R.I.P. Ben Wright
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Longtime CBS broadcaster and writer Ben Wright has passed away. Best remembered for his epic calls during several Masters—including the first Yes, Sir!—Wright’s career demise and comments to a reporter ultimately clouded his contributions to the game.
Ben Wright grew up 30 miles outside London. His love of golf began when his grandfather gave him a club with a hickory shaft for his 10th birthday. But Wright loved rugby and racing even more. He was an amateur driver until at age 19, crashing so badly in Essex that his face was disfigured and he was unconscious for three days. Medics had to use the handles of teaspoons to "pull the nose out of my face," he says. Not long after, he started covering golf for the Financial Times. That's where he stayed for most of his career, doing so well that he was summoned to Bobby Jones' deathbed so the legend could question him about a column he wrote about the slowness of play in the sport.
He was a superb, often self-deprecating storyteller, and the truth is I showed up at lunchtime because the food was good and I loved listening to Chirkinian, Will, McCord and Wright tell stories. Sitting among “the boys” at CBS, Ben talked that way at times about women. It was borderline lewd, and in that sense, his remarks to Helmbreck were not out of character. Still, the question I never got to ask was this: Why in the world would you make comments like that to a stranger on or off the record? It made no sense at all.
Back to the great calls, here’s a superb sequence put together by The Masters account of the 1975 Masters when Wright was in the 15th tower:
Here’s the “yes, sir!” call in 1986. All of Wright’s commentary around this is just sensational.
The battle is joined!
There’s life in the old bear yet! And that information will percolate back to Seve Ballesteros…
For whatever reason the embed does not work but just follow the link.
