At First You Won’t Succeed, So Try, Try Again at Masters

There may be a first time for everything, just not very often at the Masters, where only two players have won on their first trip around Augusta National.

It’s a daunting task for the 19 Augusta rookies, all right, what with the Masters beginning today and all that stuff they have to learn.

They’re out there on greens so fast that putting on them is like rolling balls down a slide. And the only thing higher than the pollen count here this time of year is the pressure of history.

Fuzzy Zoeller is the last Masters rookie to win, and that was 17 years ago. He beat Ed Sneed and Tom Watson in a sudden-death playoff after Sneed blew a five-shot lead on the last day of 1979.

If Sneed hadn’t finished bogey-bogey-bogey, you would have to go all the way back to Gene Sarazen’s victory in 1935 to find the only other victory by a Masters rookie.

So it’s a list of two, not counting the first Masters in 1934, when everyone was a first-timer.

Watson said the rookies may find it’s about as difficult winning here on their first trip as it is finding a parking space for less than $20 right off Washington Road.

“It’s not written in stone that first-time players don’t have a chance to win,” he said. “But anyone who’s playing it for the first time has a difficult chance.”

Nearly one-fourth of the 93-player field is playing the Masters for the first time: Woody Austin, Michael Campbell, Alexander Cejka, Jerry Courville, Ed Dougherty, David Duval, Jim Furyk, Paul Goydos, Tim Herron, Satoshi Higashi, Buddy Marucci, Scott McCarron, Mark Roe, Gordon Sherry, Paul Stankowski, Steve Stricker, Kirk Triplett, Ted Tryba and Chris Wollman.

Some of the players, such as Herron and Triplett, played practice rounds before this week, presumably so they could tell the Butler Cabin from the Jones Cabin and be able to find their way around the place without a map.

Stankowski approached his first Masters in a slightly different manner. It was something more along the lines of putting on mouse ears and visiting Disneyland.

Not until Sunday afternoon, when he won the BellSouth Classic in Atlanta, did Stankowski even know he would be in the Masters.

The next day, Stankowski and his wife, Regina, drove the two hours from Atlanta, stopping along the way to take pictures of Stankowski standing in front of highway signs for Augusta.

His reaction?

“Cool,” Stankowski said.

Opening day at the Masters also promises to be cool. Freeze warnings were posted for early today, which may mean it’s going to be a little chilly on the first tee at 7:45 a.m. when Sarazen, Byron Nelson and Sam Snead form the ceremonial first group.

Ben Crenshaw is the defending champion and one of the favorites in the 60th edition of Bobby Jones’ one-time friendly get-together at the course they carved out of an old nursery.

But as far as potential winners go, it’s still pretty much a wide-open field. Fred Couples, Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, Davis Love III, Ernie Els, Steve Elkington, John Daly, Phil Mickelson, Nick Price, Greg Norman, Corey Pavin, Ian Woosnam and Tom Lehman are all mentioned in the same breath.

Love said it’s not easy choosing the favorite.

“It’s just too hard to pick,” he said. “Whoever gets the magic.”

Montgomerie and Love might have gotten the most mileage out of their role as semi-dark horses, which may be what they are because the next major either wins will be his first.

Montgomerie shed 30 pounds since he lost to Elkington in a playoff in the PGA Championship at Riviera, but he has gained something else.

“I feel just more confident of where the ball’s going,” he said. “I know on the first tee where the ball’s going to go, and I feel confident hitting it there.”

That always helps. Love closed with a 66 last year and lost to Crenshaw by one shot, so his confidence level isn’t exactly flagging right now.

“It showed me I can shoot a score that can win this tournament, and that I can handle coming down the stretch and hang in there,” Love said. “Walking off the 18th green with a chance to win was a great step in my career.”

This is Love’s seventh Masters, but he said he isn’t necessarily ruling out anyone who is here for the first time. The reason is that there already have been four first-time winners on the PGA Tour this year, so maybe the trend will continue in the Masters.

“You know, these guys are first-time winners on the tour and first-time players in this tournament, but they’ve played a lot all over the world,” Love said.

“It’s been done before and I’m sure it’ll happen again. You just never know when. There’s nothing to say that Tiger Woods or Gordon Sherry or one of those guys couldn’t do it.

“I’m not saying it’s going to happen this year, but I think it’s possible.”

Actually, Woods is playing in his second Masters. Sherry, 22, the British Amateur champion, is making his debut out there among the azaleas, pines and dogwood.

Watson is playing in the Masters for the 23rd time, and that means he has loads of local knowledge stored away.

This ought to come in handy, because Watson knows where to hit it and he also knows were not to hit it. Masters rookies don’t always have that advantage.

A case in point, Watson said, is what happens if you hook the ball off the tee into the azaleas on No. 2.

“Like [Claude Harmon] said, that’s the Delta ticket office there,” Watson said. “Believe me, there are a few other Delta ticket offices out there.”

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Masters Tournament at a Glance

* WHEN: Today through Sunday.

* WHERE: Augusta National Golf Club (6,925 yards, par 72)

* DEFENDING CHAMPION: Ben Crenshaw.

* PRIZE: The purse is traditionally not announced until the weekend. Crenshaw, last year’s winner, received $396,000.

* TV: Today 1-3:30 p.m. USA

Friday 1-3:30 p.m. USA

Saturday 12:30-3 p.m. CBS

Sunday 1-4 p.m. CBS