Henry Daniel even has Arnold Palmer and Doug Ford beat.

The 85-year-old Decatur, Ga., man has been attending the Masters Tournament for 53 consecutive years, stepping foot on Augusta National Golf Club grounds during Masters Week more times than Palmer, who has played in 45 straight Masters, and more than Ford, who holds the record for most Masters starts at 47.

``This is my No. 1 priority. The first check I write every year is for my Masters tickets,'' said Daniel, whose family has the option of buying two $100 tournament series badges every year.

``I can only think of one reason he wouldn't be here, and we don't even want to talk about that,'' his son Dick said Thursday during the opening round.

The elder Daniel attended his first Masters in 1935 -- the second year the tournament was held -- and attended sporadically during World War II. The tournament was not played 1943-1945 because of the war.

In 1946, he was working as a pressman for an Atlanta-area printing company, when a salesman from Kimberly-Clark passed through and said his boss had purchased 400 tickets to help underwrite the tournament. He gave four to Daniel, who later added his name to Augusta National's patrons' list to assure the tickets would continue coming.

``Someone told me that if you don't get on the mailing list, there will come a day when you won't be able to get in the Masters,'' he said. The patrons badge list was closed in 1972 and the waiting list for Masters badges has been closed since 1978 , but Daniel gets his annual allotment.

In more than five decades at the Masters, Daniel has witnessed plenty of legendary players tee off, seen golf fashions change and watched the evolution of the course that some describe as the greatest in the game.

``All the big names in golf, I've seen one time or the other,'' he said.

Daniel began as a Sam Snead fan. ``He was a winner, and he played such beautiful golf, I pulled for him every year,'' he said.

In 1955 Arnold Palmer came on the Masters scene and started eclipsing Snead and the other greats. Because of that, Daniel has never been a fan of Palmer, though he credits him with doing great things for the game.

``When Jack Nicklaus came and moved Arnold on out, I became a Jack Nicklaus fan,'' Daniel said. ``Now this boy (David) Duval, the Georgia Tech boy, is really powerful.''

There's too much excitement and good golf every year for Daniel to pick out his favorite shot, but the 1986 Masters stands out as one of the best ever.

``If there was one, it would be the last one that Jack Nicklaus won because he wasn't expected to do that and he just wore the field out the last day,'' he said.

As a perennial Masters spectator, Daniel had the chance to see -- and even meet -- golf-loving celebrities.

He used to have long talks with country singer Tennessee Ernie Ford behind the No. 7 green. Another time, Daniel was sitting near the No. 1 green when he heard the familiar voice of amateur golfer Charlie Yates talking to someone behind him.

``Yates said, `So-and-so, I want you to meet Eddie Windsor,''' Daniel said. ``I said `Eddie Windsor?' and I turned around and looked right in the face of the King of England (who abdicated the throne in 1936).''