By Harry King

LITTLE ROCK — Manually operated, the quaint scoreboards tell the evolving story of The Masters by the numbers.

Strategically positioned around Augusta National, they are far superior to the electronic scoreboards that roll the scores at other golf tournaments.

Standing behind No. 7 green, spectators can peek behind them for the hole-by-hole progress of the leaders and watch names being added and removed.

On Thursday, for instance, Chad Campbell’s red numbers were a symmetrical 1-2-3-4-5 as he opened with a record five straight birdies. The numbers leave the details to the imagination.

Fans at Augusta are knowledgeable and they pay attention when the folks working the scoreboards fill in the next blank. There was a buzz when the numbers reflected Phil Mickelson’s eagle on No. 13 on Friday and a gasp when Tiger Woods’ double bogey on No. 1 on Saturday changed a red two to a green zero.

One more Masters tradition, the scoreboards will remain intact.

In fact, last year a question about video scoreboards was included in an on-course survey available at electronic kiosks.

Chairman Billy Payne said the question snuck by him.

“We are not going to have video on the golf course,” he said last week.

There is another fine tradition involving the scoreboards.

On Thursday, as the leaders began to accumulate red numbers, four names without numbers were on the big boards — Trevor Immelman, Tiger Woods, Danny Lee and Steve Wilson. That would be the defending champion, the U.S. Open champion, the U.S. Amateur champion and the Mid-Amateur Champion, and their names stayed until they teed off and their round developed.

Each year, a few players are deemed worthy of such status.

Ah, the irony Thursday afternoon when Woods’ name was removed from the scoreboard on No. 18. Only even par, Woods was replaced by Sean O’Hair with a red three.

Two weeks earlier, Woods was perfect with a 16-foot birdie putt that bettered O’Hair by one at Bay Hill.

The men putting up the numbers rarely make a mistake, but Steve Eddington of Little Rock picked up on one and righted the wrong. Once an employee of Henderson State University, Eddington was following former Reddie Ken Duke when he walked beneath the mini-scoreboard to the right of No. 13 fairway.

Eddington knew Ken Duke had reached 1-under-par Thursday with a left-to-right putt on No. 11, and he politely called the hand of the man who put a green one by Duke’s name. The man affirmed the red number via radio and made the change.

Stories about the reasonably priced food at The Masters usually elicit a double-take — there are a half-dozen sandwiches under $2 each and the top-of-the line is less than $3, including tax.

With that in mind, maybe the fact that parking is free shouldn’t be a shock.

Development of a new practice facility at Augusta National eliminated 3,000 or 4,000 parking spaces, so the club added about 4,500 spaces to its principle parking area by purchasing and leveling dozens of homes across Berckmans Road which borders one side of the course.

Lost in the 640 birdies recorded during the first two days was a bit of trivia Friday by the threesome of Rocco Mediate, Fred Couples and Jack Newman. Each player hit his tee shot into the water on No. 12. The hole’s senior scorer said that was the first time he had seen that happen in his 18 years on the hole.

Harry King

The dean of Arkansas sports writers, Harry King updates his column five days per week with the latest on the Razorbacks. A 35-year veteran of The Associated Press, King joined the Arkansas News Bureau in May of 2002. He’s covered the Razorbacks since the Arkansas-Texas game dubbed the Big Shootout in 1969.

By Harry King

LITTLE ROCK — Buried under the avalanche of Kenny Perry positives was a teensy doubt rooted in a decision he made on his 21st hole of The Masters.

On Friday, Perry’s second shot on the short par 4 spun back off the green and hung, one revolution from a 20-yard trip down a grassy slope. Faced with a straightforward bump-and-run, Perry immediately went for his putter and something he said months ago in a pre-tournament interview came to mind.

Back in January, Perry mentioned that he twice skulled chip shots at the John Deere in 2008.

“I had a little firing mechanism in my right hand and could not stop it,” Perry said.

He was talking about a version of the yips — an involuntary flinch that drives those afflicted to long putters — but with chip shots instead of putts, and he thought he had it under control, he said.

Back to Friday and two marvelous par-saving plops on Nos. 6 and 7, crisply struck with height and spin. Following Perry through his second-round 67, it was easy to find his supporters in the gallery, and one of his closest friends revealed that Perry had put a 64-degree wedge in his bag.

Perry, the man said, embraced the club to the point that he thought it might help him win one of golf’s majors.

