Welcome to the first nine of the Augusta National Golf Club - all of it.

Millions of TV viewers who view the Masters Tournament as a rite of spring, annually generating the highest ratings for a professional golf tournament, have been able to enjoy full-fledged coverage of Augusta National Golf Club's first nine holes for the first time this weekend.

CBS host Jim Nantz said the network plans to make the most of it - especially for today's final round. He said the best part may be the beginning, with the 435-yard, uphill, par-4 first hole, with its large fairway bunker to the right that requires a 300-yard carry, trees to the left and right, and galleries lining the entire hole.

"We've always been set for 18-hole coverage, and in recent years, we've been able to show the last few groups playing the fifth through the ninth holes," Nantz said. "But I think the most compelling action we're going to be able to show this year is the last few groups going off the first tee. It's a beautiful hole anyway, and one of the holes made more difficult this year. I think showing the leaders going from the putting green to the first tee will be very dramatic."

TV viewers were able to see the first nine during the third round in 2000, after late-morning storms suspended play before CBS went on the air. The network made adjustments to show the last few groups from holes 1 through 9, including the final pairing of David Duval and Vijay Singh.

But this is the first year that the network has been able to show every hole on the first nine as a planned part of its coverage.

In the past, Augusta National officials didn't allow coverage of the full front nine at all, mostly because it limited the number of hours CBS could cover the Masters. Club officials said that more than several hours of coverage per day on the weekend would result in overexposure.

But current Chairman Hootie Johnson has relented this year, with three hours of coverage Saturday and 4 1/2 hours today, starting at 1:30 p.m.

Johnson agreed with Nantz that the most interesting viewing will come at the beginning of the course.

"I think everybody agrees that at No. 1, butterflies are fluttering, the wind is blowing, and it's always a challenge," Johnson said. "I think it will be exciting to see the leaders tee off on the first hole."

The other holes that will be relatively new to Masters viewers will be the downhill, par-5 second hole (575 yards), which offers almost all the players a chance to go for a well-bunkered green in two shots; the short (350 yards), par-4 third hole, with a contoured green resulting in brutal hole placements on the weekend; and the always-dangerous par-3 fourth hole (205 yards), which has been the most difficult par-3 hole on the course since the club began keeping statistics.

"The (approach) shot on No. 3 is about as demanding as they come in this game," Duval said. "The middle-to-long iron you have to hit to No. 4 green is an amazingly difficult shot."

Tiger Woods said he nearly didn't believe the third green when he saw it for the first time when playing the Masters as an amateur in 1995.

"The green runs away from you, and right-to-left, and in '95, the pin was kind of in the middle, middle-left, and I asked my caddie: 'That pin is not on the green, is it?' It did not look like it was on the green. Then I had to play it in the tournament, and I swore it was not on the green. It's a challenge. You've got to hit a precise golf shot."

The distinction of the fourth hole is that is has been aced less frequently than any other par-3 at Augusta - just once, by Jeff Sluman in 1992.

Bob Goalby, the 1968 Masters champion and former analyst for NBC, said the rest of the first nine is just as visual for TV.

"The sixth hole (a 180-yard par-3) will be a great downhill shot on TV," he said. "The seventh hole is very narrow, and with the bunkers in front of the green, is gorgeous on TV. The eighth and ninth holes are much the same. People are going to be able to see parts of the golf course almost as beautiful as Amen Corner (Nos. 11 through 13), and just as difficult."

"I think they will all be exciting," Johnson said.