Celebrity Autographs And Celebrity Addresses

AUGUSTA, Ga. — He did not send an eagle putt into the water. No, Billy Casper would not follow Tiger Woods into the abyss in the opening round of The Masters. He would never embarrass himself like that.

Casper had his dignity, after all. So there he was on his 18th and final tee of the tournament, waiting to hit the final drive of his long and distinguished Augusta National life, when Woods' approach on the adjacent fairway bounced off the flagstick and rolled into a bunker like a field mouse diving into a hole.

Woods threw his iron at his bag and ripped off his cap, another small victory for Casper, a 73-year-old man who would shoot 106 Thursday and never once blow his top. "I had a lot of fun out there," Casper said.

One man's water torture is another man's good walk unspoiled.

Starting on the back nine, Casper opened with two triple bogeys, then endured a Van de Veldeian nightmare times 10 at the par-3 16th, dropping five balls in the drink before finding the green, three-putting for punctuation and asking his fellow not-so-grumpy old men, Tommy Aaron and Charles Coody, to give him the bad news straight.

"That's a 14," they told him.

Three shots north of the record at No. 16, and Casper didn't sweat it. He was playing The Masters before his bride of 54 years, Shirley, and 16 other family members who wanted him to give Augusta one last whack.

Casper has his grandchildren, his great-grandchildren and his 11 sons and daughters, six of them adopted. "I've got to play for them," he said. "I wanted to play one more time, just to walk the fairways."

Thirty-five years after beating Gene Littler in a Masters playoff, Casper walked the fairways, and the bunkers, and the creeks, and the woods. He spent 5½ hours renewing old acquaintances and vainly chasing a young man's goal — Casper figured he could shoot 80 on a dry Georgia day.

But the rains stretched out a course already made longer by Hootie Johnson and the boys who run Augusta National, men who sent Hootie-grams to the aged four years back, missives suggesting those lifelong exemptions for former champs weren't lifelong anymore.

Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus applied a little legends-only heat, and Hootie backed off, reopening the door for the likes of Casper, who hadn't played in three years and whose previous four Masters rounds were in the 90s. Hootie hoped the Sunshine Boys would continue to show up for the Champions Dinner and stay clear of the first tee, but this time around, Casper wasn't seeking his approval.

"I just sent my entry in and said I was going to play," he said.

Casper woke up with his left side tight, cutting his swing in half. It didn't matter. He wouldn't quit. The galleries wouldn't let him. During one delay, Casper said, "I hope this doesn't stop my momentum."

He had his dimple-sized triumphs for the afternoon. "The last ball I hit on the (16th) green," he said, "I used the rest of the way around. That's something pretty special."

The scoreboards stopped posting his numbers when they turned ugly, but Casper wasn't about to autograph his card, anyway. Charles Kunkle had set The Masters record for high official round, signing off on a 95 in 1956, and Casper had no interest in taking the honor.

"I didn't turn the score in," he said when the day was done. "I've got the card in my pocket. ... I'm taking it with me and framing it."

No need for another trophy. Casper won 51 times on the regular tour and stole that forever U.S. Open from Palmer in 1966 after he was down seven strokes with nine holes to go.

"He was just magnificent," Shirley recalled of that Open Sunday at Olympic. "He got on that putting (roll), and it just seemed like nothing would stay out."

Nothing would go in Thursday at The Masters, and Shirley hardly cared. She was just glad her man had come to play.

"People want to see you," she told Billy. "They don't really care what you shoot."

The record won't show a 106 on the board in Casper's final Masters round. It will show a 73-year-old man who had replaced a hip and dropped 60 pounds from a 300-pound body to make it through 18 holes for his family.

"I wanted to do it one more time before I got old," Casper said.

At least he didn't send an eagle putt into the creek.