Fast forward to Sunday and Perry just behind the 17th green, needing a par on one of the final two holes to win The Masters. Out of nowhere, a skulled chip shot and a bogey. He flinched on the shot; he did not in the media center.

“I skulled two chips on 15 and 18 at John Deere to put me in the playoff, and I did the same thing on 17; I skulled it again,” he said. “I can’t stop my right hand. When I get a little nervous, it wants to shoot a little bit and I can’t calm it down.”

How many other PGA Tour players would have been so doggone honest about such a costly miss? Or said, “I’ve blown two” majors like Perry did.

Eventually, he was asked if he considered putting from off the green on No. 17 and he said no.

“Now I wish I had hit my 64-degree and just hit a spinner and just went on and whacked it, instead of trying to hit a bump-and-run, which is usually what gets me in trouble,” he said.

Once again, Perry must deal with stumbling at the end of a major.

In 1996, in front of his fellow Kentuckians, he shot 34 on the front nine to take the lead at the PGA Championship, but bogeyed the par-5 18th at Valhalla and lost in a playoff to Mark Brooks. Ever since, he has been asked about his decision to go to the television booth instead of the practice range to prepare for a possible playoff.

Just last week, he explained one more time that he made the decision because of the intense heat.

That ‘96 tournament drove him to make the Ryder Cup in 2008 so that he could reshape his legacy at Valhalla.

Last week, he admitted that he still thinks about the one that got away.

“I’ve got two to think about now,” he said Sunday.

He needed a dozen years to reconcile his failure at the PGA, but he turns 49 in August and he is aware that Julius Boros was the oldest player to win a major at 48 years, four months, and 18 days.

Perry said Friday that he has great confidence in a new driver, that he has lost 5 to 7 yards, but that he is hitting it so straight, it might help him win the U.S. Open in June. Such an outcome would be most welcome.

Harry King

The dean of Arkansas sports writers, Harry King updates his column five days per week with the latest on the Razorbacks. A 35-year veteran of The Associated Press, King joined the Arkansas News Bureau in May of 2002. He’s covered the Razorbacks since the Arkansas-Texas game dubbed the Big Shootout in 1969.

By Harry King

LITTLE ROCK — Maybe it was the Masters-green cap and visor visible through the clear tote bag, but two people in the Augusta airport asked about the tournament and both wanted to know about Tiger Woods.

A few hours later, former Gov. Mike Huckabee parroted the question while staking out a luggage carousel at the Little Rock airport. In between, before the pilot mercifully killed the lights on a 6 a.m. flight, a sports page from the Augusta newspaper was folded to the headline, “Ho-Hum Feeling.”

Huckabee earned a pass when he prefaced his query with the admission that he is not a golf fan. For others, know that The Masters is more than Woods.

A 48-year-old with a funky swing, an erratic Argentinean, and a 13-time winner on the Hooters Tour collaborated for a grand display of drama on Sunday at Augusta National.

Woods and playing partner-rival Phil Mickelson were only the opening act, warming up fans’ vocal chords for the trio to come.

For hours, the 12:35 p.m. dream pairing was center stage, captivating fans on site and at home. CBS was more than happy to provide the pictures and the network’s announcers promoted the spectacular play to the point of short-changing the top three finishers.

Woods exited quietly — stage left, no right — done in by errant tee shots on the final two holes. It wasn’t until Mickelson shoved two short and important putts that the network zeroed in on Kenny Perry, Angel Cabrera, and Chad Campbell. All the time that Mickelson was putting together his front-nine 30 with Woods close behind, it was clear that Perry, Campbell, or Cabrera would have a chance to win if they could avoid disaster through No. 12.

Both 13 and 15 were easily accessible par fives and the typical Sunday pin on the 16th is a magnet.

Like a college basketball team under attack from 3-point range, the leaders’ assignment was to hunker down, knowing that there were birdies to be had and that the hot shooters would cool.

Once Woods and Mickelson were gone, the script was tight, with unanticipated twists and turns and red herrings that would fool the best sleuth.

Perry persevered through oh-so-close misses on 8, 10, and 11, a three-putt par on No. 13, and deep-throated roars from holes ahead, and slipped one arm into the green jacket with a two-putt birdie on No. 15 and a tap-in on No. 16.

Needing only one more par, he made two bogeys. Sloppy at times, Cabrera snuck into the playoff with two excellent chips — those soft-handed shots that can bite when nerves are frayed.

At that point, the notes gleaned from TV were about as useless as the play-by-play from the first 60 minutes of the Arkansas-Kentucky football game in Lexington in 2003.

