Don't count on the winner of today's Masters Tournament making a birdie on the 18th hole.

A birdie by the champion on the home hole is rare indeed.

In the last 10 years, the winner has made a birdie on the 405-yard, par-4 18th hole only three times.

Five of the other winners made par and two (Bernhard Langer in 1993 and Ben Crenshaw in 1995) made bogey.

The golfers to close their regulation rounds with birdies on the 72nd hole are Larry Mize (1987), Sandy Lyle (1988) and Nick Faldo (1996).

In the previous 60 Masters, only nine other winners made birdie on the final hole.

Mize's final round birdie earned him a spot in a playoff with Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros.

The Augusta native would have never made it into extra holes if not for his success on the 18th hole that week in 1987. He birdied it three of the four days.

``It's a great finishing hole,'' Mize said. ``You always feel like a par is a good score.''

Lyle had the most dramatic birdie of the group. While Mize and Faldo both hit the fairway off the tee, Lyle hit his drive in one of the bunkers that guard the left side of the fairway.

He picked a 7-iron clean from the lie, and then watched his ball go up the slope in the middle of the green and then roll back down toward the pin, leaving him a 10-foot putt. He made that putt to beat Mark Calcavecchia by one shot.

Lyle was the first golfer since Arnold Palmer in 1960 to birdie the 72nd hole and win by one shot.

The only other winners who birdied the final hole to win by one shot were Art Wall 1959 and Gary Player in 1978.

``Having to make a birdie on the final hole of a major championship, that's a pretty tall order,'' said Nick Price. ``Having to make a birdie on that hole (No. 18) is tough. Hopefully, I could make a double bogey one day and win.''

``You can easily make a birdie or a bogey on that hole - that's what makes it a terrific final hole,'' said 1976 Masters champion Ray Floyd, who made par on No. 18 on the final day in his winning year.

In 1993, Langer could have made a quadruple bogey 8 on the 18th hole and still won by a shot. As it was, he still beat Chip Beck by four shots. He bogeyed the 18th that year after hitting his drive in a fairway bunker and his approach in a greenside bunker.

Of the three golfers to birdie No. 18 and win in the last 10 years, only Faldo's birdie in the final round of the 1996 Masters was academic. With Greg Norman's collapse, Faldo could have made a quintuple bogey 9 and still won.

When the Augusta National was originally designed, the 18th hole was the ninth hole. By the time of the first Masters in 1934, the nines had been reversed. Architecturally speaking, it was a great decision.

Most of the holes at the Augusta National call for a draw - a right-to-left shot off the tee, including the current ninth hole. The 18th is set up for a fade or cut, which are left-to-right shots. By the time a golfer reaches the 18th hole, the last time he had to hit a right-to-left shot was off the fifth tee.

``You've been hitting these big slinging hooks and then all of a sudden you get to No. 18 and you have to hit a cut,'' Price said. ``Sometimes you've got the hooks down pat and all of a sudden you've got to cut one.''

``To determine a major, No. 18 is a great, great hole,'' Tiger Woods said.

``It is a great finishing hole,'' Mize said. ``It's very difficult. There is a tight driving area between the bunkers and the trees. On your approach, you have to hit a very narrow green and it's not easy to get the ball up-and-down if you miss that green.''

``On your approach, you want to hit a 7- or 8-iron into that green,'' Price said. ``You don't want to go into that pin with a 5- or 6-iron. If I had to make birdie to win, I'd probably hit a driver or, if the wind is helping, a 1-iron or 3-wood; something that would get me up there when I would have a maximum of a 7-iron into the hole.''

Tourney's end

A list of how the winners of the last 10 Masters Tournaments fared on the 18th hole in the final round:

1987: Larry Mize, birdie, won in playoff
1988: Sandy Lyle, birdie, won by 1 shot
1989: Nick Faldo, par, won in playoff
1990: Nick Faldo, par, won in playoff
1991: Ian Woosnam, par, won by 1 shot
1992: Fred Couples, par, won by 2 shots
1993: Bernhard Langer, bogey, won by 4 shots
1994: Jose Maria Olazabal, par, won by 2 shots
1995: Ben Crenshaw, bogey, won by 1 shot
1996: Nick Faldo, birdie, won by 5 shots.