Masters rewards are crystal clear

One of the cooler things about the Masters, besides being played on the world's most famous course, is that for a lot of players, it's all about the crystal.

MAILBAG Why no Merion on the list of future U.S. Open sites? Too short? If that's the reason, will you consider a follow-up piece on classic courses becoming obsolete as a result of technology? Can you also address the ideas to supplant the long ball with a normal ball so the Merions of the world can be enjoyed? --Matthew Fee, San Francisco Nice idea but it's not going to happen, not even for a fee. Force the tour players to use a shorter ball and the ballmakers -- and players -- would claim restraint of trade, go to court in about 30 seconds ... and probably win. I'd always been told that the pimento cheese sandwiches were the best food item at the Masters (and I agreed with that), but then you recently recommended the fried chicken breast sandwich. I took your advice and got the chicken. Although it was good, I still think the pimento cheese is the winner. How about asking Mailbag readers which sandwich they prefer? --Kevin Humphreys, Ridgeland, Miss. Sure, why not, Humpatollah? There's nothing else to talk about -- Tiger Woods, the Grand Slam, the changing of Augusta National. Let's go with the national hot-button topic: fried chicken versus pimiento cheese. I say no contest, it's the spicy chicken. I was wondering what has happened to Corey Pavin's game? --Jeff, Los Angeles So is Corey Pavin, Jeff. I attended the Shell Houston Open last week and sat above the 18th green for a few hours. It was the perfect angle to watch the players putt. Almost all of them hitting the green were close to the same spot, and about 90 percent missed the putt on the left side, all reading more break. I have often heard announcers say, "Everyone is missing that putt on the same side today, no one has read it correctly, " and we saw it firsthand. Doesn't word get back to them that all players are hitting to same spot and then misreading? Why don't they have a scout checking this out? We wanted to hold up signs reading, "It doesn't go right!" Would that have been against the rules? --Mike Harrison, Houston No, it would have been legal as long as a player or his caddie didn't arrange for you to hold up the signs. Mike, how would a player on the golf course get word of how a putt on the 18th hole is breaking? Think he's got Watchman stashed in his bag? No. Also, the only person who can give advice to a player is his caddie, so he's the only one who could scout out the action ahead of time (something he usually doesn't have time to do before his player's tee time). As for your sign, the player would probably wonder if you meant his right or your right and disregard it. Remember last year when Phil Mickelson was at the PGA Championship and overheard some fans by the 17th green saying that his putt wasn't as fast as it looked, and he wound up three-putting? These guys are pros and they're rich. Let them miss their putts by themselves.

That's right. Consider it a small perk. A piece of crystal is awarded to any player who makes an eagle (or double eagle) or shoots the low round of the day. Eagle-makers won a pair of crystal goblets. Low scores won crystal vases. (Crystal is also given out to anyone who wins a closest-to-the-pin contest or makes an ace during Wednesday's informal par-3 contest) Champion Tiger Woods received a gold medal and a sterling replica trophy of the Masters clubhouse while runner-up Retief Goosen won a silver medal and a silver salver.

Masters rookie Adam Scott of Australia was pretty excited about his finish -- he shot 33 on the final nine and moved up to ninth place, which earned him an invitation to the 2003 Masters. But he didn't score any glass. "No crystal," he said, shaking his head. On Sunday, Scott hit driver, 7-iron to six feet at the par-5 13th hole but missed the eagle putt. "I really wanted to make that one," Scott said. "I really wanted that crystal."

Wisconsin native Jerry Kelly had better luck in the third round. He hit a 4-wood from 228 yards to 12 feet at the 13th hole and made the putt. "Heyyy! Crystal!" he told a group of reporters waiting for him behind the 18th green. "That's all I wanted. The first one is pretty sweet. I wanted one pretty bad. Hopefully, I can start a Masters collection."

A writer asked where Kelly was going to put his hard-fought crystal in his new house. "We may build the house around it," Kelly joked. Asked if he might fill the goblets with something in celebration, he nodded. "Immediately," he said. "I'm going to fill them with beer. Sorry, Augusta, I'm just not a wine or champagne guy."

Veteran Brad Faxon added to his collection in the third round, too. "I don't have very many," he said. "I've made five or six eagles and had a hole-in-one in the par-3 contest." Faxon made a rare eagle at the newly lengthened and difficult 11th hole, a par 4, when he holed a 6-iron shot from 193 yards. He had started his round on No. 10, where he had just sank a 30-foot putt to save par. Faxon's shot landed on the right fringe, bounced onto the green, trickled downhill toward the front pin position and fell into the cup. "It was a great shot," said Faxon, who finished in a tie for 12th place. "That was a nice way to start. It got a great kick. I was playing with Nick Price and he said, 'Way to go, Fax. Next year, they'll make that mound kick to the right.' He was pretty funny."

The low-round vases were won by Davis Love (67, Round 1); Vijay Singh (65, Round 2); Tiger Woods (66, Round 3) and Shigeki Maruyama (67, Round 4).

Media scum news: Don't be surprised if Gary D'Amato, the golf writer at my former place of employment, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, is named Man of the Year by the Golf Writers Association of America. A handful of scribes are allowed to play Augusta National on the morning after the tournament. The lucky hacks are chosen by lottery (diehard readers of this space, if there are any, may recall that I made the field last year) but are allowed only one round per lifetime. D'Amato, who won the lottery and played the course in the late '80s, one of the lottery's first years, wrote tournament chairman Hootie Johnson an impassioned letter. He thanked him for the best media working conditions in golf but pointed out that since the course has changed so many times in the last five years, much less in the last dozen, it's no longer the same course he played on his lucky Monday. Therefore, D'Amato concluded, he'd really like to get a look at the new and improved version. Johnson, it should be noted, must be a cool guy because he agreed and sent D'Amato a letter back saying that after seven years, writers could re-enter the Monday lottery. Give that man an award. In a happy ending, D'Amato learned Sunday afternoon that he was among this year's lottery winners and would be teeing it up, again, at Augusta National. Hmm, maybe I should have offered to caddie for him.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Gary Van Sickle writes for the magazine's Golf Plus section and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send him a question or comment.

 

Related information
Stories
Gary Van Sickle's Underground Golfer Archive
Multimedia
Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.