MASTERS RECORDS

Most wins: 6, Jack Nicklaus

Youngest winner: Tiger Woods, 21, 1997

Oldest winner: Jack Nicklaus, 46, 1986

Lowest total: 270, Tiger Woods, 1997

Biggest win: 12 strokes, Tiger Woods, 1997

Lowest round: 63, Nick Price (1986) Greg Norman (1996)

Lowest front nine: 30 Johnny Miller 1975, Greg Norman 1988, KJ Choi 2004

Lowest back nine: 29, Mark Calcavecchia (1992), David Toms (1998)

Most under par front nine: 12 under, Ken Venturi (1960), Jack Nicklaus (1965), Steve Jones (1990), Ray Floyd (1992), Chris DiMarco (2005)

Most under par back nine: 16 under, Tiger Woods, 1997

Lowest 1st rd: 63, Greg Norman, 1996

Lowest 2nd rd: 64, Miller Barber (1979), Jay Haas (1995)

Lowest 3rd rd: 63, Nick Price, 1986

Lowest 4th rd: 64, Maurice Bembridge (1974), Hale Irwin (1975), Gary Player (1978), Greg Norman (1988), David Toms (1998)

Lowest 1st 36 holes: 131, Raymond Floyd, 1976

Lowest last 36 holes: 131, Johnny Miller, 1975

Lowest 1st 54 holes: 201, Raymond Floyd (1976), Tiger Woods (1997)

Lowest last 54 holes: 200, Tiger Woods, 1997

Highest winning score: 289, Sam Snead (1954), Jack Burke (1956), Zach Johnson (2007)

Highest front nine: 49, Charles Kunkle, 1956*

Highest back nine: 49, Jess Sweetser (1936), Richard Chapman (1955), Tony Manero (1955), Frank Conner (1982)*

Highest round: 95, Charles Kunkle, 1956*

Highest total: 340, Charles Kunkle, 1956

Lowest cut: 145 (1979, 1992, 1995, 2001)

Highest cut: 154 (1982)

Best last-round comeback to win: 8, Jack Burke, 1956

Highest last round to win: 75, Arnold Palmer (1962), Trevor Immelman (2008)

Debut winners: Horton Smith (1934), Gene Sarazen (1935), Fuzzy Zoeller (1979)

Consecutive winners: Jack Nicklaus 1965-66, Nick Faldo 1989-90, Tiger Woods 2001-02

Biggest 18-hole lead: 5, Craig Wood, 1941

Biggest 36-hole lead: 5, Herman Keiser (1946), Jack Nicklaus (1975), Raymond Floyd (1976)

Biggest 54-hole lead: 9, Tiger Woods, 1997

Most attempts before win: 15, Mark O'Meara

Lowest amateur round: 66, Ken Venturi, 1956

Best amateur finish: Second, Frank Stranahan (1947), Ken Venturi (1956), Charles Coe (1961)

Most birdies: 506, Jack Nicklaus

Most birdies in a round: 10, Nick Price, 1986

Most birdies in a tournament: 25, Phil Mickelson, 2001

Most birdies in a row: 7, Steve Pate (1999 - holes 7-13), Tiger Woods (2005 - holes 7-13)

Most eagles: 24, Jack Nicklaus

Most eagles in a tournament: 4, Bruce Crampton, 1974

Most top-five finishes: 15, Jack Nicklaus

Most top-10 finishes: 22, Jack Nicklaus

Most appearances: 51, Gary Player

Most cuts made: 37, Jack Nicklaus

Most sub-par rounds: 71, Jack Nicklaus

Most sub-70 rounds: 39, Jack Nicklaus

Most 72 holes below par: 22, Jack Nicklaus

Wire-to-wire winners: Craig Wood, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Raymond Floyd


TIGER BACK IN HUNT FOR MORE MAJORS
Sources: Mike Peterson agrees wtih Atlanta Falcons
TIGER READY FOR PHYSICAL CHALLENGE

TIGER BACK IN HUNT FOR MORE MAJORS

Tiger Woods will resume his pursuit of golf's greatest record at The Masters - and if his performance is half as gripping as his last major then we are all in for a treat.

When he overcame not just Rocco Mediate but also serious injury to capture the US Open last June, and so move only four behind Jack Nicklaus' 18 majors, Woods himself described it as "probably the greatest tournament I've ever had".

But when he then added "I'm going to shut it down for a little bit here and see what happens" everybody wondered just how much damage he had done to himself pulling off the feat.

Three days later Woods announced that he was to have reconstructive surgery on his left knee and, just to add to his astonishing achievement in battling for 91 holes, that he had also played with a double stress fracture of his left tibia.

