The Masters, which began yesterday and continues through Sunday evening, is all about tradition. And that’s what sets golf the first major championship apart from the game’s of other three majors. While the U.S. Open, the British Open, and the PGA Championship move from course to course each year, the Masters is always played at Augusta National Golf Club. Tiger Woods knocked a ball into the creek with his putter. Billy Casper hit five straight shots into the water. Palmer Ryan not Arnold was on the leader board. The Masters got off to an improbable start Thursday.

Then again, the rain that delayed the first shot at Augusta National by nearly 5 1/2 hours was no surprise. The PGA Tour has been plagued by bad weather all year. Jack Nicklaus teed off to a heartfelt ovation in what might be his last Masters.

And when a wet and wacky start to the 69th Masters ended in darkness, Palmer was on the leaderboard not four-time winner Arnold Palmer, but Masters rookie Ryan Palmer. In these conditions it was impossible yesterday not to remain intrigued by what Woods can do this week. He is currently emerging from a slump which reduced him to the awful, embarrassing No.2 position in the world rankings and he hasn’t won a major in his last 10 attempts.

“Golf is the hardest sport in which to keep coming back and back,” said Brad Faxon. “Last year Tiger didn’t win a strokeplay tournament but he has come back fast. He kept saying he was getting close, and people kept laughing at him behind his back. Now they’re saying, ‘I guess he was right’.”

Woods is always to the point in these debates. “I’m getting there,” he said yesterday, causing many here to believe that the Woods drought in the majors, going back to the 2002 US Open, is about to be ended.