Tiger Woods’ 2019 Masters victory was one of the most iconic moments in golfing history, and it was met with a fitting soundtrack.
When Woods sank his winning putt at Augusta National, legendary commentator Jim Nantz met the moment with the perfect response: silence.
Nantz was silent for two-and-a-half minutes after Woods’ putt, allowing the moment to unfold authentically. All that could be heard on the broadcast was cheers from the raucous crowd, the moments between Woods and his family, and congratulations from other players.
The very best commentators know what words to say in the biggest moments, but also when not to say them. It was one of Nantz’s finest broadcasting moments.
And in a recent interview, he revealed the message he sent to co-commentator Sir Nick Faldo as Woods stood over his final putt on the iconic 18th green.
What Jim Nantz said to his producer before falling silent
Speaking to the Vanity Index Podcast, Nantz explained the thought process that went into his two and a half minutes of silence, and what he told his producer before the final putt:
“That is totally pure instincts that you have. As a matter of fact, when he was standing over the putt, Lance Barrow was our producer, and I said, ‘Lance, I am not going to say anything for a long time.’
“Just so there’s not any cross-talk, let Nick [Faldo] know when we do come back, and we reenter the broadcast, I will speak first’. Because we were in two different locations when he putted out on 18. Nick was in the tower, and I was down in Butler Cabin.
“So if it just came to Nick that it just feels like the right time to jump back in there, I might have been thinking the same thing, and then we’ve got cross talk, and that is never good.”
Why Jim Nantz wasn’t with Nick Faldo for Tiger Woods’ winning putt
Nantz wasn’t on location with Faldo because he was in the famous Butler Cabin for the green jacket presentation with Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley.
That was because there was more of a sense of urgency to the proceedings than usual, with an approaching storm cell that had caused final-round tee times to be moved up by more than five hours.
Nantz wound up conducting the brief ceremony before eventually doing a longer interview with Woods (and Faldo) more than an hour later when Woods returned to the building after his winning press conference in the media centre.
So that’s why it was imperative that Nantz was in the cabin ready to meet Woods the moment the final round was concluded.
