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AUGUSTA, Ga., April 4— The 71st playing of golf's first major will answer a wide variety of questions. But even before Arnold Palmer hits the much anticipated ceremonial first shot, we can safely assume the following:
1. A short hitter will not win. If the cold-but-dry forecast is correct, the Masters will be played without a rain delay for the first time since 1997. Still, despite the dry weather, Augusta National is playing to all of its 7,445 yards.
"There's a lot more grass on the fairways this year, and I think they've been watering them," said Scott Gneiser, who caddies for David Toms. "We hit a drive on 5 right up the gut and splat! We saw water fly up from the tee."
The 2006 U.S. Open champion, Geoff Ogilvy, said: "I think they're watering them because it hasn't rained that much."
Jerry Kelly agreed. "Are they ever," he said. "I'm getting one, two yards of roll on my driver, and it's kind of killing me."
Alas, the greens are not being watered, so short hitters have little or no chance of holding them with long-iron and fairway-wood approach shots.
2. We will not see a repeat of 2005, when Tiger Woods beat Chris DiMarco in sudden death. Two reasons: DiMarco is not long enough for the course the way it's playing right now, and he's been fighting a shoulder injury.
3. A 50-something will make a valiant run. With age comes wisdom, and knowing the course counts for a lot here. Ben Crenshaw made headlines when he shot 71-72 Thursday and Friday last year to advance to the weekend. (He finished 47th.)
This year's Champions Tour newsmaker could be Fred Funk, Craig Stadler, Tom Watson, Fuzzy Zoeller or Bernhard Langer. (Oops. Langer's only 49.)
"You're talking about a real lottery there," Crenshaw said. "Throw eight balls in the air with our names on them."
4. A 40-something will have a chance to win on Sunday. Vijay Singh, 44, has looked very good this year — winning twice — and has finished out of the top 10 at Augusta just once since winning the 2000 Masters.
Jose Maria Olazabal, 41, missed the cut at the Shell Houston Open last week, but he's won twice here. When he was last seen at Augusta, he was shooting a final-round 66 to tie for 3rd in 2006.
Fred Couples, 47, has made 22 straight cuts at Augusta (a record) and tied for third last year. But he's fighting a bad back that's limited him to two starts this year, at the FBR Open (Cut) and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (WD). His caddie Joe LaCava has been working for Davis Love III this year.
Couples has been getting treatments from energy healer and massage therapist Jim Weathers underneath the locker room this week in hopes of recovering in time to at least play, if not extend the streak. In a potentially good omen, he shot 3-under in the par-3 contest Wednesday.
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