Augusta has premier starter

Arnold Palmer scanned the room during Tuesday afternoon's press conference at Augusta National GC and pondered a question. It involved Palmer's memories of past Masters and the men who had inherited the role of honorary starter.

He started to talk of 1955, his Masters debut, when he suddenly stopped.

"Boy, you are young people, aren't you?"

We write so often about how old Palmer is -- he's 77 -- as if that's a liability. Truth is, it's a commodity we should embrace. The man has perspective. He can remember what all of this Masters stuff was like back when the world was a bit more simple and our hands were free of Blackberrys and cellphones so people could actually shake and say hello. Palmer is from a generation that wasn't awash in conveniences, nor did it bother them.

We know that doesn't apply anymore.

Palmer and competitors from his era played golf because they loved the game. I suspect many players today are attracted to the game because they love the wealth that can come with it.

There's a big difference.

Fortunately, there has always been the Masters, that one week a year when history and tradition are saluted. At least it feels that way again, because after two frosty Aprils, Palmer is back on the Masters scene with a vigor and passion that has helped mold this precious affair. His 50th and final appearance as a player came in 2004, though it was easy to see he didn't quite end on his own terms. The year before, letters had gone out to former Masters champions, telling them their lifetime exemptions into the tournament had been rescinded, that they could no longer play past age 65.

Not surprisingly, the pain was sharp, the bitterness thick. Gary Player, Billy Casper, Doug Ford, Bob Goalby, Gay Brewer. They all felt wronged. So, too, did Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, and it made for an uneasy Masters that year. Palmer's farewell helped deflect the awkwardness in 2004, then in 2005 Nicklaus bid goodbye as a competitor, though even that was mishandled. Every effort should have been made to ensure that he finished at the 18th hole; instead, Nicklaus concluded at the ninth and it just didn't feel right.

Billy Payne, in his first year as chairman of Augusta National GC, has made it a top priority to address these recent miscues. Asking Palmer to restore a Masters tradition and become an honorary starter was a brilliant move; getting Palmer to agree immediately added a coat of uniqueness that had been missing in the previous few Aprils.

Palmer's press conference was a lively one and the laugher that emanated from the room reminded all what the Masters is about. Asked what he thought about Player playing in his 50th straight Masters this year to tie Palmer's record, then vowing to break it with No. 51 next year, he served up that vintage smile and said, "Who gives a [expletive]?" which sent the room into an uproar. "If you can't win, it doesn't matter," then he bent over the table and clearly spelled out the four-letter word for the stenographer.

"Hey, he's my friend and I love him," said Palmer. "I can also have fun with him, too."

It might have been the best Masters moment since Nicklaus turned back the clock and won his sixth green jacket at age 46 in 1986. The King had returned to a feature role at a tournament he covets and he let it be known that he didn't have to be pushed into it.

"I wouldn't do it if I didn't like the thoughts of it," said Palmer, who'll deliver the opening tee shot at 7:45 this morning, then give way to Billy Mayfair and Ian Poulter, who'll get the 71st Masters off to an official start 15 minutes later.

To many, Palmer is the Masters, but bless his dignity and graciousness, he talks fondly of the legends who came before him who represent what the Masters is about.

"There might be someone in this room who knows who I played with that first day [at his first Masters, in 1955], but I'll never forget it," said Palmer.

He waited, but no one offered up a name. Palmer smiled. Again, his point had been made. We are too young, so we must rely upon him and those who can remember.

"Gene Sarazen," said Palmer.

Sarazen, Byron Nelson, and Sam Snead, of course, were such a huge part of the Masters -- first as players and champions, then as honorary starters, taking over that role from previous heroes named Jock Hutchinson and Fred McLeod.

Now, Palmer is more than honored to revive that tradition, maybe because he needs it, but more likely because he knows the Masters deserves it.

