Masters Sunday can't be missed

That last day does not bring extinction ... but change of place.

-- Cicero

The old man will get up this morning, find his paper and read the list of Masters Tournament leaders.

He will go down the column, review the names, look at the scores and decide who will win.

The names have changed from long-ago Sundays he remembers, but the drama remains -- a mystery that will be revealed before the sun goes down.

That's because today is the final day of the Masters, a day that always begins with an uncertain outcome.

That's why it's special.

Just ask Bill O'Connor , of New South Wales, Australia.

He came halfway across the globe this year to see this tournament for the first time, and he probably saw countryman Greg Norman play for the last time.

Mr. Norman once entered the final round with the most comfortable of leads. It vanished.

Mr. O'Connor will not. You don't travel that far to leave early.

"We'll be here to the end," he said about today.

Walt Williams , of Atlanta, will be there, too.

He says finales are meant to be seen, and besides, this is his first tournament.

"We'll be here 'til the end," he said, "even if it rains."

For the record, it probably won't.

Nancy Joyce , of Charleston, S.C., says she'll watch the last day on television.

"It's just better to do it that way," she said last week, and she has seen every tournament since second grade, so she should know.

She will also not be alone. Around the world, millions will watch the last hours of the last day of the 73rd Masters.

They will watch because they want to know who will win.

They will watch like the old man, who will sit in front of his TV with his wife of a half-century and wait for the outcome.

He made his pick earlier that morning, but he will choose not to reveal it until the last ball drops and a green coat is draped on the champion's shoulders. Later, when his son and grandson call and describe Sunday's round, the old man will wisely say he knew it all along.

It is the only predictable thing on this most unpredictable of days.

Reach Bill Kirby at (706) 823-3344 or bill.kirby@augustachronicle.com.