It'll still be the Masters, but without Arnie, it won't be the same

One last walk for the fans. Forty-eight years of memories somehow condensed into 18 holes.

Today, Arnold Palmer says goodbye to the Masters.

A tournament and a player whose marriage meant so much to the sport will part ways after nearly a half century, bringing an end to one of the great eras of the game.

At 72, Palmer can't even reach some greens with 3-woods at the beefed-up Augusta National. After needing to make an 8-foot putt just to break 90 on Thursday, he knew enough was enough.

"I'm just going to fade away," Palmer said. "I'm not sad about it. I'm sad I'm not playing well enough to represent the kind of golf I want to represent."

- Tim Dahlberg, Associated Press

The army of thousands has shrunk to a modest brigade of devoted loyalists, mindful of the unfathomable odds against a trademark late charge yet hopeful nonetheless for one last memorable snapshot for the archives.

It doesn't require much to satiate this appetite. One par putt finding the bottom of the cup would do it.

It's sad that the man who was once the lord of golf has been reduced to a pitiable figure in his last hours as a Masters competitor. It hurt to watch Arnold Palmer's first-round 89 unravel amid the dogwoods and azaleas that were once his kingdom. It yanked at the heart to see him bounce toward the first green after reaching it in regulation, only to slump after knocking his first putt over the back of the green. He wound up four-putting the hole.

He already knew the end was coming. That moment solidified it.

- Drew Sharp, Detroit Free Press

Age has taken a big bite out of his backswing, but the corkscrew follow-through is pretty much the same. He still looks like a man trying to control a deranged fire hose.

How many bad golf swings were spawned over the years by Arnold Palmer's mad passes at the ball? Thousands upon thousands.

He still has the Popeye forearms, and the wind still catches that tuft of hair above his forehead and snaps it to attention. He still hitches up his pants and hunches over a putt as if he were appraising a diamond.

He's still the same, even if life here won't be the same again.

- Rick Morrissey, Chicago Tribune

After 48 Masters, four green jackets and a thousand memories, Arnold Palmer will make his final loop today and wave farewell to the Augusta National and its famous tournament, which he helped put on the map.

The King clanked around to a 48-41-89 in Thursday's opening round - then abdicated.

- Jack Saylor, Detroit Free Press

No matter how much grief Augusta National dishes out, Greg Norman keeps coming back. For some reason, he can't help but love the place.

"It's just pure golf," Norman said. "There's really no hoopla. You have a great driving range, and you walk onto the first tee and just play golf."

The Shark certainly played as if he were enjoying himself Thursday, opening the Masters with a 1-under-par 71 that put him solidly in contention for an elusive green jacket.

- Paul Newberry, Associated Press

What changes?

They played the first round of the Masters Championships on the newly renovated, longer, stronger Augusta National on Thursday. But when they were finished, a lot of the same old look was on the leaderboard for the first major tournament of the golf season.

Plenty of red still flowed on the scoreboard for sub-par numbers, and Tiger Woods, as the world expects, was right there in the thick of things. So were most of his principal rivals, but also present were several players who many thought were rendered obsolete by the new teeth inserted in the 7,270-yard course.

And there was no stranger at the top. It's Davis Love III, who has played this season like he didn't have a clue and missed five cuts, including his last two tournaments. But Love, 37, seems to bloom when its springtime in Augusta, and the two-time runner-up blossomed again with a slump-busting 67.

- Jack Saylor, Detroit Free Press

He's a long hitter, is included among the top 10 players in the world rankings, yet he was feeling more than a bit overlooked this week at the Masters, a place where he has enjoyed considerable success, to boot.

Nobody picked him as a favorite.

Where's the love, huh?

Actually, fans were asking the same question lately - at least before David Love III smoked Augusta National with a 5-under-par 67 in the first round Thursday, posting the day's only bogey-free round on a surly brute of a track.

- Steve Elling, The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel

No dateline I've typed in 30 years of covering sports events has given me more pleasure. AUGUSTA, Ga. No event has consistently lived up to its buildup the way the Masters has. AUGUSTA, Ga. The drama is about to bloom like the azaleas in what Ben Crenshaw once described to me as the "mystical cathedral" that is Augusta National.

At least, I hope it is.

So does Crenshaw, a two-time winner whose knowledge of - and passion for - Masters tradition probably eclipses any past champion's. After playing this year's longer, tighter, tougher Augusta National, Crenshaw wrote in Golf World: "I worry that it will become less exciting for spectators and players. It will be like going from offense to defense."

My fear exactly.

My favorite event is being stretched to its limit by the greed that has taken some fun out of the game I love to play. While the equipment companies, the pros who advertise for them and the architects who redesign obsolete courses are making fortunes, the Masters is paying the price. A last bastion of way-we-were sports - unchanging Augusta National - is slowly losing its battle against the rocket-launching clubs and jet-powered balls being improved and sold virtually without restriction.

Technology rules, even in AUGUSTA, Ga.

- Skip Bayless, San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News