Old Masters clippings

Only the irrepressible Gary Player could quote a British Prime Minister when asked about the constant changes to Augusta National. "Winston Churchill so aptly said, 'Change is the price of survival,' " said Player, who praised club officials for keeping up with the technological times by lengthening the course so competitors in 2007 hit roughly the same clubs into greens that he and his colleagues did in the 1950s and 1960s.

When it came to the greatest technological advancement, however, Player paid homage to the lawnmower.

"Arnold [Palmer] and Jack [Nicklaus] and I were playing [one year] and the fairways were very long and they said, 'You go to Clifford Roberts and ask him if he won't lower the mowers," said Player, who made his Masters debut in 1957 and this year will equal Palmer's record for 50 competitive appearances.

When he had an audience with Roberts, the legendary Chairman of Augusta National from its opening in 1931 to 1976, Player said, "Can't you lower the mowers a little bit? We are hitting these flyers to the greens and they are firm."

And just how did that go over?

"He said to me, 'Gary, do you understand poetry?' I said, 'Well, yes. William Wordsworth. Do you want me to name a few others? Yes, I think I do.' "

After a brief silence, Player said Roberts responded, "The mowers are as low as they can go. Good morning."

Going off on such a tangent meant only one thing: Roberts alone would decide the length of the fairway grass.

It's a funny story, but it shows how times have indeed changed at this club, because as much as the golf course is heralded for its fast and sloping greens, competitors marvel at how tight the fairways are mowed.

Of course, Player has been known to misuse a quote or not get it quite right. and it appears he did so in this case.

A list of quotations attributed to Churchill includes these two gems -- "There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction," and "To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often." -- but not the one Player used.

Daly-Donofrio walks aways impressed with Pressel

When 18-year-old Morgan Pressel broke through for her first LPGA Tour win -- at a major championship, no less -- one veteran player wasn't surprised.

"She's matured very quickly, not only on the golf course, but off it, as well," said Heather Daly-Donofrio. "I know during her first year [2006] she had a few disappointments. She expected to win, but when she didn't, she took it in stride."

Pressel rallied Sunday out in Rancho Mirage, Calif., to post a one-shot win in the Kraft Nabisco Championship and while one could say that Suzann Pettersen lost the tournament with a bogey, double-bogey, bogey, par finish after holding a four-shot lead midway through the back nine, Daly-Donofrio doesn't think the teenager need apologize.

"In a way, she had the US Women's Open taken from her a couple of years ago," said Daly-Donofrio, referring to 2005 when Birdie Kim's improbable bunker shot for birdie stunned Pressel, who stood in the 18th fairway with the lead -- then watched it disappear. "This time, she stole one. That's golf."

For Pressel, it was vindication.

"I've always had high hopes and big dreams," she told reporters.

Daly-Donofrio knows people will wonder about the incident she had with Pressel back at the 2001 US Women's Open, when the precocious 12-year-old seventh-grader breached some golf etiquette and then totally blew off advice offered by the LPGA Tour veteran.

The two later exchanged letters and they've become friendly. In fact, Daly-Donofrio is chairwoman of the LPGA Tour's drug-testing committee and Pressel is one of the members.

"She stepped up," said Daly-Donofrio.

A year ago, invitations were extended to a few of the LPGA Tour's brightest names to join the men at the CVS Charity Classic. It never came to be, but give tournament organizers high marks for resiliency, because this time two women have taken them up on their offer. Natalie Gulbis and Juli Inkster will join 18 PGA Tour members for the June 18-19 event at Rhode Island Country Club. Tournament co-hosts Billy Andrade and Brad Faxon will announce the field later this month.

