Masters notebook
Respect paid to Palmer AUGUSTA, Ga. — The wind was stinging their faces, but that was not why Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player had tears in their eyes as they got ready for their ceremonial tee shots at the Masters.
For the first time since 2006, Arnold Palmer was not alongside them on the first tee box. A weakened Palmer had sat in a white deck chair and watched Nicklaus and Player hit their drives last year. Five months later, he died at age 87.
The white chair was again on the tee box on Thursday, with the green jacket from one of Palmer’s four victories draped over it. In tribute to his foe turned friend, Nicklaus, 77, tipped his cap in the air and wiped tears from his eyes before placing his drive in the fairway. Player, 81, who also was rubbing tears from his eyes, also found the fairway with his shot.
Before they hit, there was a moment of silence and a few remarks from Billy Payne, chairman of Augusta National Golf Club. He talked about the “unbearable sadness” of losing Palmer being offset by “the love and affection” everyone continues to feel for him.
Player said he thought Payne’s talk “was extremely eloquent, very touching.”
Referring to Palmer’s reluctant turn as a spectator last year, he added: “When he sat on the chair last year and they called his name, you know, a lot of people don’t stand up. But Arnold could hardly walk to the first tee and he stood up because he had been taught to stand up.”
Player demonstrated by lifting himself a few inches out of his chair using his arms.
“He gave a little wave, and that was very touching to me, and I could see him doing it in that chair today,” he said.
As patrons entered the club on Thursday, they were handed white buttons with green lettering that read, “I am a member of Arnie’s Army,” which prompted Nicklaus to joke that Palmer “would have dropped over if he had seen one on Gary and me.” He laughed. “It was very nice.”
Conquering demons
Jordan Spieth, whose quadruple bogey at the par- 3 12th hole in the final round cost him his second consecutive title here last year, was not the only player who returned to the Masters with a demon hole to slay.
On his opening hole last year, Ernie Els, a runner- up here in 2000 and 2004, missed the green with his second shot, chipped to 3 feet and took six strokes to find the hole. His 9 was the highest score on the par- 4, by one stroke, in the tournament’s history. Els played the next 35 holes in 4- over to miss the cut with an 80 and 69.
He returned to the hole Thursday and made a routine par, allowing the patrons in his gallery to exhale.
“Better than last year,” said an Augusta National member as he watched Els pick his ball out of the first hole.
Flowers not shining
If the flowers surrounding the greens at the Masters appear less vibrant and colorful on television this year, Augusta Chairman Billy Payne has an explanation.
Noting that the Augusta area had an unusually mild winter, Payne told reporters Wednesday: “Regrettably, the same weather that propelled our course and greens to near- perfect condition caused our normally spectacular azaleas and other flowers to bloom three weeks early. That