In the three-way playoff, all the evidence said Cabrera would be the first man out. His slice off the tee wound up behind a tree and he was fortunate that his second caromed off more wood and into the fairway.

But, golf is fickle, one of those traits that makes it addictive.

From the fairway, Perry’s manufactured swing — pick the club up and drop it on an inside line — failed to repeat for one of the few times all week and Campbell couldn’t find the putting surface from what is normally a green light-distance for a PGA Tour pro. Campbell departed and on the second playoff hole, Perry’s swing was out of kilter again.

Woods, the one player who attracts those who have never pushed a wooden peg into the ground, shared the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor with Mickelson.

Cabrera, Perry, and Campbell were the leading men and they were highly entertaining in the latest rendition of The Masters.

Harry King

The dean of Arkansas sports writers, Harry King updates his column five days per week with the latest on the Razorbacks. A 35-year veteran of The Associated Press, King joined the Arkansas News Bureau in May of 2002. He’s covered the Razorbacks since the Arkansas-Texas game dubbed the Big Shootout in 1969.

By Harry King

LITTLE ROCK — Once the triple option is called, decisions are dictated by circumstances so I reluctantly joined the small band following Steve Stricker during the third day of The Masters.

Stricker is bland in the Pied Piper world of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and the flat bellies who swing all out every time they have a driver in hand. No matter what he did on Saturday at Augusta National, his gallery was not going to expand by leaps and bounds.

He’s been a pro for almost 20 years with only one significant victory and his career was so far in the dumpster that he was voted PGA Tour Comeback Player of the Year in both 2006 and 2007.

Stricker would never be a personal pick to close out a major in style, but a promise is a promise and he was the first to get through No. 7 at five-under-par or better — the predetermined number to separate me from a pine tree behind the seventh green.

For three hours, he shied from chance-taking and played to his strength, which is clearly his putter. On No.11, for instance, with the breeze pushing sky-high second shots toward a pond left of the green, he played right and short. From 90 feet, he two-putted, misreading the break a bit, but judging the speed just right on the birdie try.

The 96 players who started the tournament recorded 640 birdies during the first two days and that barrage sent fans criss-crossing the landscape, seeking birdie binges. The 50 golfers who played the best during the first 36 holes made 160 birdies on Saturday, including 47 on the two par fives on the front nine.

Pin positions, like the one on the raised dining room table that is the back right part of No. 1, made it difficult to birdie five in a row like Chad Campbell and Sandy Lyle did on Thursday and Friday. And, don’t forget that this is The Masters, the first major of the year.

Stricker followed his birdie on the seventh with nine straight pars, including a handful of stressful putts in the 4- 5-foot range. An efficient birdie on No. 17, followed by a par on the uphill 18, completed a tidy 68, which equaled the best round of the day.

When the flamboyant ones had signed their scorecards, the almost invisible Stricker was fifth and on the fringe of those with a chance to win the green jacket on Sunday. He needs help from those playing in the two groups immediately behind him, but his position is far superior to that of Woods.

At 209, Stricker trails four players. At 212, Woods is behind nine players and tied with eight others. It would take a 64 or 65 from Woods and a heap of messing up for him to win his fifth Masters.

Fortunate the first two days following a given in Arkie Ken Duke and a guess named Kenny Perry, Saturday’s coverage plan was in flux.

The pairings were peppered with star power, including Woods and Mickelson, and spread out over almost two hours. Any of the 32 players who started the day under par could be in the hunt with something in the mid-60s.

Option one was to throw a dart at a twosome and go all 18 holes with those players.

Option two was to follow Woods. At 1:25 p.m., the man working the small scoreboard between the pines and the people put up a green zero by Woods’ name and there were moans from those who calculated correctly that he had started with a double bogey.

Option three was to hunker down behind the second green, check the scoreboard up the hill behind the seventh green, and glom onto the first group with a player at red five or better. Hello, Steve Stricker.

Harry King

The dean of Arkansas sports writers, Harry King updates his column five days per week with the latest on the Razorbacks. A 35-year veteran of The Associated Press, King joined the Arkansas News Bureau in May of 2002. He’s covered the Razorbacks since the Arkansas-Texas game dubbed the Big Shootout in 1969.

By Harry King

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The spectator in the teal shirt departed the fourth green with two par putts pending, a silent signal that she was there to watch only Kenny Perry.

