A single comment cost Gary McCord his broadcasting job at the Masters. A letter from golf legend Tom Watson sealed his fate at Augusta. However, the ban didn't end McCord's career, but did the opposite.

Three decades ago, Tom Watson wrote a letter to Augusta after McCord's commentary on the greens. In 1994, Gary McCord was on the 17th hole as José María Olazábal faced a putt during the final round.

"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," McCord recalled during a 2024 episode of Kostis & McCord: Off Their Rockers.

The line came to him from a magazine he had been reading during a break. CBS Sports president Neal Pilson, who was seated beside him, laughed while producer Frank Chirkinian and Hord Hardin did not respond during or immediately after the broadcast.

However, later at Hilton Head, McCord was called into Chirkinian’s office and shown a handwritten letter. Tom Watson had addressed it to Augusta National, asking for McCord's removal from the broadcast and referring to him as “the Howard Stern of golf.” 

That moment led to another meeting soon after, and within months, Augusta National Golf Club informed CBS that he would no longer be part of the Masters coverage.

Tom Watson and Gary McCord Met Again at Pebble Beach

The following year at Pebble Beach, McCord and Watson spoke directly in a tense exchange, but McCord never held a grudge against Watson.

In fact, since the incident, the pair have even played the Champions Tour together. “I got more publicity for doing this than anything I ever did in golf,” McCord even admitted.

“It’s conceivable that not only did he not hurt your income, he enhanced it,” his co-host Peter Kostis responded, to which McCord joked, “I should pay him a retainer fee.”

And he wasn't wrong. Following that incident, the two-time PGA Tour Champions winner even made it to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Yet, what's your take on the incident? Let us know in the comments.

Written by

Aditi Singh

Edited by

Sagnik Bagchi