THE BEGINNING

Arnold Palmer tees off during the pro-am before his namesake invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando, Fla. Palmer has been asked to be an honorary starter this year. (Rainier Ehrhardt/Staff)

Bobby Jones, one of the most prominent athletes of the 1920s, decided to retire from competitive golf in 1930 after winning all four major championships in the same season for his Grand Slam.

Jones, an Atlanta native, set out to build his dream course, and it didn't take him and investment banker Clifford Roberts long to settle on Augusta as a site. When the pair was told a property called Fruitland Nurseries, a former indigo plantation, was available, a deal was struck.

Jones enlisted the help of Alister Mackenzie, a prominent Scottish course architect, to design Augusta National Golf Club. Construction began in 1931, and the course opened in December 1932.

Jones and Roberts decided to hold an annual event, and the first Augusta National Invitation Tournament was held in 1934. Jones relented to change the name to the Masters in 1939.

HONORARY STARTERS

The Masters Tournament has not had an honorary starter since 2002, but that might change this year.

Billy Payne, the new Augusta National and Masters chairman, has asked Arnold Palmer to assume the role.

Palmer said last month that he was giving the idea "careful consideration."

Palmer, a four-time winner at Augusta National Golf Club, retired as a Masters competitor after the 2004 tournament.

"It isn't that I have anything against doing it," Palmer told reporters at his tournament. "I just want it to be the right time when I decide to do it."

The tradition began in 1963 with Jock Hutchinson and Fred McLeod, a pair of major championship winners, starting the tournament together on Thursday morning.

By the 1980s, the rite of spring had evolved, with the trio of Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead and Byron Nelson all hitting opening tee shots. Former CBS analyst Ken Venturi also filled in one year.

Sarazen died in 1999, and Nelson retired from the role after 2001. Snead continued alone in 2002, but died the next month. Nelson died last year.

HONORARY STARTERS

Jock Hutchinson 1963-73

Fred McLeod 1963-76

Byron Nelson 1981-2001*

Gene Sarazen 1981-99

Ken Venturi 1983

Sam Snead 1984-2002

*nonconsecutive