let's talk about golf a little bit...

There is crying, instead of shouting, in the Amen Corner today, tears being shed over the news that Herbert Warren Wind, longtime golf writer for The New Yorker, and also Sports Illustrated, has passed away at the age of 89.

It was while covering the Masters for Sports Illustrated in 1958 -- the tournament where Arnold Palmer won his first major championship -- that Wind used the phrase "Amen Corner" in referring to the 11th, 12, and 13th holes at Augusta National.

A modest, courtly gentleman, Wind would have stoutly denied that he played in any part in helping to make that stretch of holes the most famous in golf, insisting that reputation was due to their brilliant design, stunning beauty, and the remarkable number of dramatic shots that have occurred there since the first Masters in 1934. But there is no question that part of the popularity of those holes is due to Wind's memorable moniker.

"The more I thought about it, the more suitable I thought the Amen Corner was for that bend of the course. My article, in the issue dated April 21, was called 'The Fateful Corner,' and the opening sentence went like this: '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...'

"I have no idea how the name caught on. To be candid, I am delighted that it did. To be connected even in the flimsiest way with a course like Augusta National and an institution like the Masters is good for the soul."