What had been rumored was made official yesterday when Augusta National chairman Billy Payne announced that another Masters tradition had been reinstated -- automatic exemptions for winners of PGA Tour events. That criteria was made famous in 1995 when Davis Love won in New Orleans the week before the Masters to get into the field, then made a spirited run at Augusta before settling for second behind Ben Crenshaw. It was done away with a few years ago, however, and players have grumbled about it ever since. Sitting home this week are nine PGA Tour members who won tournaments in 2006: J.B. Holmes, FBR Open; Kirk Triplett, Chrysler Classic of Tucson; Chris Couch, Zurich Classic of New Orleans; Jeff Maggert, FedEx St. Jude Classic; Corey Pavin, US Bank Championship; John Senden, John Deere Classic; Will MacKenzie, Reno-Tahoe Open; Eric Axley, Valero Texas Open; and D.J. Trahan, Southern Farm Bureau Classic.

Heather Daly-Donofrio is traveling with a few more suitcases these days -- and couldn't be happier about it. Her daughter, Hannah Daly Howell is 7 1/2 months old and already an LPGA Tour veteran. "I don't go anywhere without her," said Daly-Donofrio, who has competed in four tournaments . What makes the task easier is the LPGA Tour's day-care program, which is sponsored by Smucker's and free to the players. "It's a wonderful program," she added. "I've already gotten to know a lot more of the players. Right now, there are 28 moms on Tour and a few more [babies] are on the way." As for the news that an LPGA Tour event could be headed back to the Boston area in 2008, Daly-Donofrio couldn't be happier. "It's been sort of lights-out for the Northeast in recent years, so it would be great to come back to the Boston area."

Having missed the KNC to recover from a recent wrist injury, Michelle Wie is reportedly eyeing the Ginn Open April 12-15 in Reunion, Fla., as her 2007 debut. It's been a strangely quiet stretch for Wie, who is winding down her senior year in high school. She hasn't played competitively since a men's tournament in South Korea late in 2006 and hasn't competed in an LPGA Tour event since finishing poorly at the Samsung World Championship in October. The latter half of 2006 didn't go well for the teenage phenom; having shot 40 under in her first five stroke-play events against LPGA Tour competition -- finishing within the top five each time -- Wie was 11 over in her last two tournaments.

Comparing numbers: Adam Scott, 26, has won six times in 95 PGA Tour starts. Sergio Garcia, 27, has won six times in 146 PGA Tour starts. (And don't run to the media guide and question Scott's total. The PGA Tour doesn't give him official credit for the 2005 Nissan Open, which was rain-shortened to 36 holes. I do. If they hand you a first-place check, it means you won, right?)

He's one of the hotter golfers in the world, but you won't find Spaniard Pablo Martin in the Masters field. Don't be surprised, however, if you see him on a pro circuit soon enough. The junior at Oklahoma State recently took advantage of a break in school to visit Europe and he won the Estoril Open de Portugal. What comes with it is a two-year exemption onto the European PGA Tour. Reportedly, Martin will leave school after his junior year. It was the first victory on the European circuit by an amateur.

Phil Mickelson's major championship routine in recent years has usually included going off-site on Wednesday to play a nearby heralded golf course, and the lefthander isn't shy about which one impressed him the most. "Friar's Head on Long Island," said the lefthander, who played the course in 2004, the day before the US Open began at Shinnecock Hills. "I'm a huge [Ben ] Crenshaw-[Bill] Coore fan," said Mickelson, who might well consider a trip to Plymouth someday to try Old Sandwich GC. It's a Crenshaw-Coore effort that has been well received.

With the golf world spotlight devoted strictly to the Masters, the gents on the Nationwide Tour get the week off, for which they are entirely thankful given last week's event. Competing in Livermore, Calif., at what has to be the longest title on our landscape -- the Livermore Valley Wine Country Championship at Wente Vineyards -- for just the second time in Nationwide Tour history, the winning score was even par. Omar Uresti shot 288 to win by two over Skip Kendall, who had won the previous week. Uresti and Kendall further demonstrate that the Nationwide isn't so much a developmental tour but rather a place for PGA Tour veterans to toil while hoping to get back to the big leagues. Uresti is 38, Kendall 42 and their winless droughts were snapped at 383 tournaments and 384, respectively.

Jim McCabe can be reached at jmccabe@globe.com.