³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

Augusta National represents a perfect perennial vision of spring. Photo: AP

But, reassuringly, Augusta is not just another stop on tour.

"Augusta is very special, it starts the year off in Europe," said Padraig Harrington. "The season is just starting and it makes you want to get out and play golf.

"Watching on TV over the years, the memories of Seve and Lyle, Woosie, Faldo, Ollie, Langer - there's a great heritage, a great history and great drama. It makes it all the more exciting to go and play the event."

Ian Poulter and his father, Graeme McDowell and his dad and Henrik Stenson flew up from Orlando for a day of practice last week and : "Augusta here we go. Couldn't sleep last night nor could GMac. Never gets old this place. Love it."

He added later: "Augusta National looking as beautiful as ever. I love this place. Special."

McDowell mentioned some inclement weather but to defend himself against accusations of moaning, : "We'd all tee it up at Augusta, rain, hail or snow. Feels like first time, every time #kidcandystore."

But this is no picnic in the Georgia woods. Asked on Twitter about his lasting impression of Augusta, Tiger Woods's former coach Hank Haney replied: "Toughest week of the year for 30 years."

On Sunday evening, having driven ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Masters presenter Hazel Irvine from Atlanta airport, I spent a magical 20 minutes just standing in front of the clubhouse looking out over the course.

It's my third time here, and like a first kiss, the initial thrill is once-in-a-lifetime and can never be replicated. But it's a romance that is maturing and deepening.

The sun was beginning to set over the front nine, and the towering pines cast stripes of shadow down the first fairway.

The smell of pine and cut grass filled my nostrils and behind me the ice-white buildings of the clubhouse and assorted cabins were still lit and stood out crisply against the lush green grass.

The familiar yellow flags of the Augusta pins flapped lazily on the ninth and 18th greens, and the evening chorus of birds was the only sound I could hear.

A few greenkeepers scurried about in carts in the distance but other than that I was alone in one of the world's great sporting meccas.

A green-jacketed member strolled past after a while. "Doesn't get any better than this," he chuckled. "Just taking it all in," I said.

The dazzling gem that is the Augusta National is set off to great effect by the more raffish surrounds of Washington Road, a 15 minute drive from downtown on the banks of the Savannah River. Crawling through the traffic early on Monday morning, I passed many dozens of people with printed signs and even small stalls set up to buy and sell unwanted Masters tickets. How could you not want them?

It's often said that Masters week represents Augusta's "second Christmas" but for the rest of the year, Georgia's second city goes about its business in the normal way a town of 200,000 people would.

"For 51 weeks of the year, Augusta is like many other mid-sized Southern towns," local radio personality John Patrick, host of the "Augusta Golf Show with John Patrick", told me.

"Because of its strong medical community, it has weathered the recent economic hard times fairly well.

"The impact of the tournament on the area is great, but hard to accurately calculate. It would be fair to say that with the lodging, food and recreation activity, it is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, all taking place in a very short span of time. Many businesses 'make their year' with the money made from that one week. This does not even include the monies contributed to the local charities by the club, which annually is over one million dollars."

The rythyms of the week are now familiar and comfortable. Patrons, as spectators are called, queue up waiting for the ropes to go up to allow access to the course at 0800. Great thickets of Masters green chairs will soon sprout in prime spots as patrons stake their claim to a small patch of Georgia real estate. Remarkably, they'll remain there all day, untouched.

The players amble out for practice, often stopping under the old oak tree outside the clubhouse for a chat with the media. Patrons walk the course, amassing great towers of Masters logo plastic cups to keep as souvenirs, like Obelix collecting Roman helmets after a fight.
The players are working hard on the course but it's a light-hearted time, too - patrons goad them into skipping balls across the lake in front of the 16th green and roar their approval.

Tuesday night is the Champions dinner - has chosen seafood paella, filet of beef, Spanish apple pie - and practice winds down for most on Wednesday lunchtime ahead of the par-three tournament.

For the last week when the conversation has turned to the Masters people have asked me who is going to win.

Phil Mickelson's victory in Houston on Sunday - his first since last year's Masters - has put a different slant on things now, but at the time I would launch into a familiar refrain.

"Well," I'd say, sucking in through my teeth. "Our boys are doing ok, and they've got a bit of form at Augusta; then there's Mickelson, he says he can be a bit off and still win because his short game will get him out of trouble; Tiger, of course, was fourth on his reappearance last year but is struggling with his swing right now; and then there's this new breed of young Americans who hit it miles and putt like Gods, so er, there you have it."

"So give me a name."

Like a contestant sat in front of the conveyor belt at the end of the Generation Game I begin.

"Well, there's Lee Westwood, obviously, second last year and pipped by some Mickelson magic - remember that shot from behind a tree on 13? Luke Donald, he's in form and was third there in 2005, Justin Rose, he didn't play last year but has a brilliant record there - did you know he's led at some stage on each day of tournament? Anyway, then you've got Tiger and Phil, oh, said those, er, ok, Dustin Johnson, Nick Watney, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar, Anthony Kim. Or world number one Martin Kaymer but he's missed all three cuts here. Or a Korean, KJ Choi, YE Yang, or..."

"A cuddly toy?"

"I'll stop now."

Harrington said: "It must be the most open major of all time.

"There's a lot of good young players who haven't won a major who are in form and who could contend, and you have players who have won majors that you would like to think if they got in contention would know what to do and would have a great chance again so you've got two opposing sides."

Last week, reports coming back from players' reconnaissance trips were that recent heavy rain meant the course was playing very soft and not really Augusta like.

But the sophisticated under-green sub-air system means they can dry out the putting surfaces in a flash to deliver the marble tops we associate with Augusta.

In fact, just eight weeks before last year's Masters the verdant layout was buried under a blanket of snow. This year, high spring temperatures have caused the azaleas and around the city to bloom early. They look blooming marvellous to me.

The forecast for this week is thunderstorms on Monday night into Tuesday, getting colder for a couple of days (highs of 66F-72F) then warming up for the weekend. The chill will at least keep the pollen down - every morning the car and everything else tends to get coated in a layer of yellow dust.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Ian Woosnam's Masters win, while it was 25 years ago that Jack Nicklaus clinched his record 18th and final major at the age of 46. There's added significance there, of course, given Woods has reached a crossroads in his pursuit of Nicklaus's tally.

may have warbled the words to her famous song specifically for the ailing former world number one this year.

"He said he's going back to find
"Ooh, what's left of his world
"The world he left behind not so long ago
"He's leaving,
"On a midnight train to Georgia,
"And he's going back
"To a simpler place and time..."

Whether Woods can get back on track remains to be seen.

But that's how Augusta feels. A simpler place and time.