EDITOR’S NOTE: Steve Brandon was sports editor at the Portland Tribune for nearly 20 years and has been a sports writer for Portland newspapers for 45 years. The Cleveland High and Portland State grad has always had a deep interest in golf. The 5-6 fireplug is not a long hitter but typically hits 12-to-14 fairways in a round, carries an eight handicap and is a student of the game. Here Brandon, a special contributor to kerryeggers.com, offers some tips to links junkies on how to watch a major in style.

 By Steve Brandon

 For me, it’s a tradition unlike any other.

Not just the Masters. Watching the Masters on television.

One week every April, I set aside at least one room in the house to smell the azaleas, hear the roars, feel the highs and lows at Amen Corner and immerse myself in America’s historic and illustrious cradle of golf.

It’s been this way since I was a young boy, and the grainy black-and-white images of my hero, Arnold Palmer, striding up the fairways of Augusta National are as vivid as ever.

As the years have marched on, the opportunity to watch the Masters has expanded even more than the length of the course. What was a half-century and more ago a few hours and a few closing holes telecast on the weekends is now a week-long experience and commitment for Masters- and golf-crazy fans like me.

The hours and choices have become almost endless, and even I am able to partake in only some of the coverage and commentary available now throughout Masters week.

Here’s a snapshot of what I do (somewhat to the chagrin yet understanding of family):

• It all starts now on Monday, three days before the first tournament tee shot is struck. The Golf Channel and other media begin reporting in earnest from Augusta National, and the topics are many. This year, for example, we had popular Jordan Spieth’s emergence from a slump and victory the previous day in the Valero Texas Open to contemplate, along with whether Dustin Johnson could repeat his November 2020 Masters victory, will Rory McIlroy ever complete the career grand slam, can Bryson DeChambeau’s length bring the course to its knees, etc., etc., etc.

The experts, pundits and scribes sit around and weigh in on this, that and everything through Wednesday, as top players are interviewed and other pressing issues are discussed.

This year, the customary par-3 tournament was called off due to the pandemic, taking away one of the fun parts of the week for viewers.

But the real golf watching begins bright and early Pacific time on Thursday, and I am up well before dawn as the moving tradition of the ceremonial honorary starters arrive at the first tee to get the competition underway. This year was even more special thanks to the honoring of Lee Elder, who was the first black golfer to play in the Masters. Elder joined three-time champion and world golf legend Gary Player, still spry, and the all time-winningest Master, Jack Nicklaus, for the ceremony. That was a must-see.

Each of the four rounds requires the dedicated remote fan to get to bed early for the first wave of play. All sorts of Masters golf is now watchable thanks to the extra coverage of ESPN+ and via Masters.com and cbssports.com.

I have two computer screens, two TVs and my cell phone at the ready. This allows me to keep an eye on players all over the Augusta course. The main broadcasts, on ESPN on Thursday and Friday and on CBS on Saturday and Sunday, don’t begin until noon (11 a.m. on Sunday). But on Sunday, for instance, you could watch featured groups starting at 6:45 a.m., followed by separate livestream channels for holes 4-6, 11-13 (Amen Corner) and 15-16.

You can also, at masters.com, see every shot by any golfer – a great way to check on anything of note you might have missed or want to see again.

To augment the online and TV coverage, I will at times listen to Sirius XM or visit social media, though the latter I find largely unnecessary (I don’t need to see 500 tweets telling me Justin Thomas just found the water on the 13th hole, I just saw it myself).

Yes, I watch a lot of golf in general. The entire PGA Tour or LPGA Tour event I miss is rare. I usually watch most of at least the final round.

And with the internet sites and phone app options, you can watch a lot of golf, especially the major tournaments. The U.S. Open, Open Championship and PGA Championship later this year have about as many ways to view them as the Masters.

By the way, the tradition of watching as much of the Masters as possible is now a two-week happening of sorts, with Augusta’s additions of the Drive, Chip and Putt competition for youth and the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, which lead into tournament week proper. I don’t watch every moment of those events, but make sure to tune in for at least some of them and check out the winners. It’s interesting to see the players, and just as much so to get an early glimpse of the course and see how the women ams tackle it, as their game more closely (though not closely) resembles mine than that of Hideki Matsuyama.

After the final putt drops each day of the Masters, I exhale and take a short break, then make sure to find stories and TV analysis, watching the Golf Channel for a couple more hours before sleep beckons.

All told, I am glued to the screens for at least eight to 10 hours per day for the four rounds, and for several hours per day of practice rounds and so forth, making it easily 50-plus hours of eye-numbing obsession (life and work permitting).

By the time the green jacket is placed on the new champion, I am drained in more ways than one.

But I’m already looking forward to next spring and a return to the place made so famous by co-founder Bobby Jones and all who have followed him.

Readers: what are your thoughts? I would love to hear them in the comments below.

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