The old magic of Augusta in spring

"Slipping your arms through the sleeves of the green jacket apart," recalls 1988 Masters champion Sandy Lyle, "by far the greatest thing about winning at Augusta was the privilege of hosting the Champion's Dinner the following April when I introduced all the former winners to the delights of that unique Scottish delicacy - haggis, neeps and mash. "The haggis was piped into the room with due solemnity at which point the faces of Sam Snead, Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson and the rest of the old fellas were a picture as I plunged my trusty dirk (knife) through the sheep's stomach.

"It's safe to say that the Augusta National Golf Club has never witnessed a scene quite like it. When his turn came to act as host the year after me, Nick Faldo responded to my culinary challenge by serving up fish'n'chips specially flown in from Grimsby with tinned mushy peas on the side. But by far the most popular Masters' feast was the Thai banquet laid on by Vijay Singh in 2001..." As Master Lyle came to realise, Augusta means all things to all men; magnolias and azaleas... Gone With The Wind clubhouse and gone with the wind tee shots...Jack Nicklaus' famous victory at the age of 46 in 1986 and Sandy's legendary championship winning seven iron from the bunker on the 18th... Amen Corner and amen to all those whose hopes of sporting immortality perished here...the bluest of water hazards and the whitest of sand traps.

But green is the colour of Augusta as John Updike recorded in Thirteen Ways Of Looking At The Masters: "Green grass, green concessions stalls, green paper cups, green folding chairs and visors, green and white ropes, green-topped Georgia pines. If justice were poetic, Hubert Green would win it every year..." There is something about Augusta in the spring that touches us all. "If you don't get an invitation," opined former US Tour regular Doug Ford, "it's like being out of the world for a whole week."

The British Open may be the most venerable of golf's four majors but ask the majority of players to nominate the prize they covet above all others and the reply will be The Masters. Why? "Because Augusta is the only course I know where you choke when you come in through the gate," explains the aforementioned Hubert Green. Or as the incomparable Chi Chi Rodriguez puts it: "There is something about that green jacket that plays castanets with your knees."

When Bobby Jones designed his verdant masterpiece, he explained his philosophy thus: "I hope it is perfect because it can be both easy and tough. There isn't a hole out there that can't be birdied if you just stop to think about it; equally, there isn't one that can't be double bogeyed if you stop thinking." Thinking your way round Augusta depends upon finding a way keeping the oxygen flowing to the brain, a tricky manoeuvre when the real pressure starts mounting on the climactic final day. "When we come down to those final holes," reveals Nicklaus, "some people find it very...very...hard...to... breathe."

But if you can control both your breathing and your thinking then the green jacket and admission to the most exclusive dinner party in sport awaits. "I look forward to the Champion's Dinner thrash with increased excitement every year," continues Lyle. "As you look round the room at Jack and Arnie and Gary, that's when it dawns on you that you are a Masters' champion not just for a year but for life.

"As the tales start flowing, I just sit there soaking it all up. It's when you gaze round at all those legends of golf in their green jackets, it's humbling to realise that you, too, are a part of Masters' history." @Email:[e-mail]