The History of Murdock’s Masters Friday Event
It was April of 1998, the Masters tournament was just about to begin, and Mark and Jenny Murdock were expecting their first child. Jenny had spent much of the last 5 years grinding over every putt in an effort to make it on the LPGA tour. She was the LPGA Touring Professional at the Woodlands and while she had done well, (ie. She played The Futures Tour in 1994, 1996 & 1998 and earned a “fully exempt” LPGA card in the two intervening years of 1995 & 1997) she was ready to say farewell to that chapter in her life.
So when her husband Mark proposed the idea of having a golf event amongst family and friends on the Friday morning of the Masters’ qualifying round, she quickly interjected that she’d only participate if it was truly ‘just for fun,’ and that she’d had enough of “grinding over 3 foot putts.” With that caveat in mind, an entirely friendly scramble event was arranged among the close knit group of family (just Mark Jenny, Jenny’s brother Scott Turner, & Jenny’s father Andy) and just 3 close friends: John Phillips (a.k.a. “PRO” who was so named for his role as head pro at the Woodlands, as well as two close neighborhood friends at the Woodlands, Greg Wood (a.k.a. “Woody”) & Tim Colson (a.k.a. “Big Daddy”)
It turned out to be the beginning of what became an annual tradition with an increasing number of friends and family joining in which included, among others, Craig Heiser, Ron Byrd & Greg Watkins. It was Ron Byrd and Big Daddy’s idea that the day should start with a pre-dawn gathering at the Murdock home for coffee and donuts, a tradition that began in 1999 and continues to this day. [Taylor Johnson has taken over as the donut maestro in recent years coming up with special Masters themed donuts each year.]
While the first year’s competition was simply a scramble with no connection to the Masters, Mark & Jenny (with input from Heiser, Pro, Woody, Big Daddy, Andy and Ron Byrd) decided to combine the scoring achieved during Friday morning’s scramble at the Woodland’s to the scores each person’s selection of Pros earned in the opening 2 rounds at Augusta. [1] Each participant had to choose 4 Masters’ players, but only allowed one from the top 10 ranked players, one other from the next 10 ranked players, and the final two picks from anywhere in the rest of the field. The prize awarded to the winner during those first few years was a framed print of one of Linda Hartough’s paintings of Augusta National.
Of course, since the award given out was a print of Augusta National, and the competition was so closely linked to the Masters tournament itself, it seemed only fitting that the prize be given out in a ceremony that mimicked all the pomp and circumstance of the iconic outdoor ceremony at Augusta. Mark Murdock, whose flair for impromptu performance is unparalleled, was master of ceremonies from the beginning.
Then, in the spring of 2004, a day after the 7th successful Master’s Friday Event, Mark and Jenny packed up and moved from the home they loved in the Woodlands to Broadgreen Drive in Houston so as to be closer to where Mark worked and where their son, Mark III would be going to school and getting involved in youth sports and other activities. The Murdocks were warmly welcomed into the close-knit neighborhood of Broadgreen Drive, and when the following spring rolled around, Mark reached out to his core group of friends from the Woodlands to propose the idea of exporting the annual Masters Friday Event to Houston.
The proposal was enthusiastically embraced and planning immediately began to find a new home for the outing. They settled on a nearby public course called Cinco Ranch. There were only about 15 participants that first year - but the old and new friends (specifically Mike Gandolfo III and Don Vrba) got along wonderfully and thus it was that the annual tradition had successfully survived the transition to Houston. From that point onward, things grew exponentially, both in numbers and complexity.
The following year (2005) Don Vrba proposed to Mark Murdock that they form a lunch club at his restaurant, Pappas Steak House, with the wonderful bunch of guys that he met through Mark at the Masters Friday Event. His focus was not on the golf per se, but on creating a venue where the healthy camaraderie he’d developed with Mark’s friends could be enjoyed at regular intervals throughout the year. Don said he’d take care of the meals and Mark was to invite a dozen or so of his close friends. They scheduled these lunches around golf major championships: The Players in March, Masters in April, the US Open in June, the PGA in August, and the Ryder Cup in September. The lunches took place in the famed wine room at Pappas Steak House, and Don would be sure the television was set to the right channel. Eventually they had to decide what to call their newly formed group and decided to name it after the event that had brought them all together. Thus the Masters Friday Club was born.
