From original photographs of Augusta and comparison with the course now there is more than a hint of change. The almost surgical detail of the way the course is looked after may echo MacKenzie's trade. But Augusta, though they will not admit it, is a pedigree product still evolving.In 1947 Jones was stricken with a degenerative spinal disease that eventually put him in a wheelchair He remained president of Augusta until his death in 1971. It was Roberts who fashioned the club's image, who insisted on its independence and who cracked the whip others, even Jones himself, felt. Fewer FOBs and more CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) dominated Augusta's tycoon-ridden membership under Roberts' dictatorship Augusta is, always has been, establishment. Eisenhower's successful Presidential campaign was launched and almost run from Augusta Roberts helped organise that. He also organised the dumping of Nixon from the Vice Presidential ticket in 1952.That the club is almost exclusively white and is as much a reflection of the make-up of the Fortune 500 richest businessmen as a racist slur.

But it also seems an inherent part of the southern states' culture.Only when forced, as they were recently when Lee Trevino and others threatened to boycott the Masters unless the club changed its membership policy did the club relent and admit its first black member But a few black faces in the clubhouse change little. If Trevino wanted appearances changed, then fine, Augusta would change its appearance. That is the business the club has always been in.Perhaps the pinnacle horror of such a policy is the treatment Roberts handed out to his long-term friend Jones' disease had worsened. The legend in his wheelchair could hardly hold on to a cigarette. At that time the "tradition" was for Jones to present the Masters champion with the coveted Green Jacket But image must have got the better of Roberts. The extremely ill Jones was banned from taking part in the televised jacket ceremony. The fall-out was that Roberts was not invited to attend Jones' funeral in 1971.Regardless of Roberts' prejudices and autocracy, his created tradition will be on display again this week.

Try telling anyone in golf it is not real and no one will believe you.. Leaving aside such arcane pursuits as clay-pigeon shooting, we can agree that, of all sports, it is at rugby (both league and union varieties) that England are now best. In rugby union, they occupy a world position between third and fifth. The optimistic will claim that they could and should have beaten France in that spiritless play-off for third place in the World Cup. The more realistic may say that their place lies below France's, and that Australia - in addition to the inevitable South Africa and New Zealand - are above them as well No matter. England are clearly now a force in international rugby such as they have not been since the early 1920s, when, in any case, worldwide competition did not exist on anything like its present scale. For their current pre-eminence, they can thank, first, Geoff Cooke and, second, the Courage Leagues, in particular the intense competition which has been generated by the First and Second Divisions and did not exist previously - when, for example, Wasps were not even on Harlequins' fixture list. There are those who pay tribute also to the Rugby Football Union's famous "structure" of A-teams, development squads and the rest I am afraid I do not.

Young players who do not reach the squads go unjustly unnoticed; while others who find a place and are then discarded become discouraged But this is by the way. My view is that English rugby of the 1990s is the creation of Cooke and the leagues.Cooke was always - how can one put it? - uneasy in his relations with the RFU. As far as I know, he has played no part in the present negotiations or, rather, absence of negotiations with that body. But there is something of what William Blake called fearful symmetry in the conflict between clubs and union. There is also a paradox in that the union under Cliff Brittle - whom the union establishment did not want as chairman of its executive committee - claims to be representing the clubs too, though in his case the smaller ones.The first step is for the RFU to make a formal and belated recommendation for entry into negotiations with the First and Second Division clubs Brittle is not or should not be allowed to be a dictator He can be given instructions constitutionally If he disagrees with them, he can resign.

I am writing, by the way,

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before the announcement of whether or not there will be relegation from the First Division. Whatever the decision, it is a disgrace that it has taken so long to make, until the very last month of the season.If there are negotiations, as there must be, their outcome will be determined less by rationality and common sense than by the resolution of interests, of which financial interests will predominate. I am here giving what would, in my opinion, be the ideal solution rather than any that will be adopted.Both divisional and county competitions would be abolished completely, consigned to the rugby museum. Why Brittle supports the counties, and Fran Cotton has suddenly become attached to the divisional competition, are equally mysterious to me. The sole purpose of the County Championship has long been to allow Cornishmen, Yorkshiremen and others from the outer fringes to come up to Twickenham to make a lot of noise, deluding themselves the while that their rugby prowess is insufficiently recognised in the Courage League tables.The divisional competition is a more serious affair.