And the rains swept through Georgia . . . leaving in their wake ugly scars on a parkland masterpiece.

Perhaps the saddest aspect of the weekend, as a viewer of the US Masters, was the damage the elements inflicted on Augusta National, especially the fairway walkways which were reduced to a muddy mess.

Still, outside of the battle for the coveted green jacket, memorable compensations started on Friday night with an emotional farewell to Arnold Palmer. Indeed veteran BBC commentator Alex Hay was so moved by the crowd's reaction around Amen Corner that he saw fit to suggest there wouldn't be "a dry eye in the house" over the ensuing couple of hours.

It could have been argued that the serious golf enthusiast deserved something more competitive from the telecast, but the fact was that prior to play being suspended for the day, the leading lights on camera, including Ernie Els, David Duval and Greg Norman, were doing little of note.

Though I had glimpsed Ryle Nugent as presenter on Friday night, I didn't catch up in earnest with the Network 2 telecast until Saturday. Which proved to be something of a blessing. Not for the first time, I was left wondering why it was that RTÉ television insist on treating tournament golf in such a shoddy fashion.

When we had the Sydney Olympics 18 months ago, it seemed that the Montrose sports department was all but emptied of bodies, which were whisked Down Under at considerable expense. While I accept the importance of the Olympic Games in its own right, the fact remained that Sonia O'Sullivan was the only world-class Irish challenger there.

In Augusta, there were four world-class Irish competitors - Volvo Masters champion Padraig Harrington, European Open champion Darren Clarke, Wales Open champion Paul McGinley and the British Amateur champion, Michael Hoey.

RTÉ's response? Radio sent Greg Allen, but television had nobody.

Instead, by way of aping Sky Sports, we had Nugent as a Dublin studio presenter, in the company of former tournament player, John McHenry.

And in going down that road, RTÉ should have been aware that Sky's David Livingstone would be light years ahead of Nugent in terms of experience and knowledge of matters golfing.

Nugent to McHenry: "What sort of player is Darren?" And as a sample of the presenter's knowledge of Tiger Woods and Retief Goosen, we were informed that they would "put the frighteners" on their rivals.

A few hours earlier on the same channel, Eamon Dunphy presented The Premiership in the company of Johnny Giles. As the Sunderland v Liverpool match was being discussed, one could just imagine Dunphy asking Giles: "What sort of player is Niall Quinn?" Or commenting that Michael Owen must "put the frighteners" on defenders.

Why can't RTÉ television treat golf with the same expertise that they see fit to apply to Gaelic games, soccer and rugby?

The country's three national newspapers each had a specialist golf writer at Augusta National to cover what proved to be a very good Irish story. Had they followed the lead of RTÉ television, the national broadcaster, they would have had general sports reporters back at base, putting their own spin on agency reports.

Given his appearance, knowledge of the game and excellent speaking voice, McHenry has the potential to do an outstanding job for RTÉ. But what can he reasonably be expected to contribute from a Dublin studio?

As a tail-piece to Saturday's Network 2 transmission, there was an interview by Steve Rider with Hoey, which I had already seen on the BBC.

It was an interesting interview, if only for the good sense of the Belfastman in not responding to Rider's inane suggestion that despite his failure to make the cut, Hoey should have been given the award as leading amateur. That's a bit like giving a novice a special award for leading his category after two laps of a 1,500-metre race.

So, where was all the Masters enjoyment to be found? Elsewhere on the BBC, naturally. Though Peter Alliss doesn't seem to be so keen on his homework these days, he remains a delight on the ear. And Ken Brown is emerging as the best of the bunch.

Having competed in the Masters in 1988, when his four rounds for 36th place included a 69, Brown clearly knows the layout. But it is his obvious application to the job, first apparent in the BBC's coverage of the British Open at St Andrews two years ago, which makes Brown special.

As Woods faced a birdie putt from right of the pin on the 13th green on Saturday, Brown predicted: "All the players think this is a right-edge putt, but it stays there." And he was correct.

By way of highlighting the difficulty of the 14th green, we saw a pre-tournament shot of Brown rolling a ball from his hand to what he correctly anticipated would be the Sunday pin position. "It just runs and runs and runs and runs," he said. And we could see what he meant.

He and Alliss worked very well together, like in this little exchange after the older man had remarked on some jewellery around Sergio Garcia's neck. Brown: "It's the ones in the tummy-button that worry me, Peter." Alliss, with a little chuckle: "Oh, I don't see that kind of thing any more."

Meanwhile, in a weekend heavy with hyperbole, there was a truly memorable line from The History of Football on Network 2. It had to do with the Merseyside homecoming after Liverpool's European Cup triumph in Rome in 1977, when delirious fans surrounded an open-top bus.

Recalling the occasion, the widow of the then Liverpool manager, Bob Paisley, spoke of coming from work to join the celebrations. "And what did you and Bob do that evening?" she was asked.

"Oh we came home and we had a cup of tea and we went to bed," she replied, in the most endearing Lancashire accent.