Tour pros are Masters fans, too

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When Davis Love III was asked where he was going this week, his answer wasn't "Disneyworld'' or "The Masters.''

Did Colt Knost make the right decision to turn pro and give up his invite to the 2008 Masters Tournament? (Horner/Getty Images)

Love's alternative for an off week in his golf schedule is turkey hunting. And there won't be a television in his line of sight.

Love has a legitimate reason for tracking turkeys and avoiding the tube. His streak of playing in 70 consecutive major championships will come to an end Thursday when the first round of the 2008 Masters is scheduled. Try as he might, Love failed to qualify.

Love certainly isn't the Lone Ranger in that regard. The Augusta National Golf Club handed out a mere 94 invitations to its 72-hole soiree, including the one Johnson Wagner secured at the 11th hour with his victory in the Shell Houston Open on Sunday.

In deference to The Masters, the Nationwide Tour also takes a break before it resumes its journey across America in Georgia next week in the Athens Regional Foundation Classic. Players scattered hither and yon at the conclusion of the Livermore Valley Wine Country Classic at Wente Vineyards on Sunday. Each was armed with a downtime game plan.

Many will practice.

Some will fish.

Some will want to get away from the grind and spend time without a set schedule.

The majority, however, will not join Love in keeping The Masters out of sight and out of mind. Far from it, in fact. They will be no different from the legion of worldwide golf fans this week. They'll stop whatever they're doing Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and tune in to the broadcasts on ESPN and CBS. And they'll watch intently.

No one will be more serious about his couch potato impersonation than Ryan Hietala. He'll get a jump on the broadcasts by turning on his computer and view live streaming of Amen Corner and holes 15 and 16 from the Augusta National Golf Club's website, www.masters.org.

"My wife knows not to bother me,'' Hietala said with a wicked smile. "I'll be glued to the computer and the television for four days. I have not missed a Masters in 22 years.''

Hietala picked a surreal time to tune in for the first time. That was in 1986, when 46-year-old Jack Nicklaus summoned the magic to win his sixth green jacket with a final-nine performance for the ages. Nothing he has seen subsequently has surpassed the first glance.

"That's the reason I got started in golf,'' he said.

South African Brenden de Jonge remembers getting up "in the middle of the night'' to watch the telecast in his native Harare, Zimbabwe, which was seven hours ahead of Augusta.

"It was the one week where I was allowed to stay up late,'' he said. "I even got to stay up on Sunday nights and Monday mornings before school.''

The viewing is earlier, but no more intense now that de Jonge has relocated to Charlotte, N.C. And he is one of those pros who swear he will not go to The Masters until his invitation arrives. But that might change this week after his best friend Wagner won in Houston. The pair had a getaway to Kiawah Island, S.C., this week until Wagner's victory got in the way.

Australian Greg Chalmers is another who will be tuned in and turned on by the drama and excitement. But his will be a discerning set of eyes. He participated in the 2001 Masters.

"I have a more insightful view having been there,'' he said. "I know how dramatic the elevation changes are. TV cannot capture it like the naked eye. And I know how small those landing areas are on the greens. If you get it wrong there's no telling where the ball will end up.''

And so it went when players were queried about their plans for the week. Watching The Masters is their rite of spring too. Only their dreams of getting there one day -- as a participant rather than a mere spectator -- are a little brighter than the average golfer's.

Nationwide rookie Colt Knost calls the event "his favorite'' of the year. He first watched when Tiger Woods won by a record 12 strokes in 1997. And he still chuckles about his buddy Phil Mickelson's reaction to winning his first green jacket.

"That jump,'' Knost said, shaking his head and grinning.

This week will be different for Knost, who scored a rare double in 2007 when he won the USGA's Public Links and Men's Amateur championships. The biggest perk from each? An invitation to the 2008 Masters.

Knost said no thanks to each when he turned professional following the Walker Cup in early September. He knows his decision will come into question this week.

"I know I'm going to be second-guessed,'' said Knost, 22, who finished solo fourth at Livermore. "But I was finished with school and I had played four months of almost flawless golf. What was I supposed to do? Sit around for eight months?''

Instead Knost gained invaluable experience and got a significant jump on his career. He already has played in seven tournaments on the PGA TOUR and completed his fourth Nationwide Tour event Sunday by winning $28,800 and jumping to 25th on the money list.

"I'm making a very good living and I can do some things to help my mom who sacrificed a lot for me to play golf,'' he said. "I've already gone through Q-school and got that experience too. I felt like it all was a lot to give up for one tournament, even though Augusta has been my dream forever.''

So Knost will do what most of us will be doing this week. He'll be watching -- with no regrets.