The new blood from the Houston gang brought not just an increase in numbers, but clever ideas on how to enhance the event further. Perhaps most crucial to that growth was the creative input from Mike Gandolfo who cleverly redesigned the format of the competition as well as the scoring. While the simple scramble format had worked well for nearly a decade, it was determined that a bit more authentic golf should be added to the mix, so Mark and Jenny came up with the hybrid format now used: a full scramble on par 3s and par 5s, and the best two balls on all par 4s using a shamble format. Mike Gandolfo gave this new hybrid format the wonderfully creative name “Shizzle,” which they’ve used ever since 2006. Also worth noting is that midway through the round, after completing the ninth hole, two players from every group would swap places with an adjacent group thus providing an opportunity to enjoy the day with more people, and to spread out the scores which inevitably increased the drama at day’s end. It’s been a key element to the day’s delightful chaos from the very beginning.
Jeff Miers, meanwhile, used his high-tech skills to link the local scoring in Houston with the electronic real time scoring from Augusta. This upgrade to a “live” scoreboard significantly enhanced the drama of identifying the winner as the pros finished up their rounds late on Friday afternoon.
Mark’s friend, Dan Tinkler decided that all past winners should be celebrated on a commemorative cup, from which everyone could enjoy their traditional margaritas. [2] Dan took it upon himself in 2008 to design the first CUP to honor the 2007 Champion Eric Lauritzen. Since that time, a new cup each year lists all of the past champions names and the year they won. It should be noted that each cup is specially designed by Mark Murdock in colors and logos that honor the defending champion. The new CUP is then unveiled ceremoniously at the Champions Dinner on Wednesday night.
To add further gravitas to the event, Mark’s neighbor, Eric Lauritzen, suggested that he repurpose an old bell which he found rusting away in the back of the Murdock garage. [3] He cleaned it up and painted it bright yellow with the iconic logo of Augusta National. From 2010 onward, the day opens and closes with the ceremonial ringing of the bell.
Another great tradition developed through the singular efforts of Gene Brumbelow, a long time DQ Franchisee and former chairman of the Texas DQ Board. He managed to bring custom Blizzards to all Master Friday participants all the way from Jacksonville (a 3-hour journey.) It was a massive undertaking which involved collecting everyone’s order weeks in advance, then fulfilling each order and packaging them all up in a bed of dry ice for the lengthy voyage to Houston. [4]
With all the added hoopla that surrounded the grand Shizzle on Master’s Friday, it is hardly a wonder that the craziness overflowed into the days leading up to Friday, especially as folks had to travel in from outside the Houston area. Of particular note is a small group of out-of-towners, all members of a long-established golfing society called the Ozone Club, who flew in from the far away city of brotherly love. The influence this far away group had on the Master’s Friday crowd can’t be overstated. It all started with a business trip Mark Murdock took in 2005 that landed him in Philadelphia. [5] While there, he finagled his way into playing a round of golf at the famed Merion Golf Club. H was hosted by Walter Smedley III and that connection planted a seed that germinated a few years later and has now blossomed into a relationship well worth celebrating.
Quaker influence on the Cowboy State
In 1908 Mark, intrigued with the tidbit he had learned about the Ozone club on the back cover of Walter Smedley’s recently published booklet, “The Story of Billy Tennent,” invited Walter and Ozone’s historian, Carl Berlinger, down to Houston to join in Friday’s Master event and specifically to attend the Wednesday night’s celebratory dinner at Pappas, where they could elaborate more fully about the famed Ozone club which was at the time celebrating its 107th year. What Mark marveled at was the longevity of the Ozone Club and wanted to know how their own newly formed club could enjoy such lasting power. What they learned at that dinner from Carl and Walter was that to endure for the long term, they ought to center their club not solely around a good meal, but rather on the healthy competition of a golfing society. The suggestion was uniformly well received and from that moment onward, the Masters Friday Club modeled itself after the loosely structured Ozone Club and centered its activities around the game of golf.
