Still no Gary McCord at Masters, still no problem for him

Michael Hiestand, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

CBS golf analyst Gary McCord can't wait for Sunday's final round of the Masters: "I can't get enough of it."

But like other fans of the golfing year's first major, McCord will be watching it on TV -- not from the grounds of Augusta National -- when he joins his buddies in Arizona.

McCord has been nowhere near the Masters course for nearly two decades, not since he offered up a couple of on-air lines that likely went over pretty well across America but not in the big house at Augusta National.

But McCord, who regularly works CBS' other top events, isn't bitter about being dropped from coverage of the Masters. He says he doesn't even want back in.

"I think Augusta thinks I'm dead," McCord tells USA TODAY Sports. "And CBS thinks I'm partially dead. I don't think they want to deal with it and I don't blame them. I'd do the same thing."

In case you missed his offending remarks at the 1994 Masters, they went like this: Augusta's 17th green was so fast it could have been "bikini-waxed," while things were even worse for players whose approach shots went behind that green -- then they'd be stuck out with the "body bags."

Sacre bleu!

And, no, he doesn't think he'll ever be invited back to be part of CBS' Masters coverage. He says he wouldn't even invite himself back and has no regrets: "There's no going back in time. That's who I am. That's what I did. (Augusta and CBS) run a good show. I wouldn't have me, either. It's just common sense."

CBS was not available to comment on whether the idea has been discussed.

McCord has never definitively heard how the ban came about -- or even if it was really based on the bikini and bag comments. "I don't know, I really don't," he says. "And Augusta really doesn't have to explain. It could be, 'We don't like him, he's out.' It's their tournament. And I agree with everything they've done."

McCord, chuckling, does say one thing continues to puzzle him: "I still can't believe David Feherty is still there."

He has a point. Feherty, whose Golf Channel Feherty is probably the edgiest TV golf ever, manages to survive on Masters coverage despite unorthodox on-air Masters calls, such as when a ball rolled into a hole last year: "Come to papa. Come on. You know you want to!"

That might seem pretty tame. But consider that Augusta National, which has famously kept CBS on a series of one-year deals since 1956, banished highly regarded CBS announcer Jack Whitaker in 1966 for not using "patrons" as the traditional designation for the tournament's fans. Instead -- oh, the horror! -- he referred to a surging gallery as "a mob."

So why doesn't Augusta National or CBS or other defenders of the American way talk to Feherty about playing it safe there? Says McCord: "That would be like talking to Charles Barkley about what to say on TV."

McCord says the fame from his banishment was fleeting -- "I got on Jay Leno's show, but now it's all gone away" -- and the incident never comes up with players anymore. "No, lots of Tour players have no idea -- some hadn't even been born yet."



