The Number One Sports Golden Ticket of 2008

There are six golden tickets each year in sports. These are the events that are the toughest to get to. Ticket prices for these events are astronomical and even if you get a ticket, odds are you won't have the best seats. Now what do you think the number one golden ticket of 2008 is? I would say the Super Bowl, or maybe even a World Series game 7. I was wrong when I found out that the golden ticket of sports in 2008 is the Masters Tournament. What the hell? The Masters Tournament? Who watches golf?

Tickets for the Masters are almost impossible to come by. There are only 25,000 people allowed into the tournament. To get in to the tournament, you must have a badge. Most families who have badges pass them down from generation to generation. To get to the Masters practice rounds, you must apply at least a year in advance and even then, only a select few are chosen. It is also tough to get the tickets when the people of Augusta, Georgia (the location of the Masters every year) discriminate against non-Southerners. There was also a patrons waiting list, which was opened in 1972, but then closed in 1978. They brought the list back in 2000, but saw it didn't work and it closed again soon after. The only way to get to the Masters is if your newspaper is covering it and you were able to get there as a journalist. Or, of course, you could play your way into the Masters.

When I first heard that the Masters was the number one golden ticket, I was stunned. Golf isn't the most popular sport watched on television and I don't know many, if any, people who have attended a golf tournament. There's got to be a reason why the Masters is such an amazing ticket. I don't know about previous years, but I know why this year is one of the biggest Masters ever. Two words, one name. Tiger Woods. Tiger is just unbelievable. With every tournament that he enters, he finishes 1st or 2nd almost automatically. The guy just isn't human when it comes to his golf game.

I was never a big golf fan, but after watching Tiger recently I am intrigued by the Masters. I will probably watch some of it on television. The practice rounds started April 7th, but the actual tournament starts Thursday April 10th. Tiger tees off at 10:45 a.m.