Masters ’25: Local Broadcaster John Patrick Celebrates 40 Years Covering Masters

When John Patrick, host of the WGAC Morning Show and ‘The Augusta Golf Show’ looks back on 40 years covering the Masters, he sees an evolution that has been televised. 

 Thanks to him, it also made the radio. 

Beginning in 1984, the year Ben Crenshaw won his first tournament, Patrick has ensured that local listeners have had an expert voice bringing them the coverage, analysis, and interviews. A lifelong fan, student, and practitioner of the game, Patrick said his first credential represented neither a gamble by his management at the time nor a reward for years of service to the game. He was a young man with a passion for both the tournament and golf. 

“I was the guy that made the most sense,” he said with a laugh. 

This year, Patrick is being honored by Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament for his 40 years covering the tournament and club. He is one of 36 to have been honored, only three of which covered it as part of the Augusta media. The others – David Westin from The Augusta Chronicle and Charles Moody, who covered the tournament for WRDW-TV. Patrick said he considers them the finest of company. 

Originally, Partick’s 40^th year would have been 2024. He said that, when offered, he declined a credential in the COVID year of 2020 when the tournament was played in the fall, in the interest of public health and the tournament. Today, his feelings about that decision are mixed. 

“It felt very weird not being there in 2020 – bad weird,” he said. “I thought I was doing a good thing but not being there hurt. It hurt just driving by.” 

He said 40 years does change your perspective on both the Masters and Augusta National. Those things that initially thrilled him – the vistas, the consistent chance of history being made, the sense of timelessness – have become more commonplace. Still, he said, it doesn’t take much to remind yourself where you are and what that means. 

“You just have to bring yourself back to what you are doing,” he said. “You are walking across the golf course at Augusta National. How can you be jaded?” 

In those moments, Patrick said, he can easily look back at the moments – stirring and historic – that have kept him coming back. He said there is something about the place and the tournament that engenders real drama. 

“I think about Mize’s chip-in in 1987,” he said. “Or Norman’s collapse in ’96. I think about Tiger’s chipping it in ’05. It’s always fascinating watching the exciting finish this tournament seems compelled to have.” 

One of those exciting moments, Patrick believes, began the evolution of the tournament that continues today. 

“It all changed when Jack (Nicklaus) won,” he said. "That’s when walking up and buying a ticket, for instance, went away.” 

In the years since Nicklaus, one of the tournament’s great champions, redefined what being a Masters champion might be, Augusta National has made efforts – both concerted and subtle – to change the course, the club, the tournament, and the patron experience. He said that while much of the attention is paid to players, he believes those more worthy of admiration and acknowledgement are the Chairmen who have led the club and tournament. 

“For me, it was Billy Paine that had the most difficult task,” Patrick said. “He did not touch the golf course, but he touched everything else. He modernized everything.” 

He said if covering the Masters for 40 years has taught him anything, it is that assumptions have no place at Augusta National. 

“I’ve come to understand that I do not know,” he said. “But I’ve learned that they do know. There are plans, always intentional, that are being executed – and the interesting variable is always the Chairman.” 

Patrick said he remains unsure as to how long he will continue to cover the Masters but believes his final year will coincide with his final year in radio. He said the legendary broadcaster Jim Nantz has said he would like to do 51 – which would take him to the tournament’s 100^th edition in 2036. Patrick said he has no such aspirations. 

“I have no desire to do 50,” he said with a quiet laugh. “But know this, when I do step away, this will have been one of the great joys of my life.”