Carl Jackson remembers well the day in 1975 when Lee Elder set foot on the Augusta National Golf Club grounds and broke the color line in the Masters Tournament.

Jackson, a former full-time Augusta National caddie who worked in his 35th straight Masters this week, said ``that was a day, from a caddie or a black person's standpoint, that we wanted to say `hallelujah' for.''

Twenty-two years later, then, what is Jackson to make of the Masters' first minority winner, Tiger Woods?

``The day Lee played here was a great day,'' Jackson said. ``This is a greater day.''

Woods' victory ``is going to set the minority world on fire,'' Jackson said. ``I think the right things are in place to take care of the rush that is coming on. I just hope Tiger is ready to take the leadership role that he needs to take. Not just in the black community, but for all minorities. He has awaken golf to a lot of people.''

Unfortunately for Jackson, he couldn't personally share his pride in seeing a minority golfer win the Masters with many of his fellow black Augusta National caddies. For the first time since the ban on non-Augusta caddies was lifted with the 1983 Masters, no full-time Augusta National black caddie worked the 1997 Masters.

Jackson, who caddies for Donnie Hammond on the PGA Tour and works for Ben Crenshaw only during the Masters, is not a full-time Augusta National caddie anymore. But he's the closest there was to one in the 1997 Masters.

``I saw a few (Augusta National black caddies) before the round Sunday and they were loving it and excited about what it looked like (that Woods would win),'' Jackson said.

Edward White, who caddied in 27 Masters, didn't have a bag this year for the second straight Masters.

``I'm quite sure all the Augusta National black caddies are proud for Tiger,'' White said. ``I know I am. To have him win the Masters is something to be proud of because the Masters has the tradition of being one of the greatest tournaments in the world. I hope Tiger keeps up the good work and keeps a straight head.''

Jackson said he ``is concerned'' that Woods doesn't want to be called a black person. His father is black and his mother is Thai.

``It's like he doesn't want to be embraced by the black community,'' Jackson said. ``I don't want to disrespect his Asian blood, but his dad is a black man. In this country, in this world, what does that make you?

``All the young kids love Tiger,'' Jackson said. ``My generation and the generation ahead of mine are about to turn him aloose. They say `hey, if you don't want to be here, we don't want you.' That's an identity crisis that's going around that's about to get blown out of proportion.''

White says ``I wouldn't call him (Woods) black because he says he's other things.''

Black golfers who have played in the Masters are Elder, Jim Thorpe and Calvin Peete.

``I always pulled for those guys, but they came along late in their careers to win the tournament,'' White said. ``I felt Calvin Peete had the best chance of the early black guys, but now we've got a young superstar who is going to be around for awhile.''

This is Woods' third Masters appearance, and first as a pro. He tied for 41st place in 1995 and missed the cut in 1996.

``I thought he'd win here eventually, the first time I saw him,'' White said. ``You could see the potential. When he was only 3 years old, he had a great swing then. I saw him on TV a couple of times when he was young. They said this kid was going to be the next superstar. You kind of laughed at the time, but you could see he had a great swing at that age with no training. He was just born with it, like Jack Nicklaus. They were born to be great golfers.''