Mediate would have become the oldest US Open champion ever if he had triumphed, but the 45-year-old - 157th in the world at the time and in the event only after surviving a qualifying play-off - was full of praise for Woods, who sank birdie putts to stay alive both on the 72nd hole and at the end of their 18-hole play-off.

"Nothing he does surprises me. When I talk about golf he doesn't count. He's not normal. He's way above everything," commented Mediate.

Before being beaten at the 19th, the first hole of sudden death, Mediate had said he was "up against a monster", but even monsters need time to heal once they have been on the operating table.

The US Open, which was in itself Woods' first event since The Masters two months earlier, was to prove his last of 2008.

But even with the long lay-off the 33-year-old, now a proud father of a boy and girl, is still way ahead of schedule in terms of trying to catch and overtake Nicklaus.

The Golden Bear was already 35 when he won his 14th major and 38 when his next came in the 1978 Open at St Andrews.

Given also that Nicklaus was 46 when the 1986 Masters completed a career haul that was seven more than anybody else at the time, Woods knows there is no need to rush things on his return, no requirement to feel that he has to make up for lost time.

Being the competitor he is, though, he will not want to give any of his main rivals the thought that he is not the player he was.

His road back to fitness has all been with The Masters in mind.

Augusta National is where Nicklaus predicted that Woods, still an amateur then, had the game to win more green jackets than him and Arnold Palmer combined.

At least 11 in other words.

So far the tally stands at four, two short of Nicklaus' record for the tournament, but it could already have been Woods' record.

Since beating Chris DiMarco in a play-off in 2005 he has finished third, second and second again.

Woods looks forward to going to Augusta like kids look forward to Christmas.

The length of the course eliminates many of the field, although Zach Johnson showed what could be done two years ago when he laid up at every single par five and won.

The lightning-fast greens take more out of the equation and experience means so much as well. Since 1935, the second Masters, Fuzzy Zoeller is the only debutant to have tasted victory. That was 30 years ago.

The way Woods was playing before he was forced out of the game - an incredible 10 wins in his last 13 starts - this might have been the season when he got to 18 majors.

He still might, of course, but winning all four on his return to the big stage is surely beyond even this remarkable man.

What an inviting list of courses it is for him in 2010 though, for what could be the ultimate achievement of his career.

Augusta, where he has won four times, Pebble Beach, where he won the 2000 US Open by a major record 15 strokes, St Andrews, where he won in 2000 by eight and 2005 by five, and Whistling Straits.

While he has been away Padraig Harrington has won the last two majors, making it three of the last six, and Greg Norman, with his challenge for The Open, has shown what is possible at 53.

Now Woods tries to show what is possible at 33 - not on one leg, but back on two.


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FROM HENMAN HILL TO HENMAN HOLE

Former Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance is hoping that regular matches with Tim Henman - at golf not tennis - will pay dividends when he extends his record number of appearances on the European Tour this week.

The 55-year-old Scot, whose debut was way back in 1972, plays his 705th event in the Estoril Portuguese Open at Oitavos Dunes.

That is 81 more than anybody else - next in the table comes England's Barry Lane, who is also in the field - and Torrance said: "I've been playing three or four times a week at Sunningdale and playing a lot with Tim.

"He's very competitive and I've benefited from it. He's a one-handicapper and I give him one shot. He breaks par every time virtually and has shot 66 round the New Course.

"He's only 34 so he's 16 years away from the Seniors Tour, but he could compete right now."

Torrance won on the over-50s circuit in Barbados two weeks ago, but because they do not have their next event for over a month he sought and was granted an invitation to this week's Ј1.1million tournament.

"It might be delusions of grandeur, but I'm here to play, I know the course and I'm looking forward to it."

None of the 150-strong starting line-up are playing in The Masters next week, but Torrance is Augusta-bound as part of the BBC commentary team.

Another Scot is now in charge of the Ryder Cup team, of course, and he said of Colin Montgomerie taking over: "Monty will absolutely eat, sleep and drink Ryder Cup until it comes around.

"It's the best thing I ever did in golf. Colin has a wealth of experience as a player and all the desire in the world for the job."

Who serves as the assistants at Celtic Manor next year remains to be seen, but Torrance was not surprised that Jose Maria Olazabal has voiced doubts about doing it as Montgomerie hopes he will if he does not qualify for the team.

"You have to understand Ollie has done his stint as vice-captain (to Nick Faldo last year).

"It is a huge learning experience, but he doesn't want to be the second in command any more and that's exactly how he should feel."

Defending champion this week is Frenchman Gregory Bourdy, who beat former Ryder Cup star David Howell and Scot Alastair Forsyth in a play-off last April.

For Howell that was a welcome return to the spotlight after falling from ninth in the world to outside the top 200.

