Actually, he's been following Arnold Palmer around the Masters since 1974 so when the chance came to leave Tuzla to head back stateside on leave, he made a beeline for the Augusta National Golf Club.

``Just to be back here is great,'' he said, though he has to leave Monday to go back, where he is in charge of postal services for the 20,000 troops in the peacekeeping force in the Balkans.

The Masters will be decided on Sunday but Thursday's opening round was a chance for the legendary names of the game to reign again. Mr. Saliba was one of several hundred fans who flooded both sides of the fairway and followed Mr. Palmer, cheering his miraculous shot out of the bunker on No. 2 to birdie the hole and groaning as his stroke occasionally went awry.

On No. 6 his luck really went south - his tee shot drifted off to the right of the green and hit a lawyer. Gary Jackson, 44, of Atlanta couldn't get out of the way and the ball rolled into his brown-and-white golf shoe.

``I've died and gone to heaven. I've been hit by Arnold Palmer's ball,'' Mr. Jackson proclaimed. ``The lady behind me said I should have kicked it onto the green. I guess I'll get court-martialed from Arnie's Army.'' He assured others in the gallery he would not use his legal talents on Mr. Palmer.

``No, in fact, he could sue me for nonsupport,'' Mr. Jackson said.

The day began with the traditional opening ceremony of tee shots from honorary starters Gene Sarazen, 94, Byron Nelson, 84, and Sam Snead, 83. All three hit solid shots, with Mr. Snead lacing one about 200 yards. It's one of the reasons Greg Nichols, 43, left Honolulu and vacationed at Augusta National.

``It's almost a way of paying your respects to them and to the game,'' said Mr. Nichols, the golf pro at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu.

It's something you can't put a price tag on - at least not to Jim Reed and Jim Billings of Morgantown, N.C., who turned down a $5,000 offer for their tickets so they could scamper after Jack Nicklaus on Thursday.

They were not daunted by Mr. Nicklaus dumping his first tee shot in the bunker.

``If I'm going to see him start off bad, that's a good sign he'll finish hot,'' Mr. Billings said. He was rewarded for his faith minutes later when Mr. Nicklaus dropped his third shot about a foot from the hole.

``See what I mean,'' Mr. Billings said.

Mr. Nicklaus finished with a 2-under-par 70, perhaps signaling that some of the legends will be around on Sunday as well.