We here at Golf News Net embrace golf-related fabricated holidays just as much as anyone else does, so we're happy to celebrate Amen Corner Day today.
It's November 12, 2013, or in American dating parlance, 11/12/13, which signifies the three holes at Augusta National Golf Club that make up the stretch known as Amen Corner.
Writer Herbert Warren Wind first used the term to describe the trio of holes in a 1958 issue of Sports Illustrated.
On the afternoon before the start of the recent Masters golf tournament, a wonderfully evocative ceremony took place at the farthest reach of the Augusta National course—down in the Amen Corner where Rae's Creek intersects the 13th fairway near the tee, then parallels the front edge of the green on the short 12th and finally swirls alongside the 11th green.
In the '58 Masters, Arnold Palmer and Ken Venturi were both vying for their first Masters titles. On the 12th hole, Palmer's tee shot at the par 3 embedded in a steep bank behind the green. A rules official declared Palmer should play the ball as it lay, under which Palmer made a 5. But, the official also said Palmer could play a provisional with a drop, which he did and proceeded to make par. Three holes later, including after a Palmer eagle at the par-5 13th, the King was told the drop was right and the par would count. He won his first of four Masters titles that day.
The inspiration was the jazz song "Shouting at Amen Corner." Amen Corner was an allusion to the Bible-manufacturing district in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. A place for preachers to congregate, so many "Amen!"s were shouted each day, that became it's name.
For our European friends, you'll get to celebrate Amen Corner Day on December 11, 2013!
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