Walking a few holes with Martha Kirsche of Wethersfield, Conn., cemented the good-guy perception of Perry developed from afar.

Perry was admirably steadfast last year, publicly ignoring critics of his plan to pass the majors and pursue a PGA Tour schedule that would give him the best chance to compete in the Ryder Cup in his home state of Kentucky. On Thursday, a friend who gathered quotes after the U.S. victory in September recalled Perry’s tears and his words about country, family and career. For that reason, Perry’s 10:23 threesome was the target on Friday at The Masters.

Following any group other than the one including Tiger Woods is a crapshoot. This walk was twice a winner — great golf and anecdotal insight into the golfer. Perry shot a no-sweat 67 that could have been better and was tied for the 36-hole lead.

His distance control was so precise and his irons so pure that his only negative reaction occurred when he turned away from a too-strong tee shot that carried over the flag on No. 16 and made a left turn to the bottom of the green. The five-foot par putt was his longest of the day and it was dead center, slowly and smoothly coming off the cushioned insert of a putter that was a gift from a doctor friend in Vero Beach, Fla.

Perry mentioned the putter months ago, saying he had not done well at The Masters because of his putting, but that he was looking forward to the tournament because he thought the flat stick would help his speed control on the greens at Augusta National.

Kirsche and her husband met Perry in 1987 when he was a tour rookie. They had purchased a home that backed up to the first tee of the course that then was the site of the Hartford Open and agreed to open their doors to a tournament participant. They asked for Jay Haas because of a previous encounter, but he was taken and Perry has been there guest every year since.

One Saturday, Mrs. Kirsche came home and found Perry sitting on their lawn tractor, cutting the front lawn, waiting on his tee time. “I just miss it,” he said, when she asked him what he was doing.

This week, the Kirsches are staying in a house rented by Perry. More than a dozen people might have bedded down there Friday night.

The contingent that followed Perry on Friday included his sister, Lydia, who filled in some blanks about the Country Creek course that Perry built so home folks in Franklin, Ky., could enjoy the game. The fairways are wide and much of the trouble is on the left because high handicappers tend to slice the ball.

Just recently, Perry raised the daily green fee $1 to $30, $35 on weekends, including cart. He considered a $2 bump, she said, but backed off, citing the bad economy.

It was Mrs. Kirsche who thanked a spectator who unwittingly bailed out Perry on his only close call of the day. Headed left toward some bushes and other trouble, Perry’s tee shot on the par-five eighth negotiated the 2-inch round limbs of a tall pine and then smacked the white top of the man’s two-tone shoes. The ball bounced straight up and back and Perry easily made par.

Pursuing a stellar approach to No. 14, Perry was striding down the fairway when a portly gentleman wearing a blue-and-white UK cap hollered, “Bring it back to Kentucky, Kenny.”

At the age of 48, he just might.

Harry King

The dean of Arkansas sports writers, Harry King updates his column five days per week with the latest on the Razorbacks. A 35-year veteran of The Associated Press, King joined the Arkansas News Bureau in May of 2002. He’s covered the Razorbacks since the Arkansas-Texas game dubbed the Big Shootout in 1969.

By Harry King

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Down $100 after nine holes, Ken Duke missed only one fairway on the back and finished the Thursday of his first Masters a “hundy” ahead of his Little Rock dentist friend.

For years, Duke and Dr. Paul Burton have played this game at Chenal Country Club — longest drive for a Ben Franklin per hole and anything off the fairway is a loser. Scoring is arbitrary at times and no money ever changes hands, but from the spectator side of the ropes on No. 7 at Augusta, Burton reminded Duke that four drives with too much fade had him in the red.

Duke, whose career was going nowhere until he hooked up with Bob Toski in the fall of 2005, hit the fairway on 8-9-10-11-13-14-15-18, but Burton tossed two of those holes because Duke teed off with a 3-metal.

Duke’s only miss during that stretch was another right on No. 17 and caddie Mike “Wally” Niebuhr worked backwards from the marker that said 137 to the front of the green on the left. Adjusted for a wind off the left, the yardage was 162 to the pin, Niebuhr said.

“Hit it about ‘55?” Duke asked.

“Correct,” Niebuhr said.

At contact, Duke admitted to a pull and the ball ignored his plea to clear the bunker. “Bad shot,” he told his caddie.

