By Kelly Daniel and Aimee Edmondson
Staff Writers
Augusta Chronicle

The hottest spot to catch a memorable golf moment Tuesday might be a five-mile drive from the Augusta National Golf Course.

Four-time Masters champion Arnold Palmer will unveil his own statue along Riverwalk Augusta for the planned Georgia Golf Hall of Fame this morning and Augusta-Richmond County Mayor-Chairman Larry Sconyers has proclaimed today Arnold Palmer Day.

Getting downtown might be easier than driving to the Augusta National, anyway, if Monday's bumper-to-bumper traffic between Washington Road and Interstate 20 is any indication. But golf fans arriving without a ticket for today's practice rounds need not fret. Many a fan Monday found a ticket within an hour of trying.

John Fry was impatient in the early hours of the day.

``I'm just missing 'em,'' said Mr. Fry, a golf pro from Columbus, Miss. ``I walk up and somebody's just gotten 'em. I'm not too good at this.''

Ticket seekers turned to tricks and good manners to get passes to the first day of practice rounds. One man wore a white sweatshirt with ``I need tickets'' printed in paisley letters. Another added ``Please'' to his small cardboard sign that read ``Need Tickets.''

They all walked beneath a Washington Road billboard for a cellular phone company that provided an added joke - a life-sized mannequin dangling from a giant phone cord, clutching a sign asking for tickets.

By 11 a.m., the sellers outnumbered the seekers and Washington Road had become a buyer's market.

Out-of-town visitors seemed to have figured out how the limited practice round ticket sales worked this year and more fans were from out of town Monday compared with last year's first day, according to security guards, sportswriters, vendors, patrons and police.

It took Richard Meyers, 52, of Pittsburgh, two years to understand how to order practice round tickets under the Augusta National's new system, which sells the tickets in advance and by lottery.

``This is 800 miles from home. We just didn't hear much about it,'' he said. He came alone to the course Monday while his wife, Lynn, was out shopping in Augusta with daughter Tracy.

The family only had one pass, so Mr. Meyers had to ask a stranger to photograph him along the 16th fairway.

Out of 190 cars still parked at the Azalea Plaza lot at 4:45 p.m., only eight had Richmond County or Columbia County tags.

``We didn't have hardly any local people here this year,'' said Jimmy Spears, owner of another lot on Berckmans Road near Gate 10. He can park 140 cars on the property, but the first day of practice rounds last year left him disappointed.

He said he didn't expect to fill all the spaces until Thursday, the first tournament day. But by 11:30 a.m. Monday, his yard was full.

``We had a super, super day,'' Mr. Spears said.

A steady stream of fans flooded into the gates of the Augusta National starting at 8 a.m., their passes scanned at the gate for authenticity before being tied around buttons or belt buckles.

The wave of fans didn't ebb until noon.

Alpharetta, Ga., residents Ron Ardell and Nancy DeVane were disappointed that they could only get Monday practice round tickets.

He wished there were more golfers out practicing on the first day. She wanted to see the flowers.

``The azaleas aren't even out yet,'' Ms. DeVane said.

Many of the pink and purple blooms on the azalea bushes were closed Monday, but should be in full color by the weekend, an area horticulturist said.

``This is better than two years ago,'' Mr. Ardell said, referring to the last year the Augusta National allowed unlimited access to the grounds.

``It was so crowded then you couldn't enjoy the course. It was getting out of hand,'' Mr. Ardell said. He tried unsuccessfully to get tickets last year.

Though traffic was heavy, the number of fans out for the day wasn't determined Monday. The Augusta National does not release how many tickets are sold for each day of the Masters. Larry Crouch, head of the Pinkerton security team, said they had no way of estimating how many people attended Monday.

``It looked to me to be comparable to last year,'' Mr. Crouch said. ``But we don't have any idea.''

Judging by the orderly fans, practice rounds seem more like regular tournament days. Vendors' wares also were more like those of tournament play, with upscale golf prints, steaming cappuccino and T-shirts the most popular wares