Arnie can still recruit an army

Arnold Palmer received a king’s welcome early Thursday morning when he approached the first tee box and took his one and only swing as the 71st Masters’ honorary starter.

Palmer, a four-time Masters champion who played his last competitive round here in 2004, his 50th career start, said he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to get his one shot off the ground.

Palmer slightly pulled his tee shot, but it did nothing to dim the cheers.

“On the practice tee this morning, I was hitting it over the fence out there,” Palmer quipped.

Palmer, 77, said he was nervous in his new ceremonial role but slept well Wednesday night.

An estimated 10,000 people, held back by a barricade, made the early-morning wake-up call to see Palmer’s shot.

“Seeing what happened when they opened the gates was also quite a thrill, to see those people come in,” Palmer said. “And of course that’s what it’s been about for me for a long time.”

It was at Augusta National in the 1950s, Palmer said, that the moniker “Arnie’s Army” was born.

“The first people to do those scoreboards were soldiers, and those soldiers were from Fort Gordon right here in Augusta,” Palmer explained. “They took their week off and volunteered to do the work here as volunteers. They were on the scoreboards. And that’s where the original Arnie’s Army came from. They said, ‘We are soldiers in Arnie’s Army.’ ”

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More on Palmer: Ian Poulter, who played in Thursday’s first group, said it was a thrill to see him warming up before his ceremonial first shot.

“He’s only got to hit one shot and there he was 45 minutes beforehand on the range with a full bag and clubs hitting a few shots,” Poulter said. “It was an honor to be standing on the range next to him.”

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Keep this in mind: No one has won the par-three contest and the Masters tournament in the same year.

Will this historical trend continue?

Probably.

Mark O’Meara, the 1998 champion, won the par-three contest Wednesday, then shot five-over 77 Thursday.

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Brett Quigley shot 76 one day after his wife, Amy, gave birth to the couple’s first child, Lillian Sage Augusta Quigley. Quigley, playing in his first Masters, had returned home to Jupiter, Fla., on Tuesday after hearing his wife had gone into labor.

He was in the middle of a practice round when he was summoned home.

“I’ve already changed two diapers, so I feel like a real veteran,” Quigley said after he returned to Augusta.

Quigley made it back in time for his 2:03 p.m. tee time. He played with Vijay Singh and Hideto Tanihara.

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That was then, this was Thursday: Twenty years ago, Larry Mize chipped in a 140-foot shot to beat Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros in a playoff.

What a short game he displayed then.

Thursday? Mize, the only Augusta native to win the Masters, shot 11-over 83.

“My short game was horrendous,” said Mize, who needed 35 putts over 18 holes. “I didn’t putt well and didn’t chip very well. I didn’t bring a short game with me today.”

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The Big Chill? It’s coming this way, apparently. The overnight low is expected to dip to 35 degrees and it may be even colder the rest of the tournament -- 30 degrees tonight and 27 degrees Saturday night.

Under sunny skies, the wind is supposed to blow as hard as 20 mph Saturday and 12 mph Sunday.

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Ernie Els was one of the pre-tournament favorites, but after opening with a 78, he may have shot himself out of it after one day. Els made double bogey on the first hole and was four over after four holes.

Tough day?

“Terrible,” he said.

Unsettling?

“What do you think? It was a difficult day, a very tough day, but I played some better stuff on the back nine.”

Disappointing?

“You can figure that one out, can’t you?”

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Three-time champion Gary Player, playing in his record-tying 50th Masters, shot 83. Player, 71, shot a respectable three-over 39 on the front before coming undone with a triple-bogey seven on the par-four 10th. Player rebounded to par the par-four 11th, which played as the toughest hole Thursday.... Ian Woosnam was a late scratch from the field because of a back injury.