Letter from Augusta: Jack Nicklaus keeps going, though not about Trump, on most surreal first day

Sandy Lyle’s sartorial choice of suspenders was not even the weirdest part of the most surreal first half hour in Masters history

Honorary starter Jack Nicklaus reacts after hitting on the first tee to start the first round of the Masters golf tournament. Picture: Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP

By 7.35 am on Thursday, two things at the Masters Tournament had already been suspended – play and Sandy Lyle’s trousers.

Lyle, the 62-year-old Scot who won the 1988 green jacket, led off play on the 10th tee, striking his drive just under the branches of a towering pine left of the fairway. “I thought I topped it,” Lyle said after the ball left his clubface, unsure where it went. “Am I okay?”