By David Westin
Staff Writer
Augusta Chronicle

All 93 participants in the 60th Masters have registered at Tournament Headquarters and will complete preparations for the first major championship of the year today.

There are 13 nationalities represented in the field, but all the golfers have at least one thing in common. They're all shaking their heads in puzzlement at the Augusta National Golf Club's bent-grass greens.

When it comes to greens, none in this country pack the potent combination of speed and slopes these do.

``Outside of Australia, we don't putt on greens like this anywhere else in the world,'' said Greg Norman, an Aussie who is the No. 1-ranked player in the world.

``These greens have huge breaks and a lot of speed to them, so you putt them differently from any other greens we'll putt on the U.S. tour,'' Norman said. ``You want the ball to be dying at the hole, not running at it. That's the difference here.''

``The power of the greens has everyone thinking,'' defending champion Ben Crenshaw said on Tuesday. ``They're trying to figure them out.''

``I've never seen greens like these,'' said Stanford sophomore Tiger Woods.

``They are very hard, very firm and very quick,'' Crenshaw, one of the world's greatest putters, said with glee. ``They're at that speed where you can't get them much faster than they are. They are very challenging.''

Due to the undulating nature of the Augusta National greens, Crenshaw said, ``it's very unusual you'd have the same putt here because some of the greens are convex (rounded) in nature.''

Crenshaw, who has played in 24 Masters Tournaments, gave the Nos. 5 and 14 greens as examples.

``Those greens are so fascinating; I've never had anywhere close to the same putts even as many times as I've played them,'' Crenshaw said. ``So, each time that we come here, we're trying to relearn the course as well as we can. I can remember when I played my first couple of years, and it's a lot to learn. It's a lot of get-a-feel-of and put-your-finger-on-it.''

Masters rookie Jim Furyk knows what Crenshaw is talking about.

``The fastest greens I've ever played were in the 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont, which is also famous for their greens,'' Furyk said. ``They were very fast, but the slopes there were a lot different than these. A lot of Oakmont's greens just slope one way, to the front left or the front right. They don't have the big undulations in them. I've never seen undulations and the speed of the greens like these.''

Seventy-four golfers in the field knew what to expect on the greens this week before they arrived. It's the 19 first-time participants who are the most amazed.

Those Masters rookies are making a mistake, 1979 Masters champion Fuzzy Zoeller believes, by not hiring an Augusta National caddy for the tournament.

Zoeller knows of what he speaks. He and Gene Sarazen, in 1934, are the only golfers to win the Masters in their first start. Zoeller gave much of the credit in his winning year to his Augusta National caddy.

The only caddy in this year's tournament with Augusta National connections is Crenshaw's right-hand man, Carl Jackson.

Though Jackson hasn't caddied at the Augusta National on a regular basis since the 1980s, this will be his 34th straight Masters, the last 20 with Crenshaw. On the PGA Tour, Jackson caddies for Sean Murphy.

``The Masters rookies' chances are good but the key to it is to come in here and get a local caddy; a caddy who knows where the hell he's going and knows which way the greens break,'' Zoeller said. ``That's a big plus. If they don't do that, then they're going to be fighting it all week because there is a local knowledge that goes with this golf course.''

When Zoeller won, his Augusta National caddy was Jariah Beard. Beard was recommended to him by Zoeller's former roommate Mike Shannon, an Augusta National assistant pro at the time. Players were forced to use Augusta National caddies until 1983.

``He led me around there like I was a blind man,'' Zoeller said of Beard. ``That seeing-eye dog was great. He told me where to hit it and where not to hit it. He told me on the par-5s when to go for it in two shots and when to lay up. Those guys know.''

Two of the first-time Masters participants, Tim Herron and David Duval, have hired Augusta National caddies, but just for the practice rounds.

Duval is using Johnny Frank Moore to help him and his regular caddy, Jeff Weber, during the practice rounds while Herron hired Larry Fowler to assist him and his caddy, Gordon Hundley.

In all their years together, Crenshaw and Jackson agree that Jackson has misread only one putt, and that was 15 years ago.

Jackson will tell observers that the hardest greens to read on the course are Nos. 12 and 17, but he won't elaborate.

``I'm not going to give up the secrets,'' Jackson said. ``All I'll say is No. 12 is sitting right on the mother lode. And I think No. 17 is a great designed green. It has some hidden little slopes there. You just have to know how to look for them.''

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