Masters notebook
In the field
Two-time Masters Tournament champion Ben Crenshaw has been picked by Byron Nelson as his successor to be the host of the annual Champions Dinner.
The 94-year-old Nelson, the Masters champion in 1937 and 1943, isn't physically able to attend the Masters this year.
In mid-March, Nelson asked Crenshaw to take his place at the Champions Dinner, which is held Tuesday night of Masters Week and is for former winners at Augusta National Golf Club.
"Byron Nelson called me and said, 'Ben, this is the first time since 1935 that I couldn't come, and I want you to take over,'" Crenshaw said before a practice round Sunday.
"I'm so honored."
Nelson's health would not allow him to travel from his suburban Fort Worth, Texas, home to Augusta.
"He tried everything he could do to get over here," Crenshaw said. "He wasn't able to do it."
The Champions Dinner was started by Ben Hogan in 1952. Crenshaw, who won the Masters in 1984 and 1995, wasn't sure when Nelson took over as the host.
"He did a great job," Crenshaw said of Nelson.
"He kept it real light. Everybody there enjoyed the dinner. I'm going to do the same - it will be very light."
FLOYD HONORED: The annual Mayor's Masters Reception will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. today at the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame Botanical Gardens on Reynolds Street.
Raymond Floyd, the 1976 Masters winner, will be the featured guest. Admission is free, and area restaurants will provide free samples.
CLINIC: Three pro golfers with ties to Augusta will give a clinic to golfers with disabilities and their able-bodied partners today at Augusta Municipal Golf Course.
Masters participants Charles Howell and Vaughn Taylor, along with Champions Tour player Jim Dent, will put on the clinic, which begins at 8:30 a.m.
The cost is $10 for ages 16 and up; 15 and younger can attend free.
After the clinic, the Walton Rehabilitation Adaptive Golf Challenge will take place with a tournament that matches three players with a golfer with a disability.
Proceeds will go to Camp TBI, an overnight summer camp for children with brain injuries, and BlazeSports Augusta, a program offered to children and adults with disabilities in the Augusta area.
FUZZY IN AIKEN: Fuzzy Zoeller, the last golfer to win the Masters on his first attempt, will be in Aiken today to discuss a new course he is designing with Clyde Johnston at Woodside Plantation's Reserve Club.
Zoeller won the 1979 Masters Tournament in a playoff against Ed Sneed and Tom Watson. Johnston is a former president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects.
The Zoeller course will be the fourth at Woodside Plantation.
CHIP SHOTS: Callaway Golf is outfitting its players this week with special white bags with green lettering in tribute to the Masters. Augusta's Charles Howell is among those on the Callaway staff ... The handful of golf writers who checked into the Press Building on Sunday were able to watch Michelle Wie tie for third at the Kraft Nabisco, her first major event as a professional.