It was perhaps fortuitous that on that Friday morning’s annual Shizzle competition, Walter managed to walk away the champion. Because his flight home wouldn’t allow him to stick around for the for the ceremonial awarding of the famed green jacket, Mark Murdock along with Don Vrba and Craig Heiser took a trip up to Philadelphia to formally present Walter with the winner’s green jacket. This all took place at Walter’s family estate at Penncrest Farm which, as anyone who has been there can attest, is a wondrous museum full of golfing history, photos and artifacts dating back to the late 19th century.
Perhaps the highlight of their visit north was when Walter’s father made a elaborate impromptu speech and made a gift of the priceless “Comfort Cup.” [6] He suggested that they, as envoys for the newly formed Texas golfing society, should bring it back to Houston and play golf for it. Ever since that time, the famed Comfort Cup is awarded as the top prize for the year-long Masters Friday Club champion.
Of course, we must not confuse the full schedule of golfing events the Club now plays throughout the year with the famed Shizzle event played annually on the Friday morning of Master’s week. The delightful craziness of that singular event was annually celebrated as a reminder of what wonderfully good things can come from a simple gathering of friends and family around a game which is played “just for fun.”
*****
In 1998 we did not connect the competition in Houston with the Masters competition in Augusta. We played a scramble format but there was no connection. In 1999, Jenny and I (with help from Pro, Heiser, Woody, Big Daddy, Andy, and Ron Byrd) came up with the idea to connect the scoring from Houston with the scoring at The Masters. It was instantaneously magical. We used to award Linda Hartough’s Augusta National paintings to the winner back in the olden days. However, because we had no idea that we were doing anything that would last…our record keeping did not get up to speed until 2005. That is unfortunate and a good lesson learned for us. It would be great fun to have the records from 1999 - 2004.
Former MFC member Tom Riddle had donated a margarita machine back in the early “Woodland” days of the event and Don Vrba, recognizing the popularity of this iconic beverage, donated a machine when the event transitioned to Houston. Ultimately, we just rent it so that Don has one LESS thing to do during Masters week.
The bell: This was an idea that was born in the mind of Eric Lauritzen in 2010. Our former neighbor (and many time Masters Friday participant Ric Booth) moved from Houston [Woodlands?] to Cincinnati in 2008. He left behind a bell that he was given as a going away gift from his team at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands. Because of the onerous size of the bell, The Booths decided to leave it behind for us to enjoy in Houston. Eric saw the bell and asked if I would mind if he turned it into a Masters Friday decoration. I said go for it. He took the old, rusted bell to his garage and months later invited us over to see his creation. We placed the initials “RB” on the bell to honor Ric Booth. We began ringing the bell to open and close Masters Friday in 2010.
Major kudos to Gene’s daughter Anne Farmer, who assists in the monumental effort.
The full story of Mark Murdock’s fateful adventure with Walter Smedley and subsequent connection with the Ozone club can be found on the Ozone website: https://ozoneclub.org/masters-friday-club-a-short-history/
Ozone’s low-gross prize that the original Walter Smedley had won and retired back in 1907, after having won it in three separate years since Ozone’s founding in January of 1901.
Update 2025
In mid winter of 2024, Mark & Jenny Murdock felt compelled to cancel the event for that spring due to family health issues, and made the difficult decision in January of 2025 to officially retire from hosting this event. Here is the letter he & Jenny sent to the long list of annual participants:
January 29, 2025
Dear special friends,
After much reflection and multifaceted assessment Jenny and I wanted to outreach to the group at this time regarding the future of Masters Friday. In the end, we have decided it is time to officially retire from hosting the event. Masters week in Houston has created some of the most extraordinary memories in the Murdock family’s lives in addition to facilitating the establishment of life-long and beyond treasured relationships (something we hope will never change).
