Craig Humphreys is at the Masters for the 36th time in the last 38 years.
The longtime Oklahoma sports radio host retired from WWLS-The Sports Animal in December 2023, but the 72-year-old still works for a week every April to bring listeners live reports from Augusta National.
From Humphreys’ first Masters in 1988, when Sandy Lyle donned the Green Jacket, to this 2025 tournament, in which Humphreys picked Jon Rahm to win his second Masters in the last three years, Humphreys could fill a book with all of his tales from Augusta.
Humphreys shared a few of his best Masters stories with The Oklahoman on Wednesday night before the tournament.
‘Toilet paper and a picture of Spuds MacKenzie’
Humphreys made annual trips to the Masters as a fan several years before he got his start in radio. Different friends invited him in 1988 and 1989 — Nick Faldo won the latter after Scott Hoch botched a short putt.
After going to Augusta in back-to-back years, “then I was hooked,” Humphreys said.
In 1990, though, Humphreys didn’t have an in. The Masters is notoriously difficult to get into.
That’s when Humphreys had a “bright idea.” He placed an ad in the local newspaper, the Augusta Chronicle. Something along the lines of: “Golf fan from Oklahoma, need badges.”
Humphreys found a guy who was willing to sell him two badges for $550 each.
Once the seller mailed the badges, Humphreys mailed the money.
“When the package gets here,” Humphreys said, “it's an envelope full of toilet paper and a picture of Spuds MacKenzie.”
He’d been ripped off for $1,100, “but I always felt like the Lord more than paid me off,” Humphreys said with a laugh.
You’d think Humphreys would’ve been discouraged, but he made the trip to Augusta that year anyway. He bought tickets for a practice round and met as many people as he could, asking them how they obtained their badges.
At the Par 3 Contest that year, Humphreys befriended everyone from course marshals to scoreboard operators. The workers got a badge for themselves and a badge to give someone else, called a “patron’s badge.” It was with one of those patron’s badges that Humphreys got into the 1990 Masters, in which Faldo defended his championship.
