Ed Mate had been to Augusta National Golf Club during Masters week once before, about a decade ago. But that was as a spectator for the practice rounds.

This time around, the CGA’s executive director left feeling like he’d wrung the whole nine yards out of the Masters experience.

“I did take full advantage of being there,” Mate said on Monday after serving as a rules official for the four rounds of the Masters. “The whole thing was a lot of fun. It was a lot more enjoyable and less stressful than I anticipated.

“I would describe everything about the tournament as welcoming. They’d ask, ‘Do you have anything you need?’ ‘Is there anything we can do for you?’ They appreciate you being there, and anybody there will tell you that. They just make you feel good. And if everyone around you treats you courteously, you can’t help but reciprocate.”

As with former CWGA executive director Robin Jervey from 2008-11, Mate earned the chance to be a Masters rules official by virtue of serving as an advisory member of the powerful USGA Rules of Golf Committee, representing state and regional golf associations. Mate, the CGA’s executive director since 2000, joined the Rules of Golf Committee last fall, and figures to serve up to four years on it.

According to the Augusta Chronicle, while dozens of people served on the Masters Tournament Rules Committee in 2016, the only representative from Colorado this year was Mate, though former Coloradan Thomas Pagel was also on the committee.

In his rules official role, Mate said he worked the par-4 17th hole on Thursday, the par-3 sixth on Friday, the par-4 ninth on Saturday, and the par-4 third on Sunday. He said he had just three interactions with competitors overall — with Charl Schwartzel on Friday, Dustin Johnson on Saturday and low-amateur Bryson DeChambeau on Sunday.

“It was very simple stuff, but enough to make you feel you contributed,” Mate noted.

Schwartzel’s ball at No. 6 on Friday ended up right next to a pair of sunglasses, leading to an interaction with Mate, though Schwartzel was just confirming how to proceed. He marked his ball, moved the sunglasses and played on.

As for Johnson, after he hit his approach on Saturday right of the hole on No. 9, he couldn’t get his ball to stay in place on the sloping green when he tried to replace it in front of his ball mark, and asked Mate about the proper procedure. Mate told him to find a spot as close as possible where the ball would stay put, and Johnson did just that.

On Sunday, DeChambeau hit his ball behind a temporary immovable obstruction on No. 3, and Mate helped him find his point of relief.

“I felt comfortable” overall, Mate said. “All the rulings I had were so straightforward. I’ve worked a couple of U.S. Opens, and it’s still just golf. I didn’t think of the potential of everyone watching. And I knew if I did have any doubt (about a ruling), I’d just go on the radio.”

Indeed, this certainly wasn’t Mate’s first rodeo — which is to say, major championship. He worked the U.S. Open in 2009 and ’10, and has also served as a rules official at U.S. Women’s Opens and U.S. Senior Opens. He likewise had the opportunity to work this year’s U.S. Open at Oakmont, Pa., but can’t commit to that one.

At Augusta National, Mate also enjoyed interacting with — and picking the brains of — rules officials who have worked dozens and dozens of major championships over the years. Also memorable from last week was just the general feel of being at the Masters.

“It was amazing — everything you’ve heard about the Masters,” Mate said. “From the experience standpoint, it’s unlike anything, so unique. It’s like you’re in a time warp, with no cell phones (allowed for fans on the grounds) and the food costs ($2.50 for a Masters club sandwich, $2 for a soft drink and $1.50 for a Georgia Peach ice cream sandwich). It’s the spirit of Bobby Jones and Cliff Roberts: They don’t measure themselves against what everyone else is doing. They do stuff their own way. It’s not a coincidence they’re viewed the way they are.

“There was a great quote (uttered) at a rules meeting: ‘We strive for everything to be the best, and if it’s not, we’ll figure out how to make it the best.’

“And then when you come up to 9 and 18 (greens), there are no corporate sky boxes. On 9 you’re struck by the fact the only things around the green are a bunch of chairs. It’s like a well-attended CGA Stroke Play.”

Mate took advantage of being situated on hole 17 Thursday to take in the experience of the ceremonial opening tee shots by Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, with Arnold Palmer also on hand.

“That was a highlight to be there,” Mate said. “How many other times are you going to get to see (those three greats together)? It was packed. And (Masters chairman) Billy Payne exudes charisma. He’s very impressive, so well spoken and gracious. He didn’t drone on (in introducing Palmer, Nickland and Player), but said just enough.”

All in all, suffice it to say Mate is looking forward to a return trip to Augusta National next spring. After all, as they say, it’s a tradition unlike any other.
 

For the first time in almost a half-century, the Masters field won’t include a single competitor with major Colorado ties.

Each year prior to this since the late 1960s, at least one player with strong Colorado connections was in the field at Augusta National Golf Club. Carrying the torch for the state over that period were the likes of Boulder High School and University of Colorado graduate Hale Irwin (21 appearances, including four consecutive top-five finishes from 1974 to ’77); 1982 champion Craig Stadler, a Colorado resident since 1994, whose run of 36 consecutive Masters ended after the 2014 tournament; Fort Morgan and CU product Dale Douglass; former Evergreen resident Dave Hill; part-time Boulder resident and former CU golfer Jonathan Kaye; Yuma High School and former Buff Steve Jones; Cherry Hills Village resident David Duval; Coloradan Gary Hallberg; former Cherry Creek High School golfer Mike Reid; Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe; Aurora resident Mark Wiebe; former Colorado State University golfer Martin Laird; and part-time Denver resident Kevin Stadler. Kevin Stadler competed at the Masters last year after finishing eighth in his debut in 2014.

It’s been a great run, but it will end with this week’s Masters. Past champion Craig Stadler wrapped up his competitive run at Augusta National after competing with his son Kevin in 2014, and no other “local” earned an invitation for 2016.

But just because no one with strong Colorado ties will be playing beginning Thursday in Augusta, Ga., that certainly doesn’t mean that Colorado won’t be represented in other official roles at this year’s Masters.

Here are a few examples:

— Former Castle Pines resident Esteban Toledo — who won his fourth PGA Tour Champions event in February — will caddie for former Masters champion Sandy Lyle (CLICK HERE). (Toledo and Lyle are pictured together Monday in an Augusta National photo.) Also on the caddie front, Coloradan Steve “Pepsi” Hale will loop for Keegan Bradley.

— CGA executive director Ed Mate will be a rules official at the Masters, thanks to joining the USGA Rules of Golf Committee within the last year.

— Craig Stadler, while not competing, returned for Tuesday evening’s Champions Dinner and for Wednesday’s Par-3 Contest.

— Steamboat Springs resident Verne Lundquist — he of “Yes, Sir!” broadcasting fame — will be back at Augusta National as part of the CBS television crew. Also on that team will be Dottie Pepper, one of the speakers at the G4 Summit held in February at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. Pepper will be the first on-course female broadcaster for CBS at Augusta National.

— Duval, who’s lived in Colorado for about a dozen years, is also at Augusta National on TV assignment, serving as an analyst for the Golf Channel. Also working for the Golf Channel at the Masters is Colorado State University product Steve Sands.

— Veteran award-winning golf journalist Kaye Kessler of Littleton will cover the Masters for the 53rd time, a run that started in 1963.

— And, of course, Colorado Sports Hall of Famer Will Nicholson Jr., has been a fixture at the Masters in recent decades, serving as chairman of the Masters Competition Committee from 1992 through 2006, when he was responsible for setting up Augusta National for the Masters. Nicholson also chaired the Masters Rules Committee for 17 years.