Why CBS golf analyst Gary McCord was banned from the Masters

By DANIEL MATTHEWS

Gary McCord’s tale about his ban from the Masters has resurfaced after the world’s best players arrived at Augusta National once more.

Now 76, McCord is a former professional golfer who joined CBS Sports at the end of his career. 

He worked as an analyst at the Masters until 1994, when comments he made on air saw him reported to Augusta National and branded a ‘lesion on golf’ by eight-time major winner Tom Watson.

Augusta has a number of unique rules for broadcasters covering the Masters and McCord first courted trouble when he referred to the ‘cheap seats’.

That saw him called a ‘stupid idiot’ by a CBS colleague but McCord incurred the wrath of Augusta over comments he made about Jose Maria Olazabal the course’s iconic greens.

‘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”,’ McCord recalled.

Gary McCord explained why he was banned from the Masters over comments he made on air

He incurred the wrath of Augusta over comments he made about the course’s iconic greens

‘It’s a cliche, it’s a euphemism for “he’s dead”. That’s it. Okay. No big deal. That was earlier in the show.’ 
But he soon found himself in hot water after spotting an advertisement for a salon in California.
‘I put magazines up there with me (in the booth). All I do is read, I get words, I ingest words into my head. Any word,’ the analyst previously explained on his ‘Off Their Rockers’ podcast.
“I looked down, we’re in a commercial break, and I see the Golden Door, Escondido, California, I live there… it’s expensive.’ 
I’m looking at the menu of what the girls get – cucumbers on their eyes, seaweed wraps and bikini waxes…’ 

Those treatments stuck in his mind when Olazabal faced a lengthy putt.

‘Jose hits it over to the left and he’s got to putt over to the right and… it’s just faster than hell,’ McCord explained.

‘So I said, “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.”‘

Tom Watson (R) wrote to Augusta over McCord’s comments about Jose Maria Olazabal (R)

McCord claims the then-CBS Sports president, who was sitting next to him, fell about laughing but a few days later, the analyst was called in for a meeting by a network executive.

‘He throws me a letter, it’s written in pencil… addressed to Augusta National. And it says “We need to eradicate this lesion on golf. He’s the Howard Stern of golf”,’ McCord recalls. It was signed by Watson.

The analyst was soon told that Augusta was ‘getting ready… for your death’ and he was eventually fired from CBS’ Masters broadcast.

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Why CBS golf analyst Gary McCord was banned from the Masters

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