Ailing Ballesteros sends letter to his fellow champions

Published 1:36 pm Thursday, April 9, 2009

AUGUSTA, Ga. — What usually is a night of laughter and memories turned melancholy at the Champions Dinner when Jose Maria Olazabal read a letter to the Masters winners from Seve Ballesteros, who is recovering from a malignant brain tumor.

Ballesteros, a dynamic figure at Augusta National and a two-time champion, has had three operations since he was diagnosed with the tumor in October. He recently began his fourth round of chemotherapy.

Olazabal visited him in the hospital in Madrid, and brought the letter to Augusta National. He declined to say what Ballesteros wrote.

“It was personal,” Olazabal said. “But it was very emotional.”

Masters chairman Billy Payne also declined to repeat what was in the letter.

“It was very emotional, very loving, and as it was read, you could feel in the air the reciprocation from his friends and former champions going all the way back to Spain,” Payne said. “It was an amazing, amazing moment.”

Ballesteros became the youngest Masters champion at age 23 — a record later broken by 21-year-old Tiger Woods. He won the Masters again three years later.

Chronic back issues forced a premature end to a brilliant career, and Ballesteros retired in 2007.

No smoking

Anyone who takes a seat at the Masters better not light up.

For the first time, Augusta National has a no-smoking zone at certain areas for the Masters. Club chairman Billy Payne said the policy grew out of the suggestion box at the Masters last year.

“We listened, and smoking will no longer be permitted in any patron stand or any other designated seating area on the course,” he said.

Most greens have a section that is restricted to chairs, and those will be off-limits to cigars and cigarettes. The ban also applies to the numerous grandstands on the course.

Par 3 Contest

Tim Clark of South Africa already faced 80-to-1 odds of winning the Masters. Those odds surely grew a little longer Wednesday when he made an ace on the last hole to win the Par 3 Contest at the Masters.

No winner of the Par 3 has ever gone on to capture the green jacket.

Clark finished at 5 under par to become the second consecutive South African to win the tournament. Rory Sabbatini won last year, then shot rounds of 75-74 to miss the cut.

The Masters is all business when it gets under way today, a polar opposite to the mood at the Par 3 Contest. Some players have their children caddy for them. Anthony Kim, a Masters rookie, had his father on the bag.

Greg Norman’s caddie was his wife — tennis great Chris Evert. And did they ever have reason to celebrate. The Shark had a hole-in-one on the sixth hole, hugged his caddie and gave her a smooch.