Further, the events that have been hosted in our neighborhood have promoted a collaboration and a peut-faire l’esprit in our community like nothing else that we have ever been a part of. The contributions have come from so many devoted, energetic, enthusiastic, creative and truly legendary participants and leaders. The teamwork and collaboration associated with planning and executing the event has been perhaps the most enjoyable and fulfilling part of the process for us. Twenty-five years is a long run for anything. We literally could have never imagined what Masters Friday would evolve into. The event lifted us to heights that we did not previously know existed and for that we will be forever grateful to all of you who made it so.
Many of you graciously mark off your calendars and annually plan extensive and expensive travel and there are others who plan, sponsor and execute major activities and events in Houston during Masters week. Accordingly we wanted to communicate now so that everyone would know what to expect from us moving forward.
With our utmost admiration, appreciation and love, Jenny and Mark Murdock
AND a wonderful tribute to the Murdocks from Ozone brother Walter Smedley II
A Loving Tribute from Walter Smedley
Dear Mark and Jenny,
Well, as much “credit “ as has been given to me for introducing MFC and Ozone to each other and for helping MFC to become what it is today (and forever into the future!) playing for the "Ozone Cup” that the “issue” of Walter Smedley “granted” to MFC in 2008, NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING compares to what a grand vision you both created with Masters Friday Week! Technically very different from Masters Friday “Club” activities the whole year round (and seven years older!), Masters Friday Week became a neighborhood and family gathering time, almost as sacred as Christmas and Easter. Starting with Gene Brumbelow’s 7 am breakfast of a monster Dairy Queen for each participant, then on to a king-sized scrambles family golf tournament augmented by Gandolfo’s “most-complicated-formula-in-the-world” to determine the Annual Masters Friday Champion, then on to the best beef-briscot picnic in Texas, prepared for days by Andy and Pam Turner complete with frozen daiquiris, and finally ending with the Awards Ceremony when an entire entourage of babies and kids and neighbors and world-wide travelers paid tribute to the two of you. You are incomparably legendary!!! After seven years your coveted invitation list expanded to include nine or ten Ozoners beyond the thirty or so “regulars”, with the golf portion expanding for two or three days, including housing, travel and meals, not to mention one or two golf games per day! It became a zoo and a three-ring circus and even a vacation day for everyone’s kids! As I sit here quietly in mid-winter Philadelphia contemplating the helter-skelter activity and planned pandemonium, just making a simple list of participants is daunting. Whom do I thank, and what exactly did they each do? It’s impossible to list them all, going back just a year or two, let alone twenty-five, and so I say “thank-you all,” with an extra-special thanks to the following:
Gandolfo - for all your tireless work on computers and computer-generated lists upon lists, and for beating me on the 18th green one year with that phenomenal second shot;
Craig and Cindy Heiser (whom I have always called Heisman, for obvious reasons) - for being the first MFC President, and ALWAYS having Mark’s back;
Lauritzens - for hosting, year-after-year, the fabulous Thursday-night Texas- Steak Dinner;
Mark and Janet Murdock, Sr - for our wonderful conversations;
Pro and Kim Phillips - for our wonderful friendship and Kim’s fantastic golfing outfit;
Watson Porter - for suggesting my great gift from MFC - my Texas Stetson;
Stevo Robinson - for his great laugh, even in the middle of anyone's putt;
Andy and Pam Turner - for Andy’s great match vs me played all-even thru Merion’s 18th green, his brisket and Pam’s tireless work in the kitchen;
Jen and Vandy Vanderschoor - for the wonderful hosting of the Annual Banquet Dinner (and putting me up in their son’s room!).
Thank you, my dear, dear friends, Mark and Jenny. What in the world did we mean to do in 2008? The damage done is irreversible; the beauty and the godliness is irreversible as well.
With Love,
Walter