Augusta National

The Battle of Augusta National: Hootie, Martha, and the Masters of the Universe, by Alan Shipnuck. Simon & Schuster. 352 pages. $25. When the legendary golfer Bobby Jones planned his famous Augusta National Golf Club, his dream included a second 18 holes called the "Ladies Course." It was to be built for the wives of members, an enlightened approach in 1930, especially in the South. How ironic, then, that 72 years later the club's unenlightened membership policy -- men only -- and its world-famous Masters Tournament would come under a relentless attack by a woman activist.

Nearly a year ago, I wrote that Tiger Woods could become the next Ken Griffey Jr ., a transcendant athlete who turned mortal before rewriting the history books of their respective sports. Instead of breaking their sport's most sacred record, they broke down physically. I said at the time that I didn't think Woods would win another major championship, and maybe not another regular PGA Tour event. Woods recently proved me wrong on one account - his 5-shot win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill two weeks ago reminiscent of many of his 71 previous tour victories.

What will be a regal showplace of golf is being shaped with elegance and delicate care. It's where the enormous gifts of nature are enhanced by men sensitive to the trust and responsibility of fulfilling a noble, yet self-imposed, mission. They are building a course that will have instant credibility and earn ecstatic reviews.It will be a green and growing monument to the glory of golf. Rank it in an ultimate comparison to the Augusta National Golf Club, which is the pinnacle in praise. There isn't anything south of Winged Foot and north of Pinehurst to equal it and even those courses, in five years, will be surpassed by the new Caves Valley Golf Club that will attract Marylanders and an international membership.

Every so often, Tiger Woods has seemed, well, human. Not the guy who walked on water in the EA Sports ad. Or the robot who refused to crack a smile while clubbing the field by 15 shots at the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Two such moments stand out: In 2006, Woods didn't play between the Masters and U.S. Open while mourning his father, Earl. Observers recall that Woods looked sharp in practice rounds for the Open but had trouble focusing during the main event. He shot 76-76, missing the cut in a major for the first time in his professional career.

Threatening calls wake her and her husband in the middle of the night. Piles of hate letters, most of them addressed to her personally, arrive at her office every day. And although she's always kept her personal e-mail address private, her in-box is now filled with insulting messages. Martha Burk, petite, 60, a stranger to the game of golf, is in the midst of a maelstrom -- all about, of all things, a sport. It began three months ago, when Burk, head of the National Council of Women's Organizations, zeroed in on Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia -- host of the prestigious Masters golf tournament -- urging it to admit its first female member.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - It was the longest of days at Augusta National. Play began at 8:30 a.m., and ended some 11 hours later as the sunlight finally gave out. Tiger Woods wished it could have gone on and on. He played 26 holes as the rain-delayed Masters went into catch-up mode on Day 3, and he completed those 26 holes in 11-under-par, rising from nowhere to second on the leader board, behind only Chris DiMarco. Woods still trails by four strokes, but if his Sunday is anything like his Saturday, he's going to win his fourth Masters.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Tiger Woods was taking questions in the Masters media room Tuesday afternoon when a reporter asked him to play word association and said, simply, "Vijay." So, what instantly came to Woods' mind when he heard the name of the world's top-ranked golfer, Vijay Singh? "Mm-hmm," Woods said. The interview moderator raised an eyebrow, looked at Woods and said, "Mm-hmm, that's your only response?" Stumbling to recover, Woods said, "He's good." Nervous laughter filled the room as the moderator said, "Well, that had potential."

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- They were lined five deep, clicking their cameras, straining their necks or just merely gawking. They surrounded the green, trying to get a glimpse of Tiger Woods.They were watching him practice putting.Many had been to the Masters before. But Robert Bennett, an apartment manager for the Atlanta Housing Authority, has been coming to this city since he was a child growing up in Charleston, S.C.Yesterday was Bennett's first trip to Augusta National."Tiger Woods is to golf what Jackie Robinson was to baseball," said Bennett, 55, who got practice-day tickets from a friend.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Billy Casper put five balls in the water on the seventh hole of his round yesterday at Augusta National. "The wind was blowing the wrong way," Casper, 73, explained with a wink. He finished his front nine in 57, obliterating the Masters record for highest nine-hole score. Later, after hitting his tee shot on his final hole, he spotted a friend in the gallery and said, "I need a par for a 105." He double-bogeyed. Casper, winner of the 1970 Masters, shot 106, easily the highest 18-hole score in tournament history.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - The charge surfaced shortly after the course at Augusta National Golf Club was redesigned last summer, and will still be festering when the 66th Masters begins today. Some of the world's best players say that an exclusionary policy has been instituted, that anybody who can't hit the ball the prerequisite 300 yards off the tee has virtually no chance of dethroning defending champion Tiger Woods. Six-time champion Jack Nicklaus, who won't compete here this year because of nagging back problems, did little to defuse the debate when he showed up for a news conference Tuesday before the champions' dinner.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -As the Masters prepares to get under way, teenagers Rory McIlroy, Ryo Ishikawa and Danny Lee could do something the 20-something crowd has not - provide Tiger Woods with a meaningful, lasting rival. Maybe Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott and Camilo Villegas, who have zero major victories, will get lapped by the likes of McIlroy, 19, a native of Northern Ireland who is ranked 17th in the world and shot an opening-round 68 at the 2007 British Open at Carnoustie. "Rory must use Tiger as a role model and raise the bar," said Gary Player, who will be competing Thursday in his 52nd, and final, Masters.

