Masters Diary: Spare a thought for the injured caddie

Spare a thought . . .

Carrying weighty bags around the undulating terrain took a toll on a number of caddies, among them Kevin Kisner’s caddie Duane Bock who was forced to soldier through all four rounds with a broken toe.

Bock’s solution was to hand his player a driver on the holes where he required the big beast and walked on down the fairway to get a head start as he hobbled along.

“He’s a wuss,” joked Kisner of his longtime bagman. “Nah, he is struggling. This isn’t the easiest place in the world to walk.”

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Bock wasn’t the only bagman to be classified among the walking wounded. Bubba Watson’s faithful caddie Ted Scott walked all four days with an ingrown toe nail.

DeChambeau magic

One bit of magic came Bryson DeChambeau’s way, in a tournament which he led after an opening 66 but which slipped from his grasp.

DeChambeau’s eight-iron tee-shot the 16th gave him a first ever hole-in-one one. “Anybody can strike gold at any moment,” said DeChambeau. “I knew something was going to happen this week, I didn’t know what it was going to be . . . I knew back three years ago I said to my caddie and to everyone in my camp it was like, I’m going to make a hole in one here one day and sure enough it was my first one three years later!”

Amateur master

Viktor Hovland joined a prestige list of players who have won the leading amateur medal at the Masters . . . among them Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods.

Hovland claimed his own place in history as the first Norwegian player to achieve the feat. The 21-year-old from Oslo - who is a student at Oklahoma State in the United States - is likely to turn professional after the US Open at Pebble Beach in June, where he actually won the US amateur title last year.

Twitter talk

"I am literally in tears watching @TigerWoods This is Greatness like no other. Knowing all you have been through physically to come back and do what you just did today? Wow." – Tennis legend Serena Williams

By the numbers - 14: The 14 years gap since Tiger Woods's last Masters win – in 2005 – was longer than the previous largest one of 11 years which belonged to Gary Player (1961 to 1974).