The Swindon golfer also finished seventh in The Open and third in the Johnnie Walker Championship and rose from 142nd on the Order of Merit to 45th.

But after seven events this season he has yet to finish in the top 30 and is down at 147th in the Race To Dubai.


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TORRANCE SET TO EXTEND RECORD

MARTIN OUT TO HALT THE SLIDE

Pablo Martin returns this week to the scene of one of the European Tour's most stunning victories - but he does so trying to halt one of the Tour's most stunning collapses.

Two April Fools Days ago Martin, just 20 at the time, became the first amateur to win in the circuit's 1,145-event history when he captured the Portuguese Open at Oitavos Dunes.

As a star of the American college scene the young Spaniard's talent was known about on both sides of the Atlantic and a glittering future looked assured.

He qualified for the US Open in the week he turned professional and, after being paired in the first two rounds with Sergio Garcia and Jose Maria Olazabal, beat them both in finishing 30th.

But while they prepare for next week's US Masters, Martin goes back to Cascais 724th in the world after missing the halfway cut in his last nine tournaments.

He has not had a single round under 70 in that run and it is not as if it is only since October that things have turned sour. He also missed nine cuts in a row last summer.

The former British boys champion - he was 15 when he won that - has turned to top coach Pete Cowen for help and said: "I think anybody can play good golf if you work on the right things.

"I have played good golf in the past and I am sure it is still there somewhere.

"It's putting things together and having patience. That's what people tell you, but nobody sees inside. I don't know - I work hard and wait.

"I have good memories in Portugal and I am looking forward to seeing if I can play well there."

The surroundings certainly seemed to reignite things last year when he opened with a course-record 63. But while Frenchman Gregory Bourdy matched it and went on to win, Martin slipped back to 15th.

He matched that at the Spanish Open next time out but then the missed cuts started again. They remain his best finishes as a professional.

In the past 10 months his golf has earned him less than Ј7,000 and his total career earnings still come nowhere near the Ј180,000 first prize he had to turn down two years ago because he was an amateur.

More worringly, his Tour exemption runs out at the end of this season.


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FUNDING BOOST FOR WALES

HARRINGTON CHASES HISTORIC HAT-TRICK

It might be a slight exaggeration to say that not a day has gone by without him thinking about it, but Padraig Harrington has certainly been longing for The Masters since last August.

Since the minute, in fact, that his eyes nearly burst out of their sockets, he condemned Sergio Garcia to another second place and he achieved something no European had done before - win back-to-back majors in the same year.

"I'm actually disappointed I'm seven months away from the next major, I don't know what I'm going to do," said Harrington.

What he has done, of course, is answer questions over and over again about his phenomenal Open and USPGA double and, of course, about the chance to do something even more astonishing at Augusta. It is a good job he likes talking.

The 37-year-old Dubliner has been in demand the world over ever since he won his first Open title at Carnoustie, but to convert that into three of the last six major titles almost defies belief.

Moments after completing his successful defence of The Open last July, Harrington expressed the magnitude of what he had just accomplished that day.

"You're in a special club when you've got two majors - and not too many guys wins back-to-back," he said.

Indeed they don't. The last European to achieve the feat at The Open was James Braid in 1906.

But better was to come.

Just three weeks later Harrington was holding the USPGA trophy as well after winning another duel with Garcia. And that lifted him into a totally different stratosphere.

No European had won that championship since Tommy Armour in 1930. No European had won consecutive majors since Armour added the 1931 Open. No player other than Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson had done it since Nick Price in 1994.

But now Augusta is finally almost upon him. The chance to make it three in a row - something only two golfers in history, Ben Hogan and Woods, have accomplished.

With Woods having focused on getting back fit for The Masters after being forced out of the game by reconstructive knee surgery following his staggering US Open triumph last June, the opening major of 2009 has more than one big story line.

There is also Greg Norman's return after seven years to the tournament that has given him so much heartache, courtesy of his remarkable performance at Birkdale, and there are the debuts of three teenagers - 19-year-old rising Irish star Rory McIlroy, New Zealand's 18-year-old US Amateur champion Danny Lee and 17-year-old Japanese sensation Ryo Ishikawa.

But Harrington knows he will never enter a major with so big a spotlight on him. Unless he wins again, of course. Imagine what it would be like approaching a 'Paddy Slam' attempt in the US Open at Bethpage in June.

"It's a lot easier to win tournaments when you're under the radar," he stated.

"I'm delighted that Tiger and Greg will be there, any deflection I can get would be great, but I know I will have more focus, which will make it harder to play my own game.

"I think it's going to come down to me managing my expectations better compared with other people's expectations, especially my start.

"In the past I never believed the expectations people had for me and my way of managing that was to underplay them.

