By Andy Johnston
Staff Writer
Augusta Chronicle

Maybe now Ben Crenshaw can relax.

After a frenetic year as the defending Masters Tournament champion, he will not be playing today and Sunday. Crenshaw's rounds of 77-74-151 made sure he will have plenty of free time until he helps the next winner slip on a green jacket on Sunday evening.

``I'm going to stay right here and be an interested bystander,'' he said after Friday's round. ``That's just the way it goes. It's just really frustrating, very disappointing. I didn't do anything differently. You do what you can. It just didn't happen for me. You've got to get good breaks here. I didn't.''

Crenshaw was one of many big names, including other recent Masters winners, who didn't make the cut of 146. He is, however, only the sixth defending Masters champion to miss it - the first since Sandy Lyle in 1989.

Tom Watson had his streak of making the cut snapped at 21 straight years with a 72 on Friday and a total of 147. He and Crenshaw were joined by '79 champ Fuzzy Zoeller, amateur Tiger Woods, four-time winner Arnold Palmer, Tom Kite and '88 champ Sandy Lyle.

Crenshaw mentioned that he might go back on the course as a spectator, but isn't sure. He will watch. He's certain about that.

And now that Crenshaw is no longer around, who would he like to see win this tournament?

``I confessed earlier in the day that I'd like to see Davis Love III or Phil Mickelson do well and win it,'' he said. ``Phil has become a good friend and he has a world of talent. I've got a soft spot in my heart for Davis after what happened last year. It goes way beyond playing golf.''

Crenshaw's struggles cost his caddy's 8-year-old son Jason a chance to his dad work at the Masters.

Some fans read a story in Thursday's editions of The Augusta Chronicle about how Jason had never seen his dad caddy at Augusta National and they offered to give him badges for Sunday's final round.

``I guess that won't do me any good now,'' Jackson said.

Watson, a two-time Masters winner, struggled with his putting on Thursday and his drives on Friday.

``I didn't finish very well,'' Watson said. ``I had some bad swings. I fought my swing both days. I putted well today, I just didn't swing very well. It was a tougher golf course today than it was yesterday. The greens were pretty fast and the wind was really swirling.''

Typical of Watson's struggles: On Thursday it took Watson five putts to find the hole on the 16th green. He had never five-putted in a tournament before.

Having the next two days off will help Woods catch up on his school work. The Stanford sophomore has an economics term paper due next week and hasn't started on it.

``I'm definitely disappointed about not making the cut, but then again I played a lot better today than yesterday,'' he said. ``The score doesn't show it, but I feel I played pretty good. The course was much tougher today.''

Woods played all four rounds last year - his first Masters - and finished 4-over par. He defended his U.S. Amateur championship for a return trip, but couldn't hang around after finishing with 75-75-150.

``I was a lot more comfortable because I knew what to expect,'' Woods said. ``I knew this year how to handle all you guys (the media).''