s down the fairway, he’s talking to his caddie about what the next shot is and, the pin’s back right the last day. And I said, let me interpret. I said, the caddie — now they’re talking Spanish, obviously — and I said, the caddie, his brother, is telling him, ‘Don’t hit it over the green because there’s body bags down there.’ A cliche, it’s a euphemism for he’s dead. That’s it. Okay. No big deal. That was earlier in the show.

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“Now we go to later, and we go to commercial break, and we’re late in the telecast,” McCord continued. “We’re on the 17th hole. I’ve got the president of CBS Sports sitting next to me with the bat phone. It’s a red phone that goes right to [Augusta National chairman] Hord Hardin. So, he’s in the catacombs down below, and that’s the phone he can get right to the telecast and he’s sitting right next to me.”

McCord then explained that he liked to keep magazines in the booth, and saw an advertisement for the Golden Door spa in Escondido, Calif. A bikini wax was among the treatments offered on the menu.

“Now, as you know, at Augusta, the one thing they’re deathly afraid of is the speed of these greens,” McCord said. “So Jose hits it over here to the left and he’s gonna putt over to the right, and you know that putt, and it’s just faster than hell. So I said, you know, this putt that Jose’s got here is really, really delicate. Once he gets to the top of that hill, it’s a speed freak all the way down. In fact, I don’t think they mow these greens. I think they bikini wax them.

“Neal Pilson is laughing his a– off next to me. He’s the president of CBS Sports. The phone’s not going off. Anyway, that was it. [CBS Sports golf producer] Frank [Chirkinian] never said anything. Nobody said anything!”

The next week’s tournament was in Hilton Head, S.C., and McCord and Kostis recalled being called into Chirkinian’s office on the Wednesday before the tournament began.

“I get called into Frank’s office and he goes, ‘Close the door.’ So I close the door, and he throws me a letter, and it’s written in pencil,” McCord said. “And I look at the letter, it says addressed to Augusta National. And it says, ‘We need to eradicate this lesion on golf. He is the Howard Stern of golf and we need to pay attention to this and what he said,’ signed Tom Watson.

“I looked at Frank and I said, ‘What the hell is this?’ He goes, ‘I don’t know. I got it from Augusta, and they sent it to me.’ And I go, ‘What’s this mean?’ He goes, ‘I don’t know yet.’ And I went, ‘All right, keep me posted.’

Two days later, McCord was summoned back to Chirkinian’s office.

“So Friday, Frank goes, ‘Get in here,'” McCord says. “And I go, ‘What?’ He goes, ‘Augusta now is getting ready.’ I said, ‘For what?’ ‘For your death.'”

McCord said Chirkinian told him that the network would not defend him and he would have to handle the issue himself. Chirkinian did give him one word of advice, though: “Stay above the process.”

A couple of months later, McCord was officially fired from the Masters broadcast, but remained on the CBS roster for the rest of network’s tournaments.

Ultimately, McCord said he respected Augusta National’s decision to get rid of him but did not like the fact that Watson didn’t confront him personally about his grievances before taking the issue to Augusta.

Instruction

McCord said he did have the chance to confront Watson the following year at Pebble Beach when he spotted Watson at check-in.

“Tom registers in front of me and he turns around to walk out and I said, ‘Have you got a second?’ McCord said. “He goes, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘I’m gonna meet you right there in the alcove.’

“So I go in there, and he’s sitting there. And next thing I know, he’s poking me in the chest and I’m poking him in the chest and I kind of look over and you guys are sitting there laughing your ass off because we’re gonna get in a fight over there.

“And I just told him that I don’t understand why he didn’t do this and man up and come to talk to me first. He was trying to be God in this whole thing. That was the intent of the conversation.”

In the years since, McCord said he and Watson have played the Champions Tour together and have gotten along. In fact, McCord now credits Watson for giving him so much attention.

“I got more publicity for doing this than anything I ever did in golf,” McCord said.

“It’s conceivable that not only did he not hurt your income, he enhanced it,” Kostis noted.

“I should pay him a retainer fee,” McCord said.

For more great anecdotes from golf’s master storytellers, check out the latest episode of Kostis & McCord: Off Their Rockers, a GOLF production, below.