From the bunker, he purposely half-chunked his escape and it tumbled out of the fringe to within 3 feet of the hole. Duke converted, one of four nifty up-and-in pars during a tidy 1-under-par 71. It could have been better — he missed at least three birdie putts of less than 10 feet — but he also holed birdie putts from just off the green on Nos. 3 and 6. On the final hole, he had the same birdie putt that Tom Kite needed to tie Jack Nicklaus in 1986 and missed it the same way, low and left.

Duke’s extremely short putting stroke worked well on the fast greens and only on No. 9 did he have to make a second putt of any length. Loosey-goosey playing companion Fuzzy Zoeller helped the first-timer relax, cracking jokes throughout the round and talked fishing with Duke while walking the fairways.

“Just the history here, mind boggles everyone,” Duke said moments after the round.

Duke’s start was inauspicious — a drive that trickled into the right bunker, a bad choice of clubs from there, and a chip from the right side of the green that rolled off the left side. He saved bogey with an excellent chip.

“I didn’t need to start with a six,” he said.

Burton and his old college roommate were part of a stout Arkansas contingent that walked with Duke, who interacted with several people, calling to some friends from Fayetteville, encouraging them to walk and talk with him on No. 11.

Almost every Duke booster offered a positive story about the 40-year-old and all agreed that he is unchanged despite banking $4.2 million the past two years.

Brent Winston of Sheridan, who is still chasing the dream, cried when the car with him and his buddy turned down Magnolia Lane and headed for the Augusta clubhouse.

Steve Eddington, who worked at Henderson State University when Duke was a student, brought up the story about the 16-inch steel rod inserted in Duke’s spine because of scoliosis and how he was wearing half a body cast when it was time for the district golf tournament. Playing for Arkadelphia High School, Duke was so rigid that he had to squat to put his tee in the ground. He played without turning, hitting the ball only with his arms. Supposedly, he won the tournament.

He is unlikely to win this week, but he is off to a solid start.

Harry King

The dean of Arkansas sports writers, Harry King updates his column five days per week with the latest on the Razorbacks. A 35-year veteran of The Associated Press, King joined the Arkansas News Bureau in May of 2002. He’s covered the Razorbacks since the Arkansas-Texas game dubbed the Big Shootout in 1969.

By Harry King

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Please explain how Tiger Woods’ victory over a so-so field in Orlando can translate into a lock on his fifth green jacket at Augusta.

Woods’ winning 16-foot birdie put on the final hole at Bay Hill was dramatic, but it wouldn’t have meant a thing if Sean O’Hair had been able to card a 1-over-par round on that Sunday.

Many pundits are in such a pell-mell rush for Woods to win The Masters and complete his comeback from knee surgery last June that they are willing to overlook niggling details.

Woods is the man to beat, but that’s the case every time he tees it up. Even on crutches, his presence would be too much for many in the field.

There are some who can and will compete against the world’s best, and many of them did not participate in Arnold Palmer’s shindig. Phil Mickelson is cited as the one most noticeably absent from Bay Hill. A personal list includes Vijay Singh, Geoff Ogilvy, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Camilo Villegas, Anthony Kim and K.J. Choi, all of whom played last week in the Houston Open.

If Palmer’s tournament was a sure-fire barometer of the doings at Augusta, why aren’t the results from Houston analyzed with the same enthusiasm, particularly in the light of the fact that 16 of the top 20 in the world were in the field?

In that case, Mickelson and Singh, who have three green jackets between them this decade, would have no chance at Augusta. Mickelson shot 153 and Singh 148 and neither made the 36-hole cut.

“I know that last week wasn’t great and I just am not going to worry about that,” Mickelson said Tuesday.

He was one of many who did pre-tournament interviews at the media center this week. Transcribed and distributed quickly, almost every Q and A eventually involves a self-assessment.

Although this is Kim’s first Masters, he said, “I hate to say it this way, but you don’t come to a golf tournament, even though it is about experience and knowing these greens and knowing the golf course, without feeling like you’re here to win a golf tournament. I know that if I didn’t feel that way, I wouldn’t be here.”

Garcia and Choi also missed the cut at Houston, but it would be a mistake to dismiss them this week. Certainly, they would be accorded more of a chance than Masters winners Trevor Immelman in 2008, Zach Johnson in ‘07 or Mike Weir in ‘03.

If recent form is the criteria, Paul Casey, Henrik Stenson and Geoff Ogilvy would be on the short list. Casey won at Houston after J.B. Holmes waited three hours to knock his tee shot into the water on the first playoff hole. Winning with a bogey is not exactly scintillating stuff, but Casey did persevere in extremely trying conditions and the weather is supposed to be a factor this week.