"Yet when you become a major champion you put yourself under pressure to play to a higher standard.

"But what if someone else has the week of their life? As long as I stick to the same processes and keep getting myself into contention I am happy to see how it works out.

"It would be very easy getting caught up in the Thursday round in being cautious. People are asking you 'Are you going to win it?' and you're afraid of losing it.

"I think that's a silly way to start a tournament because you have to go out and win it. It's not yours to lose.

"I will prepare for the Masters as I would any other tournament. I will definitely spend time with (sports psychologist) Bob Rotella thinking about how I'm going to approach the tournament.

"The key is to get out there with a comfortable mindset. I'll try to take the result out of the equation and try not to think about winning or losing - but that's hard to do when people are asking you."

What he cannot prepare for, of course, is the unknown. But the unknown has helped him in all his major successes.

"In each of them something happened that I could not have bargained for," he added.

"At Carnoustie it was my son running onto the green on the 72nd hole and taking my mind off what had just happened.

"At Birkdale it was the wrist injury taking the stress out of defending my title, while at the USPGA I got dehydrated, but the rain delay on the Saturday gave me a chance to recover."

The two wins last year came with stunning displays on the back nine and the memory of those give him an edge over the vast majority of the field if he can get into position again.

"A major feels like a marathon. I feel like I can be patient and take my time.

"I love the feeling of knowing that it's going to come down to who can do it under pressure in the last nine holes.

"I love the idea of the back nine of a major on a Sunday."

And now everybody knows it.


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THREE IN A ROW WOULD BE A BONUS - POD

TORRANCE SET TO EXTEND RECORD

Sam Torrance is to take his record number of starts on the European Tour to 705 after being given a sponsor's invite to next week's Portuguese Open.

Last week the 55-year-old former Ryder Cup captain won the Barbados Open on the Seniors Tour by four shots, but the next tournament on that circuit is not until May.

Torrance is the only player in European Tour history to reach 700 tournaments. It is more than 80 more than anybody else and Colin Montgomerie this week became only the 18th to appear in 500 as a professional.


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MONTY SET FOR LANDMARK APPEARANCE

MONTY STRUGGLES IN SEVILLE

Colin Montgomerie struggled to stay in touch on Friday as German Marcel Siem and England's Graeme Storm turned on the style at the Andalucian Open in Seville.

Playing his 500th European Tour event as a professional, Montgomerie was only one behind fellow Scot Chris Doak after an opening 67.

But Europe's new Ryder Cup captain, whose last top 10 finish was nearly nine months ago, managed only a level par 72 on his return and, with Doak taking 73, it was all change at the top.

Siem scored 67 to reach nine under and Storm a 66 to be only one behind along with France's Jean-Francois Lucquin. Montgomerie is four adrift in joint 11th place with Doak and, despite his gloomy mood, still very much in it.

After mixing five birdies with five bogeys, the last of them on the 18th when he failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker, the eight-time European No 1 displayed his disappointment by declining a request for a television interview.

Within minutes he was heading back to his hotel, commenting on his way: "I was just completely out of sync today.

"I played very badly and 72 is what you get when you play that way."

Having spoken the day before of how much more relaxed he was on the course following his Ryder Cup appointment, there was also an incident when he felt the need to have words with a photographer as his round threatened to fall apart.

Then came four birdies in the final six holes, but two more bogeys

left him far from happy.

The key to Siem's week is that he has managed not to lose his temper so far.

"I think I will never change completely, but I am pretty calm at the moment," commented the 28-year-old, who even kept his cool when three-putting the last for bogey.

"I said to my caddie that I feel like Retief Goosen - I don't have any emotions."

He told the story of two years ago in Cologne when he broke his driver after missing the cut.

"There were a couple of children around. I nearly cried, thought how can I do this, then went up to them and said 'Don't do this ever'.

"I should be a boxer or a footballer when I can show my emotions."

Storm is happy to be finding his form again after having his clubs stolen in Dubai last month.

"I was watching Liverpool against Chelsea on tv. At 10.30pm they were still there and at 10.45 gone.

"I put in a police report, but somebody is enjoying playing with them in the sunshine in Dubai.

"There was a two-iron I'd had for years, a lob wedge specially made for me and a new driver that I loved. It was a massive loss."

Jose Maria Olazabal missed the cut on four over in only his fifth event since last May, but said he still intends to be at The Masters in two weeks unless his health problems - rheumatism and fatigue - worsen.

Whether Dane Anders Hansen or Swede Peter Hanson are there looks doubtful now.

They both have to finish in the top three to have a chance of climbing into the world's top 50 just in time for Augusta, but Hansen is two under and Hansen, yet to play The Masters, needed three birdies in the last four to squeeze through the cut on level par.


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