Augusta National Golf Club

"On signing, Heatley decided to verbally ask for something additional—a favour rather than a condition and personal not business. If he signed the deal, might ESPN somehow arrange for him to play a round at Augusta National Golf Club? He says he was ‘kind of joking but kind of not joking’ when he asked. He thought that if anyone had the contacts to pull it off it would be ESPN, whose people he now knew well and liked. He was certainly not going to approach the club directly even though by then he had been to Augusta three times to watch the Masters—a small perk of Sky’s contract with the prestigious golf club. He did not have the right contacts and, anyway, by reputation Augusta was one of those clubs where if you asked to join you would never become a member. Perhaps, similarly, if you asked to play you would never get the chance. But asking ESPN was different. ESPN was hugely influential, he was a client and even if he was rebuffed it was worth trying because if he never tried, it would certainly never happen."

"In his office, he went through his correspondence with his temp. Nothing. Heatley ventured, ‘So, no letter from any golf clubs, then?’ ‘Oh, yes,’ she replied. ‘There was one. But you get lots of them so I stuck it in the miscellaneous file.’ She reached for a file crammed with unaddressed circulars and fliers from Tyre Warehouse and local supermarkets. From among them she fished out an envelope from Augusta National Golf Club. ‘Here it is.’ Heatley took the envelope into his office so he could open it in private. It was a gracious letter inviting him to become a member. He sat alone, reading and re-reading it. He still has it. It asked him to sign an acceptance form, remit a cheque and return it promptly. It was dated weeks earlier. He quickly wrote out a cheque, went to the post office, bought more stamps than were necessary, stuck them all on the envelope and put it in the post box. This time there would be no mistakes."

"rol the situation.’ ‘It’s my pleasure to welcome everyone to Augusta National Golf Club and to the 2010 Masters Tournament,’ Heatley began the press conference. ‘I would also like to welcome Tiger Woods, our four-time Masters Champion. This is Tiger’s sixteenth Masters Tournament. Tiger, we are delighted to have you here with us, and what a beautiful day out there to start Masters week. Are there any comments that you would like to make before we invite questions from the floor?’ Yes, Tiger did have some comments. He was pleased to be back, he said. The galleries had been encouraging and he was touched by that. And he wanted to apologise to his fellow players ‘for having to endure what they have had to endure the past few months’. The questions began with Heatley selecting the reporters either by name or pointing when they were journalists he did not personally know. Woods was well prepared and articulate, coming across as sincere and contrite and appearing to give full answers even when he was not actually doing so. He took every question asked of him without demurring and was frank enough that he probably met the expectations of his TV audience, although not sufficiently frank for the liking of some of the media. The press conference came to an end and the media rushed out to write their stories and make their comments. It had gone as well as Heatley could have hoped, even though the media’s demand for Woods was insatiable."