He remembers the days when he first discovered a passion for the game, but that was back in the day when he was still on the outside looking in.

It was the 1950s when J.B. Tutt first started working as a caddie at the Augusta Municipal Golf Course, known as the Cabbage Patch by the locals. He was a young black man who had fallen in love with a white man's sport and, back then, he would have given anything for the right to play a round of golf.

``I've seen hundreds of young black kids growing up who could play the game but didn't get the opportunity to do so,'' said the 56-year-old Augusta native, who now runs the pro shop at The Patch and plays as many free rounds of golf he likes. ``I caddied here when I was a little boy myself, and I could not play here. When I returned to Augusta after being away for so long, I couldn't believe how much had changed. That's why what Tiger Woods will do today is so important historically. It took many, many years for us to reach this point but Tiger will change the way many more people perceive things overnight.''

Maybe the words Earl Woods used in the December issue of Sports Illustrated -- the one that proclaimed his son Man of the Year -- were overly ambitious.

Maybe it is too presumptuous to assume that ``Tiger will do more than any other man in history to change the course of humanity,'' as the elder Woods suggested to SI.

But, still, many like Tutt believe the impact of Woods' accomplishment Sunday at the Augusta National Golf Club, where he became not only the youngest man, but also the first man of color to win a Masters Tournament, will be unmatched in history.

``What he's really telling by what he's doing out there on this golf course is `Let's focus on social change.', said baseball Hall of Famer Ernie Banks, who attended his second Masters this week. ``Let's focus on scoial change and be better human beings. That is what we are seeing here. Jackie Robinson was the first black man to play in my sport, and if Jackie was here today, he would be speechless.''

Woods' victory at the 61st Masters comes almost 50 years to the day when Robinson, who had a Hall of Fame career with the Brooklyn Dodgers, broke baseball's color barrier.

Though the impact of Woods' victory will be measured on a much grander scale, the effect of his monumental triumph was immediately evident locally.

``I never played golf before but, now, I'm interested in playing,'' said Brienne Holmes, a 16-year-old Richmond Academy sophomore, who worked this week picking up trash at Augusta National. ``It gives me the confidence of not being the only black kid out there on the golf course any more. Usually, black people play basketball and football. No black people were really concerned about golf until Tiger.''

``To me, the 21st Century is gonna be the year of the black person,'' said Walter McNeil, a 16-year-old Lakeside High School student, also a member of the Augusta National litter patrol. ``I'm not trying to be racist or anything but we're excelling in more things now, in sports and other ways. What Tiger did here will make it even better. I think Tiger will end up inspiring little black kids now.''

As Woods was addressing the world on the practice green Sunday following his win, Banks talked with Gentry Bing, a 17-year-old Evans High student who worked in the main concessions stand this week.

She was hoping to get a closer look at the young phenom and, in the process, found herself listening to some unconvetional wisdom from ``Mr. Cub.''

``Have you heard of Whitney Houston,'' Banks asked Bing, before breaking into his rendition of Houston's song ``The Greatest Love of All.''

`` `If I fail, if I succeed, at least I did what I believed. No matter what they think of me, they cant take away my dignity. Because the greatest love of all is happening to me.' You've got to listen to those lyrics, because I'm gonna tell you, Tiger played the course that way. That's what he did out there today.''

At first, Bing giggled. But later she said she understood what Banks was getting at. More importantly, she was inspired by Woods' performance at Augusta.

``To me, this was just a boring sport, but I consider myself a golf fan now,'' Bing said. ``I want to learn how to play it, and I'm gonna find some way to get out on a course and try it now, because of Tiger Woods.''

Never in a million years would Tutt expect to hear such words. It was a much different world when he left Augusta in 1958 when his family moved to the Bronx. It was even more different by the time he returned as a retiree in 1992, after years in management with the corporation that hired him out of the University of Massachusetts.

``I do understand the historical perspective of what Tiger has done as much as anyone,'' Tutt said. ``This transcends the color of skin. I hope that people don't look at him now as a great black golfer as much as they see him as a great golfer. My kids are too old for this to have an impact on them, but I think my grandchildren will hear about what Tiger is doing and they'll be affected by this.''

More than anyone, Woods, himself, believes that is possible.

``I'm in a very unique position where a lot of kids look up to me because I'm around their age group,'' he said. ``They look up to me in a role model sense. And I think if I can influence their lives, then I believe that's what the bug guy in the sky had intended for me.''