Sandbagger Sessions, Episode 17: Canadian Broadcasting Legend, TSN's James Duthie (Augusta secrets)

🎙️ TSN's James Duthie Joins Sandbagger Sessions | Playing Augusta National, Covering The Masters, The Gretzky Question & More TSN's James Duthie - one of Canada's most iconic sports broadcasters - sits down with Sandbagger Sessions for an incredible conversation about his deep love of the game of golf. This one is special. James opens up about his origin story in golf. Sneaking onto Pine View Municipal before dawn as a kid, never paying a dime, and falling in love with the game on those early morning rounds with his late best friend Mark Ward. From there, he takes us inside decades of covering the Masters for TSN, including what Augusta National is really like behind the scenes, what it's like watching the tournament without a cell phone in 2026, and how TSN ended up sandwiched between ESPN and Golf Channel next to the driving range. James shares the full story of winning the Augusta National media lottery and playing the course, showing up with dusty clubs, one golf ball, and an early morning Walmart run for Top Flite Hot XLs after discovering he only had one ball in his bag. The conversation dives deep into Rory McIlroy's 2025 Masters win - what James calls "the greatest sports movie of all time" - and the raw emotion on the media sets when Rory finally sank that putt. We also get into: his thoughts on this year's Masters contenders, why he thinks Canadian golf fans might be the most passionate in the world, his top five courses, the Joe Mayo bunker technique that's changing his life, and a hilarious New Zealand travel story involving a TSN colleague. James also takes us behind the scenes of his Wayne Gretzky interview at the Milano Cortina Olympics: the question that divided Canada. He walks through exactly how he prepared the question, why he gave Gretzky a heads-up beforehand, and how he handled the backlash from both sides (including one very apologetic drunk DM). Whether you're a Masters die-hard, a Canadian golf sicko, or you just want to hear one of the best storytellers in Canadian media talk about the game he loves, this is the episode. Also this week on Sandbagger Sessions: Tiger Woods — his latest DUI arrest, what it means for the Masters, and why we think it's time for Tiger to step away and get help Gary Woodland's incredible comeback win and his courageous battle with a brain lesion, PTSD, and fear — the feel-good story of the year Stefan reads an official statement after getting destroyed in the picks competition (written by Cole, obviously) A "statement from Prime Minister Mark Carney" regarding Cole's citizenship status and his lack of support for Taylor Pendrith Alex Fitzpatrick wins on the DP World Tour — Matt's brother gets his first win Lydia Ko fires a 60 on the LPGA Tour and nobody noticed (a bogey for LPGA social media) Valero Texas Open picks Masters bet stakes revealed 📲 Follow us: @sandbaggersessions 🎧 New episodes weekly 👍 Like & Subscribe if you enjoyed the episode — we're building something here and every sub matters. #Masters #TheMasters #AugustaNational #JamesDuthie #TSN #Golf #GolfPodcast #PGATour #RoryMcIlroy #TigerWoods #GaryWoodland #CanadianGolf #SandbaggerSessions #MastersWeek #GolfContent