Masters maketh the man, not the other way around

If the intention was to make a statement without actually saying anything, then William Payne succeeded in an emphatic fashion yesterday at Augusta National Golf Club.

For more than 30 minutes, Payne — the club chairman and by extension the head of the Masters tournament — read a prepared statement, then answered questions from the media without ever once invoking the name Tiger Woods.

It was as if Payne were answering those media folks who for weeks have bemoaned the absence of Woods as a sure sign that the 78th Masters would suffer a lacklustre fate and be a forgettable affair.