A Masters miscellany compiled by PHILIP REID:

A first for Lyle: Still plenty of more years to come

ONE part of Europe’s so-called ‘Big Five’, Sandy Lyle yesterday achieved something which the likes of Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam and Seve Ballesteros haven’t yet managed – he became the first European golfer to compete in 30 Masters.

“Thirty years? It doesn’t seem like it. it’s gone very, very quick and I always get a buzz playing here. I still feel at the age of 53 there’s a little chance I can ruffle some feathers,” said Lyle, who shot a creditable one-over 73 to keep alive his chances of making the cut.

Although he was the only one of the ‘Big Five’ never to get the call to captain Europe’s Ryder Cup team, Lyle has stayed competitive – he currently tops the European Senior Tour’s money list – and has no thoughts of calling it a day just yet. “I’ve got a few more years left, I think.”

Clark woes: Pain in the elbow

TIM Clark doesn’t have a clue where he picked up the tendinitis injury to his right elbow. It could have been as simple as lifting a suitcase off an airport carousel.

Clark, who earned a three-year Masters exemption following his win in The Players championship last year, has been receiving intensive physiotherapy right up to teeing up for yesterday’s first round where he shot an opening 73. The pain in his elbow afterwards, though, was such that he remarked: “It pretty much hurt all day and just got worse. I’m not sure if I can play tomorrow, I’ll need to get some treatment.”

'Harrington rule' change

PERHAPS it will come to be known as the “Harrington Rule”, whether he likes it or not. In a synchronised move which demonstrates how golf’s two governing bodies manage to think as one when the occasion demands it, the RA and the USGA yesterday revised the ruling which is applicable to signing for an incorrect scorecard.

As a direct result of an incident in the Abu Dhabi Championship on the European Tour earlier this season when Pádraig Harrington was disqualified for inadvertently failing to add a penalty to his scorecard for playing from the wrong place after a television viewer – using slow motion replays on high definition television – picked up on it, the R A and the USGA announced a new interpretation with immediate affect.

Under the new interpretation to Decision 33-7/4.5, Harrington would have been penalised but not disqualified. It applies where disqualifications have been caused by score card errors identified as the result of recent advances in technology. The change addresses a situation where a player is not aware of breaching a rule because of facts he did not know and could not reasonably have discovered prior to returning the card.