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Strokes of genius Masters making (almost) all the right moves
Posted: Thursday April 06, 2000 01:59 PM
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Give the Masters competition committee credit for some collective brilliance, seen clearly in their pairings for Thursday's first round. In the beginning, the very beginning, they chose not to replace the late Gene Sarazan in the ceremonial opening, leaving Sam Snead and Byron Nelson to carry the load alone. "There's no replacing Mr. Sarazan," was the very proper response, though there had been much speculation on who would get the call. Perhaps, when Snead and Nelson are gone, they will turn to another golden trio to bring each tournament into form--Nicklaus, Palmer and Player.
Things have obviously changed a lot in the years since. "Man, 1:23?" said Palmer when he first saw his tee time. "We'd better play fast cause my bedtime is 5 o'clock these days." "The only difference now," said Player, "is none of us has a ghost of a chance of winning." While the committee deserves much credit for those decisions in making up the first-round pairings, it missed a chance for another stroke of genius. At one end, the boys of winter. But at the other, they could have added Sergio Garcia to Tiger Woods and Aaron Baddeley and offered up the future. Instead, Garcia is off with another group. Perhaps there was worry about handling the gallery but they've never had much problem with such a thing at this tournament. Still in all, simply offering us the Golden Boys of Yesteryear in prime time, one last time here, is a blessing. We'll see the other three together here for years to come, you can count on that.
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