Stenson tied for third after starting the day in a tie for 20th and Ogilvy was one of the leaders after 54 holes. None of those three is apt to wilt vs. Woods.

As for Woods, he barely hit 54 percent of the greens at Bay Hill, and that won’t be good enough at Augusta. Woods won because he was No. 1 in scrambling.

Bay Hill and Houston only cleansed the palate; this is The Masters and somebody asked Woods to assess his chances in light of his long layoff and only three recent tournaments.

“Do you expect to win?

Woods: “Always.”

“That’s it?”

Woods: “Sorry.”

Laughter. The serious stuff begins this morning, right after Palmer’s ceremonial tee shot.

Harry King

The dean of Arkansas sports writers, Harry King updates his column five days per week with the latest on the Razorbacks. A 35-year veteran of The Associated Press, King joined the Arkansas News Bureau in May of 2002. He’s covered the Razorbacks since the Arkansas-Texas game dubbed the Big Shootout in 1969.

By Harry King

NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Several years have gone by since I saw Ken Duke hit a golf shot in competition.

On that day, he drove past the North Little Rock animal shelter on his left, up and down the road now known as Championship Drive, on his way to a golf course with fairways that once were pocked with hard-baked cracks. A mish-mash of practice balls clattered into a metal basket after he inserted the appropriate tokens.

Duke paid $300 to play in the Arkansas Open and the year might have been 1995 when he won and pocketed about $5,000.

Thursday, he will travel 330 yards down Magnolia Lane lined with 61 large magnolia trees that sprouted from seeds planted in the 1850s to the clubhouse at Augusta National Golf Club and tee it up on an immaculate and revered layout. He’ll warm up with new practice balls dumped from Masters-green sacks, specific for the player — Nike for Tiger, Callaway for Phil, and so on.

At 40, Duke will play in The Masters for the first time. For the crass and curious, Trevor Immelman pocketed $1.3 million when he donned the green jacket in 2008.

At Burns Park that long-ago day, Duke was pigeonholed as a 20-something who would toil on the fringes of the big time until circumstances dictated that he get a real job. Nothing much happened to change that opinion until the fall of 2005 when Duke took a friend’s advice and contacted famed teacher Bob Toski, who plied his trade at a no-frills facility in Florida.

The first time they met, Duke banged only a couple of balls before Toski unloaded a swing criticism laced with choice words. It is blankety-blank impossible to play a right-to-left shot with an open stance, teacher told student.

Toski stuck two golf club shafts in the ground a couple of feet apart, just outside of Duke’s swing plane, and told Duke to drive the ball between them. The first few swats were nowhere close. On the fifth try, Duke hit a shaft, broke it, and complained about the difficulty of the task.

Toski, then in his late 70s and wearing flat-sole loafers, grabbed the driver and piped it right between the shafts. If you can’t get it on line in the first six feet, Toski said, you can’t play the PGA Tour.

In response, Duke squared up his alignment and went to a baby cut as his preferred shot.

He was the Nationwide Tour Player of the Year in 2006, a standing that earned him a PGA Tour card. Playing 31 events, he made 24 cuts and banked $1.9 million. Last year, he won $2.2 million and was 28th on the money list, good enough to get into The Masters.

Duke played Augusta last October as a guest of Joe Ford. “It was my first time ever going there to play or watch,” he said in an e-mail. “I have asked a lot of people about the set up and what to look for.”

He’ll get some help early in the week, playing a practice round with 2000 champion Vijay Singh. He also plans to seek out former champions Mike Weir or Zach Johnson for 18 holes.

“I’m just going to enjoy the moment,” he said.

He still goes to see Toski when something goes awry and Toski usually goes straight for the stack of shafts. The former Henderson State University player said thanks by taking Toski — Duke calls him “Mr.” whether in conversation or correspondence — to Augusta for a round last week, his first on the course since a non-tournament outing in 1956.

That year, Jack Burke Jr. won with 289 — still the highest winning total in tournament history — on a course that measured 6,965 yards. This week, it will be 7,435 yards for Woods, Mickelson, and the former Arkansas Open champion.

Harry King

The dean of Arkansas sports writers, Harry King updates his column five days per week with the latest on the Razorbacks. A 35-year veteran of The Associated Press, King joined the Arkansas News Bureau in May of 2002. He’s covered the Razorbacks since the Arkansas-Texas game dubbed the Big Shootout in 1969.