Golf: Campbell seeks tips from Master

AUGUSTA - New Zealand's Michael Campbell yesterday accompanied three-time champion Nick Faldo in a warm-up round for Friday morning's (NZT) start to the Masters golf championship in Augusta - and made sure he picked his brains.

The practice round lasted nearly five hours and Campbell - with Grant Waite the other New Zealander in the championship - absorbed several lessons from the veteran.

"I was picking his brains and that's for sure," Campbell said. "That is the reason I played with Nick, because he has won here three times before and his knowledge of the golf course is incredible.

"I was asking him on every single hole about pin placements and then when he was chipping, I copied him and also chipped from those areas."

Campbell, accompanied by his wife, children, father and two other relatives from New Zealand, spent Monday settling into a rented house.

Campbell's appearance at Augusta is in stark contrast to the raw professional who arrived for his first Masters five years ago, but left disappointed after missing the cut by three strokes with rounds of 73 and 76.

"There are tons of things different with me than five years ago," he said. "I'm married now with two kids and more mouths to feed, so I have to play better. But obviously my confidence is a lot higher than five years ago.

"Five years ago I had a wrist injury and I was struggling really, really bad. But I have won seven times since I was last here, and I have found the real Michael Campbell, you could say.

"Five years ago I was not even technically close or physically as good than I am now, but it is good to be back and it's a lot of fun.

"The course is looking tough already with the greens firm and fast."

Waite, also to contest his second US Masters, is not expected to turn up until this morning after playing in the rain-affected Bell South Classic in Atlanta.

Tiger Woods arrived yesterday in hot pursuit of the second Masters victory which would make him the first professional golfer to hold all four major titles at one time.

While debate rages over whether such an achievement could truly be called a Grand Slam, there is no doubt that it would be a grand accomplishment.

"I would call it a Slam. Absolutely," Australian great Greg Norman said. "It's four in a row. Even though it is not in the same year, I would say that would be a Slam to me."

The traditionalist view is that all four must be won in the same calendar year. Never mind that if Woods is putting on a green jacket come Monday morning, he will have won his four straight in 10 months.

But it elicits objections from traditionalists such as Arnold Palmer, Ben Crenshaw and Davis Love.

"That's ridiculous," says Arnold Palmer, the man credited with inventing the modern Grand Slam. "It's a one-year deal. That takes the kick out of winning the Slam if you continue it into the next year."

Only one golfer has won the four major championships of his day in one year, Bobby Jones in 1930 capturing the Open and Amateur championships of the United States and Britain.

Most of Woods' colleagues and rivals say a victory for the American in Augusta would be spectacular, but would not complete a Grand Slam.

"It would be an incredible accomplishment if Tiger wins," said Ben Crenshaw, the Masters champion in 1984 and 1995.

"It deserves to get put in a box by itself, but it's still not a Slam, and it should not be considered a Slam. You've got to do it within one year. That's part of the equation."

Even Woods' father, Earl Woods, said he would not consider a fourth straight major a Grand Slam for his son.

"It would not be a Grand Slam because it would be over two seasons," he said.

"I've always felt that way about records in other sports such as tennis and baseball."

Despite the debate, Woods' pursuit of a fourth straight major championship - in the wake of his dominant 2000 season - has galvanised the golf world.

"It's all about Tiger Woods right now," American player Paul Azinger said.

"We all know that. We've been minimised to a degree, and rightly so."

- AGENCIES