FanHouse ArnoldPalmer

Tiger's been here before at Augusta. Seven times, in fact, he's failed to break 70 in the first two rounds of the Masters, and seven times he's watched someone else slip on a green jacket Sunday evening.

The 2009 Masters are underway, and unlike last year, when Arnold Palmer hit the ceremonial first shot into a cloud of fog, it has been an incredible day, weather-wise, from the start.

Palmer's first shot this year found the middle of the fairway and the first group built on that momentum. In the second group of the day was Par-3 Tournament winner Tim Clark, who, in typical form, bogeyed his first two par-3s before getting it together and reeling off four birdies on his closing 12 holes before posting a 4-under 68, leading the tournament in the clubhouse.

Right behind Clark are Ross Fisher, Kevin Sutherland, and Prayad Marksaeng who all posted 3-under 69s and will enjoy the rest of the mid-70 degree day fine-tuning their game while other golfers try to put the finishing touches on some rather salty (read: "good") rounds.

Sebastian Junger wrote a non-fiction book about a 1991 Halloween Nor'easter that was, as you probably know, known as "The Perfect Storm". Play just started at Augusta National in the 2009 Masters (the gentleman above starts his day at 1:52 PM ET), but the story lines are quickly adding up to what could quickly become a Perfect Storm at Augusta. In fact, could the story lines at this year's Masters make it the most memorable Masters ever? Let's dive in.

Golf is a game of superstitions. People mark their balls the same way every time (tails up for me), prepare the same, and, if things are going well, even eat the same meal all week. If golf had a Taj Mahal of superstitions, it would be winning the Par-3 Tournament at the Masters, a nine-hole event played every year since 1960 on the Wednesday before tournament day.

No player has won the Par-3 Tournament and gone on to win the Masters. Nobody. Ever.

Two years ago, Augusta National announced plans to show one hour of Masters coverage on its web site prior to the telecast. It was a novel, technologically savvy move for the august bunch best known for green jackets, pimento sandwiches and and blue water in Rae's Creek every April.

The club decided to go online a year after masters.org received 3.7 million unique users and 3 million video streams of live action. And now, in this Tweet-tastic, news-on demand age, the Masters has an iPhone app. Seriously.

On Sunday, Tiger Woods won for the 66th time on the PGA Tour. He's been the World No. 1 for 542 of the previous 594 weeks, dating back to June 15, 1997, when he first knocked Greg Norman from atop the rankings.

It was at the 1999 Bay Hill Invitational that Tiger Woods and Steve Williams first worked together. Woods wound up cashing a 56th-place check that week ($5,625 -- woo hoo!), and it would be his worst finish at Arnold Palmer's event.

---

---

The Bob Hope Chrysler Classic used to be a big stop on the PGA Tour. Arnold Palmer, Johnny Miller, Fred Couples and Phil Mickelson have all claimed the title since Hope put his name on the event. The problem is, with all the available money these days and the ability for top pros to pick and choose their events, most of the big names avoid the Hope because they don't want to deal with 90 holes, slow rounds and, well, obnoxious celebrites.

Can you blame them?

In golf news these days, there are basically two things to talk about -- Tiger Woods and Tiger Woods' bum knee.

The top golfer in the land (as of now) has been quoted as saying he has absolutely no clue when he will be back on the links in top tournament form, but Mark O'Meara said he could see Tiger being back as early as February.

"Tiger is doing really well and he is pleased with the way the operation went," said O'Meara.

"I'm afraid the (Dubai Desert) Classic (on Jan 29) is coming round a little early for him to be able to defend his title. That's a real pity. He is going to aim for a return in late February or early March.

He is not going to start hitting balls until the end of December so it would be pushing it for him to come here in January. I imagine he will make his comeback in one of the Florida tournaments. His plan is to play a couple of events before the Masters [in April]."