by Carly
8. April 2010 16:11
EVERYTHING NEW IS OLD AGAIN
In the span of 18 hours the Chairman of Augusta National, William Porter Payne took time to take his four time Champion out to the woodshed with regards to his personal behavior, and then took the time to welcome back two old friends to new roles here at the MASTERS.
First, the spanking. It was quite a moment in the interview room when the Chairman, at the end of his yearly remarks, said, finally....and then went to a place no previous person sitting in that seat had ever thought of going. He admonished Tiger Woods for his life choices over the last few years, but did indeed say that he was a believer in second chances, and that he hoped that Tiger would take his words to heart, and indeed begin to refocus his life and his career here at the 2010 MASTERS. All of the members of the media were to say the least stunned when the Chairman made his remarks, many were very pleased. As was mentioned in an article this morning by the Augusta Chronicle's Scott Micheaux, Payne was able to articulate in a matter of minutes, what hundreds of writers had struggled to say for the last five months. That's why he's the Chairman.
Then, this morning, he had a much more pleasant task. This three pronged journey began four years ago when Payne began to have conversations with four time champion Arnold Palmer about the possibility of Arnold becoming the Honorary Starter of the MASTERS. It was never Payne's intention to stop there. He then went after Nicklaus and this morning at 7:40am, on the first tee of Augusta National at the 74th MASTERS, he completed the second prong of his journey. Give Jack and Arnold a couple of years to do this, and then watch Gary Player join them. I hope he doesn't wait too long as Arnold his showing his age with every passing year.
It was, as it is many times here at the MASTERS, a reminder of how the legends of the game co-exist with the ways of today's players. I'm not too proud to say, that I've always preferred, and will continue to prefer many of the legends, and the way things used to be.
Welcome to the beginning of the 2010 MASTERS...see you tomorrow after the first round.
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