CADDIE'S ROLE/COLIN BYRNE:NO SOONER had the commentator Nick Faldo given the background to why we were looking at Justin Rose perform at such a high level in Augusta, Georgia, on Friday evening during the second round than doubt and confusion crept into Rose's carefully planned strategy.

Faldo had been explaining how Rose, in order to reach an elite status in world golf, had employed a chef over the festive season to ensure he was getting a balanced diet.

If this doesn't smack of having too much money or a debilitating eye for detail then I don't know what does. The young Englishman proceeded to make a cobblers of the 15th with a triple bogey, followed quickly by a three-putt bogey on the next, something we all could have done on a fast-food diet.

In the Butler Cabin, Gary Player was ranting on about the perils of obesity, the daily consumption of processed food and an excessive intake of sugar as he suggested he was fitter than most 30-year-olds and was worthy of his 52nd appearance at the Masters next year despite having shot a totally-uncompetitive 18 over par.

There was a strong suggestion from the scores of the old-timers that Augusta really was no country for old men inside the ropes.

The appetite for nostalgia in the haven of central control is insatiable. We read about the past to understand the future but lingering in the past makes it impossible to move into the future. Move over lads and let the competitors compete.

Perhaps you were sheltered from the hourly trip down memory lane in Europe. Over here watching the Masters' carefully-controlled coverage there was an hourly nostalgia trip; the weepy music droned and the heroic tales of Arnie, Jack and Gary were repeated ad nauseam. Despite a constant reminder in the local newspaper about the legends of Augusta, they seemed to have a healthy balance of information.

In fact on Thursday last I fumbled with my Augusta Chronicle before my first cup of coffee of the day thinking that my eyesight had deteriorated badly over-night. It turned out I was looking at the 3-D section which had a full supplement of photos from last year which all looked out of focus until you looked at them three dimensionally through the rose-tinted glasses that were provided by the paper.

The event itself is trying to move into the future; last year us caddies were provided for the first time with a tour-standard yardage book.

This year a very sophisticated pin sheet was presented to us each day.

There are 3-D newspapers and a website dedicated to the wishes of the contemporary patron in today's Masters. Unfortunately, we still have boiler suits and questionable rules.

The place is a bundle of contradictions; the most sophisticated aeration system under the putting surfaces (the first course in the world to have such a system) and the caddie wears a boiler suit (as far as I am aware, the last course in the world to enforce the wearing of such uncomfortable and demeaning attire).

With the temperatures in the 80s the painter and decorator outfits were particularly uncomfortable earlier last week.

Golf at Augusta is a game of inches and when things don't turn out as planned you could declare that the inches won. For those experienced Masters campaigners you could say the more trips you have around the place the luckier you get.

I looked at Tiger as he weaved through Amen Corner last Friday evening and despite his wealth of experience and success around Augusta the look of intensity was deeper and much longer than in any other event of equal importance throughout the year.

Such are the demands of the most subtle course in the world. With the devious pin positions even the experienced campaigner will face near impossible two-putt situations where he is putting to a hole while standing at a 90 degree angle to it.

You most definitely would not want to put yourself through this every week, it is way too mentally draining.

The theme at this year's Masters was the 50th anniversary of the coining of the phrase "Amen Corner", which refers to the 11th green, and 12th and 13th holes. Herbert Warren Wind , a celebrated sports writer, wanted to capture the unique atmosphere he experienced at that part of the course. He was a jazz enthusiast and was referencing a song the Chicago band led by Milton Mezzrow recorded called 35th And Calumet, which had Shoutin' In That Amen Corner on the flip side.

The only part of the course isolated from the gallery had been christened in 1958 by Wind. A retired executive from the sports management group IMG has since researched the song and contested that Mezzrow never recorded Shoutin' in that Amen Corner.

Regardless of the detail, it is an appropriate name for these sphincter-twitching three holes at Augusta.

I have been a regular visitor to the Masters over the past seven years and the one tradition I really do appreciate is their credentials system.

When you present yourself at the gate on Monday morning in order to gain access to the course they direct you to the credentials office. There, your photo identification awaits you with a photo dating back to the first year you came to the Masters.

You can keep the rest of the old retrospection they indulge in throughout Masters week apart from the old photo identity system which really does make you feel so young.