Masters already a hit with the fans

The organisers of the 66th Masters were today forced to issue injury bulletins rather than scorecards as a spectator was pole-axed by the first shot of the opening round and American Ryder Cup star Hal Sutton succumbed to a pulled muscle.

Augusta National Golf Club is steeped in tradition, and one of its most treasured is to have an honorary starter.

"Slammin' Sammy" Snead, a three-time Masters champion who has performed the duty of starter with a variety of partners since 1984, came to the first tee having been introduced to a large gallery as being "purported to have the sweetest swing in golf ".

Alas, it turned sour for local resident Phil Harrison, who took 89-year-old Snead's wildly hooked drive full on the bridge of his nose. The blow broke Harrison's glasses and for a while he lay dazed on the ground before being taken away to a first-aid post to be treated for abrasions.

Sutton never even made the first tee, his withdrawal leaving countryman Frank Lickliter and Britain's Nick Faldo without a third member of their playing group.

After a similarly wayward opening drive, Faldo managed to par the first but a bogey five at the fifth, an uphill dog-leg, dropped him off the early leaderboard behind pace-setters Jerry Kelly, Scott Verplank, Kirk Triplett and Jeff Sluman, all of the United States, who were one under par on the front nine.