AUGUSTA, Ga.-- --Much as the American public is split into political parties, the golfing nation is split into rival factions: those who prefer the Masters to the U.S. Open, and those who prefer the Open. Casual fans might not be able to distinguish between majors, but there are differences. The Masters is spectacular theater, the Open a withering crucible. The Masters tests shot-making creativity, the Open tests survival instincts. Masters golfers want birdies; Open golfers want pars.

AUGUSTA, Ga.-- As the Masters began Thursday, some long-held truths were deemed indisputable. Experience is critical. Long hitters have the advantage. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson should dominate. But the tally on those notions is wrong, wrong and wrong after 36 holes. Welcome to the Sretsam - the backward Masters. Augusta National had supposedly become a graveyard for short hitters with the addition of 460 yards of fairway since 2002. But two of the top names on the leader board after two rounds are co-leader Tim Clark, a 5-foot-7 South African who was No. 183 in the PGA Tour's 2006 driving-distance rankings, and the 5-foot-11, 160-pound Zach Johnson, who was tied for 145th.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The blueprints to toughen up the course at Augusta National Golf Club were bludgeoned in the five years since this treasured golfing ground was redesigned, a victim not only of the world's best players reaching the upper limits of their skills but also of Mother Nature softening the greens and fairways with constant rain. Those blueprints, however waterlogged, were finally restored yesterday during the opening round of the 71st Masters. The Masters Through Sunday, Augusta (Ga.)

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- -- Some sports events have Cinderella in their DNA. They're predisposed to long shots. The history of the NCAA men's basketball tournament includes Villanova, George Mason and others. The Kentucky Derby has been won by a handful of horses carrying odds of at least 50-1. Your two most recent U.S. Open golf winners? Non-immortals Geoff Ogilvy and Michael Campbell. The Masters, which begins today at Augusta National, sits at the opposite end of the unpredictability scale.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Phil Mickelson left Augusta National last April as a legitimate rival, and threat, to Tiger Woods. Mickelson had just won his second Masters in three years, his second straight major championship and his second straight PGA Tour event, having won the previous week by 13 strokes. It seemed realistic to think that Mickelson might eventually pass Woods in the world rankings had he won last year's U.S. Open at Winged Foot, something Mickelson appeared on the verge of doing until he double-bogeyed the final hole to lose by one stroke.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Fred Funk wasn't even off the course during the final round of The Players Championship when the e-mails and phone messages started pouring in to his nearby home in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. "I had one friend call saying, `I know you're not finished yet, but keep up the good work,'" Funk recalled yesterday, as he practiced chip shots at Augusta National in preparation for today's opening round of the 69th Masters. Funk kept it up and, after three-putting away a two-shot lead, made a 5-foot par putt on the final hole to win by a stroke over England's Luke Donald on March 28. When Funk's seventh PGA Tour victory was secured, the messages kept coming.

Hootie Johnson did everything but stand in the gates of Magnolia Lane when it came to letting in women members at Augusta (Ga.) National Golf Club. Then again, he was hardly a preservationist on all matters. Just look at how much the course has changed. Now, after an eight-year reign that was dominated by those two major issues, Johnson is handing over the home of the Masters to Billy Payne, who improbably brought the Olympics to Atlanta a decade ago. Augusta National announced yesterday that Johnson is stepping down as chairman May 21, moving into an emeritus role.

Augusta, Ga.-- After Ben Crenshaw broke par at the Masters for the first time in 11 years in Thursday's first round, he was asked if he stood any chance of winning the tournament. Crenshaw, a two-time Masters winner, turned away the question with a smile and the gentlest of rebukes. "I've had my time here," he said in his Texas drawl. But after he followed that round with a steady, even-par 72 in yesterday's second round, leaving him five strokes off the lead and very much in contention after 36 holes, he was asked again about daring to dream the impossible.