AN ALL-NIGHTER: Sam Bernhardt will do almost anything to watch great golf. Really.

"We left home at 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon and drove all night," the Oklahoma City man said Wednesday. "We got here at 6 this morning."

Accompanied by golfing buddy Matt Mathis , who helped with the long drive, he was able to follow Ernie Els and Tim Clark , among others, despite the fatigue from a marathon night behind the wheel.

"We mainly wanted to walk the beautiful course, and we did," Bernhardt said. "It is fabulous."

The men had tickets only for Wednesday. "Unless we find a couple more for tomorrow, we'll probably be headed back out tonight," he said. "Either way, it's worth it."

CHANCE ENCOUNTERS: Gary and Margie Baggett didn't have any particular pros they wanted to watch.

"We'd just like to watch anyone we can," said Margie, of Evansville, Ind. "We just haven't seen too many of them so far."

Her luck changed that instant, however, when Gary Player , followed by a legion of his loyal fans, sauntered by en route to tee off on No. 1.

"Oh, there's Freddie Couples, too," she said.

It was the right place at the right time -- and the day was young.

"This is probably the only chance we'll ever get to see the Masters," she said. "We're retired -- and it took us years to get these tickets."

CHASING TIGER: Gene Walton got his exercise Wednesday and loved it.

"Got to see Tiger," the fan from Rochester, N.Y., said while chugging briskly uphill on the north side of No. 8, hoping to get far enough ahead of an advancing Tiger Woods to snap a photo.

Barely 100 yards up the long, pine-strewn incline, Walton stopped to stake out his spot on the rope and get his photo.

"Wow," he said. "Wow."

EXPANDED VIEW: Bill Belt, of St. Louis, Mo., paused to rest on one of the benches near the main golf shop.

Having hiked much of the course during Wednesday's practice round, the first-time Masters visitor marveled at how much more of Augusta National there is to see than is shown on television.

"I was quite surprised," he said. "It's amazing how organized everything is and how they can make something so large run so smoothly."