Diverse crowd at the top

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Fifty-three of the 96 competitors in the Masters are from outside the United States. And the strong international flavor was evident on the leader board a few minutes ago. The top 10 a little past noon on Day One consisted of a South African (Tim Clark), Englishman (Ross Fisher), Argentine (Angel Cabrera), German (Bernhard Langer), Thai (Prayad Marksaeng), Spaniard (Miguel Angel Jimenez), Japanese (Shingo Katayama) and three Americans (Kevin Sutherland, Nick Watney and Ken Duke).

In Gary Player's final Masters, who all but pioneered golf globetrotting, it seems fitting that the game's growing globalization is front and center.

-- Bill Fields