By Frank Pingue
AUGUSTA, Georgia, April 8 (Reuters) - It has stood since the 1850s, long before Augusta National Golf Club existed, and every April during Masters week it becomes something more than just a tree.
The Big Oak Tree, a sprawling live oak situated between the Augusta National clubhouse and the first tee, is the unofficial nerve centre of Masters week — a place where past champions, executives, celebrities and dealmakers converge beneath its vast canopy to network, reminisce and do business.
Three-times Masters champion Nick Faldo summed up its pull.
"Well this is the spot. This is the spot in golf," he said. "Everybody congregates, everybody knows what you mean when you say 'I'll see you under the oak tree.' It's a very cool social spot to mingle and tell stories."
Among those gathered in its shade this week are former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, women's golf great Annika Sorenstam and amateur golfer Kai Trump, granddaughter of President Donald Trump — a cross-section that speaks of the tree's reach well beyond the fairways.
And amid all the hustle and bustle, laser-focused players like world number one Scottie Scheffler and defending champion Rory McIlroy can be spotted at any moment under the tree before heading to the first tee through a parting sea of patrons.
HEAD START ON DEAL-MAKING
For those in the golf business, the oak tree's appeal is as much commercial as it is social.
Ted Brady, manager of Masters debutant Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen of Denmark, described the tree as a picturesque office offering a head start on the year's deal-making.
"A lot of players' deals are year end so conversations kind of start from now until the end of the season and this is the first starting point at which you might make contact with a brand or a tour or whatever," Brady said.
"And you know that if you stood under this tree you are talking to the right person."
ESPN's Scott Van Pelt, whose six-foot-six frame and bald head make him hard to miss in the crowd, said the landmark's appeal is both practical and something harder to define.
"It's visceral, it's spiritual, it's also shade on sunny days," Van Pelt said. "I'm simply a cable TV host, I don't do a whole lot of important things (under the tree) but I am certain that quite a few important things are being done, or at least the seed is planted that is then watered and grown."
'A POINT OF REUNION'
Chris Heck, who joined LIV Golf last June as president of business operations after serving in the same role with Premier League club Aston Villa, was under the tree on tournament eve on Wednesday with a full slate of meetings lined up.
"There's absolutely work being done but it's also almost a point of reunion," Heck said. "You connect with people, you are friends with people and when people trust each other they do deals and deals last for a lifetime and relationships do as well."
He did not mince words about the tree's broader significance. "The one thing synonymous with business in sport is the oak tree on the first tee."
(Reporting by Frank Pingue, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
