While the golfers will be the main focus this week as they walk the links of the Augusta National Golf Club, it will be hard for some spectators not to be distracted by the rainbow of azaleas that are abloom on the course.

``It's breathtaking,'' says Diane Boyers of North Carolina, who saw the course for the first time on Monday.

While blooms adorning the course are bursting forth this week, a month ago it appeared as if there might not be any color on the course for the Masters Tournament.

Some local horticulturists speculated the city's trademark azaleas and dogwoods would bloom too early for this year's tournament after mild and wet weather in January and early February caused many plants to bloom ahead of schedule. However, a cold spell fell on Augusta in March, which should allow the plants to stay in bloom through the week.

Jack Blue, who was the Par-3 course manager at the Augusta National Golf Club from 1979 to 1985, said the weather has set up a perfect Masters scenario.

``That late freeze we had couldn't have been better,'' says Mr. Blue. ``It slowed down the photosynthesis process enough to make for a beautiful Masters.''

Some golf enthusiasts couldn't take enough pictures of the lush landscape inside the National.

Judie Goodwin of Ennis, Texas, who is making her seventh consecutive trip to the Masters, stopped to take a photograph of a dogwood tree Monday afternoon as she exited Gate 9 on Berckmans Road.

``They are much better this year than last year,'' she said about the flora. ``I think the weather was more favorable this year.''

Last year, azaleas in Augusta peaked on March 22, eight days earlier than their normal bloom time and two weeks before the tournament.

``Last year there wasn't an azalea bud out there,'' said Mr. Blue.

In 1996, Augusta experienced an early spring weather in February but cooled in March. The azaleas bloomed a week later than normal, which put them right on schedule with the Masters.

As a first time visitor to the Masters, Larry Kohl of Marietta, Ga., said it was the backdrop created by the plants that caught his eye.

``It was just beautiful,'' he said.