Composer of Masters theme song passes away

There are few events in all of professional sports with as much tradition involved as the annual Masters’ tournament at Augusta National. But perhaps the most iconic tradition linked to the tournament is its longstanding theme song.

The theme song, aptly named “Augusta,” was written by Dave Loggins in 1981 after Loggins played the course that spring.

Unfortunately, Dave Loggins passed away on Wednesday at Alive Hospice in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 76. However, his legacy lives on through numerous hit songs, including “Augusta,” “Please Come To Boston,” and his 1984 duet with Anne Murray, “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do.” Remarkably, Loggins, who was a second cousin of Kenny Loggins, remains the only unsigned artist to have ever won a CMA award.

In a 2019 conversation with the Associated Press, Loggins discussed how he got the inspiration for “Augusta.” He mentioned that the beauty of the historic golf course greatly influenced him.

“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 Associated Press. “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. I had the first verse before I even got off the course.”

Just one year later, CBS picked up the song, and it has been used as the theme song for the tournament ever since. In his obituary published by The Tennessean, the theme was named the “longest-running sports theme in history.”

While CBS uses the song during broadcasts of the tournament without any words, the original version by Loggins actually includes lyrics. These lyrics largely describe the sights and sounds around the course, which CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz typically incorporates into his yearly opening monologue of the event.

Golf fans and CBS alike would be much poorer without “Augusta” as the longstanding theme song of the Masters. At least in the eyes of most of the sports world, Dave Loggins has left quite an imprint.

Source: The Tennessean, Golf Digest