Apr4 Jocksblog

Golf World Senior Writer Jock Howard reports on some of the stories that caught his eye at Augusta today:

Wednesday of Masters week means the Chairman’s press conference, and usually that means a load of trite platitudes. This year however, there was a difference. It was Chairman Billy Payne’s first one, for a start (Payne brought the Atlanta Olympics to America) and laughter could be heard emanating from the purpose-built press centre amidst the dogwoods. Payne made everyone laugh by describing how he first came to Augusta, while still a college boy, in a pink Chevrolet. He was then asked by a journalist if he was trying to get on the good side of the press. “Next year there will be a reduction in media credentials,” he replied, joking.

Arnie, head of the Golf Channel, had Kelly Tillghman on his bag in the Par-3 Tournament. At the final hole, Palmer shanked two balls in the water in front of the green. He then got his caddie to have a go for him. She hit the back of the green with a better shot than her co-presenter, Nick Faldo, hit at the same hole.

As a boy, Jeev Milkha Singh had to watch the Masters on videotape, usually about a month after it had finished, as there was no live tv coverage in India. This week he will have the hopes of the second-most populated nation in the world on his shoulders. “People keep joking that there’s a billion people behind me this week,” he says. “I’m very fortunate and hopefully I’ll make the most of it. Singh’s father was also a sportsman, competing three time sin the Olympics at the 200 and 400 metres and breaking the Olympic record in the 400 metres in the 1960 Games in Rome.

Despite the fact that no one has won both the Masters and the Par-3 tournament in the same year, past champions have won both the main tournament and the aperitif:Sam Snead,  1960 and 1974; Art Wall Jr, 1965; Arnold Palmer, 1967; Gay Brewer, 1973; Tom Watson, 1982; Tommy Aaron, 1984; Ben Crenshaw, 1987; Raymond Floyd, 1990; Vijay Singh, 1994; Sandy Lyle, 1997 and 1998.