Dave Loggins, Composer of Iconic Masters Tournament Theme Song, Dead at 76

Dave Loggins, Composer of Iconic Masters Tournament Theme Song, Dead at 76 His song Augusta' has set the stage for the PGA Masters Tournament since 1982 By Dan Daley, Audio Editor

Monday, July 15, 2024 - 11:20 am

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Singer-songwriter Dave Loggins, 76, who composed the theme song for the PGA flagship Masters Tournament, died July 10 in Nashville. His song Augusta was cited in his obituary in The Tennessean as the longest-running sports theme in history.

Written and recorded by Loggins in 1981, the song has been played as an instrumental for television productions of the Masters Tournament since 1982. However, he wrote the song with lyrics, the first verse and chorus setting the stage for the pastoral pageant:

Well, it's springtime in the valley on Magnolia Lane

It's the Augusta National and the master of the game

Who'll wear that green coat on Sunday afternoon?

Who'll walk the 18th fairway singing this tune?

Augusta, your dogwoods and pines

They play on my mind like a song

Augusta, it's you that I love

And it's you that I'll miss when I'm gone.

Besides composing Augusta, Dave Loggins played guitar and sang the vocals on the original recording of the Masters Tournament theme song.

I stopped for a minute, looked up at the pine trees, and the wind down there was just different in some regards, Loggins told the AP in 2019. Spiritually, it was different. That course was just a piece of art. I looked over at some dogwoods, and, man, I just started writing the song in my head, which is what I do when I get inspired.

Loggins - whose songs have also been cut by Alabama, the Oak Ridge Boys, Kenny Rogers, and Three Dog Night and who had his own hit with Please Come to Boston in 1974 - was a distant cousin of Kenny Loggins, whose huge hit I'm Alright was the theme song to the perhaps most famous golf movie of all time: 1980's Caddyshack.

Dave Loggins was reportedly inspired to write Augusta when he attended the Masters in 1981 and, through a mutual friend, met famed CBS Golf producer Frank Chirkinian, who put the instrumental version of Augusta into the CBS telecast the next year.

Loggins recorded the song in Nashville with a band, including a 12-piece string ensemble, and wrote a second verse with references to several Masters champions, including Byron Nelson, Gary Player, and Ben Hogan. Loggins played guitar and sang the vocals.

According to the PGA website, he brought the full version, with lyrics, to Chirkinian's office in 1982. He said, You got something?' Loggins recalled. I said Yeah, I think I've got it.' He put it on and listened to it and was slightly stunned that it was that good. He played it again and then looked at me and said, You did good, son. You did real good.' Coming from him, the head of CBS Sports, that was great.

Loggins's track joins others - such as John Tesh's Roundball Rock, Hank Williams Jr.'s All My Rowdy Friends, John Fogarty's Centerfield, and the theme song for Inside the NBA by Trevor Rabin, former guitarist of progressive-rock band Yes - in the pantheon of pop and rock music that has crossed over into sports.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2024/07/15/dave-loggins-composed-the-longe...
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