B cut included Mike Weir, Tom Watson, Craig
Stadler, Sandy Lyle and Ben Crenshaw.
From carrying the bag in two triumphs by
Nick Faldo, it seemed quite a come down to be
filling the role of gofer at Augusta National. But
that’s how Fanny Sunesson saw herself during
this year’s event, given she was still recovering
from a back injury sustained when tripping over
a marshal’s rope in Switzerland last fall.
Her employer, Henrik Stenson, made a
point of inviting her to The Masters, even
though he had Irishman Jude O’Reilly standing
in for her on the bag. “Henrik wanted her here
and I can fully understand that,” said the native
of Rosses Point. “Not many people have her
experience around this track.”
O’Reilly, who previously caddied in The Mas-
ters for Shigeki Maruyama in 2000 and 2001, had
no problem with the arrangement. “Though she
insisted she was my gofer for the week, not my
advisor, Fanny offered some invaluable advice to
both myself and Henrik,” he added. “They talked
a lot about the pins and the angles and where to
be and where not to be. The usual stuff.”
In the event, their best-laid plans came
seriously unstuck when Stenson, who was
6 under after 15 holes on the opening day,
carded a wretched eight on 18 for a 71. But he
recovered admirably to remain in contention
right through the weekend.
He’s Daddy Bubba now, and he’s loving it.
Bubba Watson and his wife, Angie, adopted a
baby son a week before The Masters. Watson is
so excited to have baby Caleb in their lives that
he resisted an early return to Augusta National.
“I wanted to come later but my wife said,
‘No, you need to come in here and practice like
normal and don’t worry about it,’ ” Watson said.
“She was the one who was pushing me to get
here early like I normally do. I wanted to stay
home for sure.
“Our new son is at home. Obviously, that is
more important to me than trying to make a
putt to win a golf tournament. I had pretty good
perspective already but now with a kid, obvi-
ously it shows that life is not about golf.”
There was a compelling reason for Watson
to get to Augusta.
“Sleep,” he said. “I wasn’t sleeping very
much at home.”
Luke Donald had to endure a serious scare
for more than an hour after completing an
opening round of 75 on Thursday. In fact, the
threat of disqualification hung over him as officials re-examined his scorecard which, by A
