Ben Crenshaw, twice winner of the US Masters, is deeply concerned about the changes to Augusta National, where the overall length is being increased by 300 yards of which 60 is going onto the 18th. "You hear that the Masters doesn't start until the back nine on Sunday, and there's a reason for that," said Crenshaw in the current issue of the American magazine Golf World. "The way the holes flow, the conditions, the risk-reward equation, the likelihood that something dramatic will happen. Augusta National is so tempting, so seductive. People tune in to watch the Masters every April because it's beautiful and it's a sign of spring, but what makes the Masters so special is that something amazing always unfolds.

"It has always challenged us to take chances. But if the winner next year, or in future years, comes home in a hard-fought 35 or 36 for the last nine holes, I'm afraid the Masters will lose some of its flavour. You don't think of Augusta National as a place where you grind it out. When you're in the lead at the Masters, you're never comfortable, and that puts incredible pressure on you."

So what's the solution? "Fifteen years ago, when Jack Nicklaus said we should take 10 per cent off the ball, we all scratched our heads," Crenshaw went on. "Well, Jack's idea doesn't seem so crazy now. What if Augusta National, instead of revising a fabulous golf course, said, 'We have this ball that will be played for the Masters and it goes only so far?' Who's going to stop them? It's their event."