“I enjoy Augusta. I enjoy its challenges. There’s no other golf course like this anywhere. Its greens and its challenges on and around the greens are just super, super tough. So the greens are fun to play in sort of a morbid way”

I have felt terribly from the beginning when I saw the problems and recognized that they would be ongoing. We were hired to put back the contours of the greens as closely as possible to George Thomas’s designs and were real proud of what we did. It’s a sad situation now.

It’s Star Wars golf. This place was designed by Darth Vader.

The game embarrasses you until you feel inadequate.

I don’t have any big secret about putting. Just hit at it. It’s either going to miss or go in.

I was horrified. Absolutely heart sick. All I could think of was that after 23 years together, I’d lost my faithful ally. I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t get the loss out of my mind. It was like discovering that someone in my family had died.

I had a 15th club in my bag.

You learn to accept defeat graciously in golf. Unlike other sports, the game itself is a constant opponent. It never stops. A golfer is fortunate to win a few times. We spend our whole lives trying to conquer something, and we lose a lot more than we win.

I feel like I’ve won the tournament.

I’m about five inches from being an outstanding golfer. That’s the distance my left ear is from my right.

I do not think I could go on living unless I felt that one day I might win the Open Championship at St. Andrews.

It’s emotional for every champion who decides to step down, it’s a tough decision. It’s probably easier for some, like me. But I’m just going to try to take it in stride. It’s part of life.

A good golf course makes you want to play so badly that you hardly have the time to change your shoes.

Hitting a shorter club to these greens means a great, great deal. Younger players are so much more capable length-wise.

Hale Irwin is the exception. He just does everything so well.

This is happening all over the world. It’s not just this golf course. Hopefully, if it stays dry, it will let a few more people in (contention). If it gets wet, though, there’s only a few people where it’s attainable.

As a golfer, you feel like you’re perpetually on the rack [in foursomes]. Mentally, it’s very difficult.

That was a great game of golf, fellers.

Pebble Beach is Alcatraz with grass.

I’ve been playing the game so long that my handicap is in Roman numerals.

I’m from Southern California, so I feel much more comfortable with a golf club in my hand than I do a weapon.

Whenever I play with him , I usually try to make it a foursome – the President, myself, a paramedic and a faith healer.

I get upset over a bad shot just like anyone else. But it’s silly to let the game get to you.

Bing Crosby and I play a lot of golf together and I have a small course at my place where we often play for side stakes.

You figure they cheat at the ballpark, they’ll cheat on the golf course, they’ll cheat in business, and anything else in life. Players may laugh about it and say it’s funny, but right down in their heart, they don’t think it’s funny at all, and they have no respect for a person who cheats.