Apr2 Masters inpics
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The mowers are out, the hoses on, the patrons walking home… the first day of the 2007 Masters is drawing to a close.
As the sun sets here at Augusta National, just a handful of players – including David Howell and Ernie Els – remain on the course.
Practising this late has its advantages and disadvantages – there’s not many people to distract you and you can play quickly; but greenkeepers with hoses and people walking across the fairways can be a bit of a distraction.
Throughout the day loud cheers have gone up from various corners of the course, as players showboat for the patrons.
Nowhere have those cheers been louder than at the par-3 16th, where the traditional stunt of trying to skip a ball over the water onto the green was met with massive applause every time someone actually made it.
For me, though, the highlight at the 16th came when Spanish legend Seve Ballesteros stepped onto the tee.
Not content with bouncing one across the lake, he took his normal set up, took the club back – and then lifted his left foot leg and hit the ball under it to 10 feet! Now that’s just showing off…
