The best way to watch sport Without a phone says the Masters

AUGUSTA – Rock ’n’ roll is loud, wild, its beat heavy, and its philosophy suggests rules are meant to be broken. Golf’s Masters is its polite antithesis, a place formal, quiet, rule-bound, where the instruments at best speak a precise, clicking music. But both have something intriguing in common.

They don’t always care for phones.

In Manila in 2024, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, a gentle rocker if ever there was one, beseeches the crowd. For a single song, he says, put your raised phones away. “Use your body,” he says, mimicking a dance. We’re all never going to be here together again, he says, so let’s for one moment be “one human family”.

No filming for a brief while, the rocker was asking. No filming at all, declares the blazered tribe of the Masters. In possibly the most civilised rule known to sporting humankind, fans can’t bring their phones onto the Augusta National course. Journalists can but their use is restricted to the press building. Here, only the brain is allowed to film and remember.

When football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo came to prance on Singapore’s lawns in 2019, I remember a photo of the crowd. Almost every single arm was raised in a digital salute, as if filming their hero on their phones was the new worship. Ronaldo stood before them, yet they were looking at him through a screen.

The Masters embraces technology, but it’s never been enamoured with phones. On the last four tournament days, even cameras are forbidden. Masters winner Nick Faldo told me recently that everything is designed for good golf at the Masters and this is an example. No ring, no click, no whirr is allowed here. The only thing allowed to disturb athletes without permission is the wind.

The no-phone rule is a splendid one,