Age doesn't matter if you're Masters champion

AUGUSTA, Ga. Sam Snead's eyes sparkled as he stood under the giantoak tree in front of Augusta National's clubhouse, relivingeverything from his ceremonial first drive to how he told PresidentEisenhower to stick his rear end out when he played years ago.

A few feet away, an aging trio of former champions trudged downthe first fairway Thursday, more interested in just being able tofinish than worried about what they would shoot.

Doug Ford, looking all of 78, didn't make it far. He packed awayhis clubs after spraying it weakly off the tee and making doublebogey on the benign opening hole.

For Ford, it was a record 49th Masters appearance, one of thebenefits of his 1957 win. He got $5,000 and became the subject ofMasters News Bulletin No. 11, which solemnly announced his officialwithdrawal.

"Bad hip," he told playing partner Billy Casper before leaving.

The portly Casper fared even worse, making a quadruple-bogey-8 onthe first hole. But he and Charles Coody shuffled on anyway,virtually ignored by the crowds that had come to see the likes ofTiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and Phil Mickelson.

"These are the old guys," one fan said to another as Casper walkedby. "That's the guy who used to eat the buffalo meat."

Casper would need a back-nine rally to break 90, and he made a 10-footer on 18 for 87.

"Carpal tunnel," said Casper, who turns 70 this summer. "I justdon't have the power in my right hand I did before. Plus, my back wasgiving me problems."

Talk of physical ailments was almost as common as discussion ofthe fast greens among players in the Masters, where a contingent offormer champions plays on and on and on.

Though they have no chance of winning-and little of even makingthe cut-former champions such as Casper, Ford, and 69-year-old GayBrewer use their winner's exemption to return each year in an annualspring rite.

"All of us still enjoy playing the course," Casper said. "It'sjust so beautiful out here."

The 93-player field, already the smallest by far of any major,shrinks even more with the departure of players who can draw SocialSecurity and Masters' paychecks at the same time.

Not that anyone would dare criticize the green jackets who run theMasters in the tradition of Bobby Jones, where past champions arerespected, even revered, and certainly allowed to play any time theywant.

Still able to swing the club at the age of 89, Byron Nelsonthanked the crowd for supporting him since he played in the secondMasters in 1935, saying he has enjoyed all of it.

"This has helped keep me alive in golf," Nelson said.

Ford was once asked why he continued playing, despite missing thecut for the last 30 years.

"Because I won the darned thing," he replied.