CHARLES SALE AT AUGUSTA:
THE All England Club, who already have ‘Big Brother’ security cameras installed throughout Wimbledon, are now interested in the enhanced technology used at the Masters.
Wimbledon have had people at Augusta National with orders to report back on the state-of-the-art media centre, where microchips in Press ID credentials allow the club to identify the name and newspaper of each reporter through face recognition.
Just how far the media are being monitored, the green jackets will not say, but they admit taking the technology to a new level. It will also help them identify patrons who break the rules by selling coveted four-day Masters passes.
Augusta National and the All England Club are secretive private members clubs who open their doors to the public once a year for a week and a fortnight respectively. Both organisations are ultra-keen to know who is where on their property during those times.
THE European Tour’s Ryder Cup director Richard Hills is missing from Augusta, which is especially surprising in the year of a Europe v USA clash. The word is that Hills had plenty to do in Wentworth preparing for the September clash. Still, with all the senior personnel from both sides at the Masters, Hills’ absence is all the more mystifying.
THE Masters likes to wallow in history, with honorary starters Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player (right) holding an hour-plus Press conference after hitting the first tee shots. Television does not show who made the longest drive, which was Player on this occasion.
Arnold Palmer had been the third starter until his death before last year’s Masters — and no replacement has yet been named. Surely it has to be Tom Watson, who won eight majors including two Masters. But he and Player do not get on after Watson claimed Player had cheated by removing a growing leaf from behind his ball during a Skins Game in Arizona in 1983.
TIGER WOODS is not the only golfing figure at the Masters to have had lower-back fusion surgery. John Paramor, the European Tour’s chief referee, had a similar operation in December, but has recovered sufficiently to be in the rules officials team here. However, the popular Paramor — good enough as an amateur to score a 76 around the Masters course — is yet to swing a club since his surgery.