Green aces the 16th

AUGUSTA, Ga. - There have already been some early fireworks on the par-3 16th hole, where the cup is positioned in its traditional final-round Masters position.

Australian Nathan Green, in the first pairing of the day, made a hole-in-one with a 6-iron on No. 16, which is playing 176 yards Sunday. Green's ball hit about 20 feet right of the hole and rolled into the cup.

"You could see another one [ace] there today," said Green, who closed with a 75. "It's sort of set up for it. It definitely funnels in there."

While Green will pick up some crystal for the hole-in-one, the prize won't match the  $500,000 (Aus.) he won when he made an ace in the final round of the 2001 Ericsson Masters in his homeland. "That's always probably going to be more memorable," said Green, who used to work in his parents' crematorium but used the hole-in-one bounty to pay for expenses while competing on the Nationwide Tour before making it on the PGA Tour. "But to do it on No. 16 at Augusta is a good one to have as well."

-- *Bill Fields *