I mentioned earlier that the Masters is the only major that doesn’t give out inside-the-ropes armbands, which means us members of the fourth estate are left to fight the masses like everyone else.

The result is that you risk missing a lot, and that’s why a number of writers spend most of Sunday watching the tournament on TV from the comfort of the press room.

My feeling, though, is that it’s Sunday at the Masters, so even if it means watching Tiger Woods tee off while standing on someone else’s toes, it’s probably worth it. And that was the case just now, when I tried to keep track of Tiger Woods’ adventures on the front nine alongside a few other writers and even Woods’ pregnant wife, Elin (To be clear, Elin wasn’t “with” us as much as she was in our vicinity. In other words, I’m pretty sure she’s not mentioning in her blog that she walked the front nine with me) .

I saw Woods birdie the second. I missed completely what he did on the fifth. After Woods bogeyed the sixth. I rushed to the eight hole and had to have someone else describe what happened on No. 7. Damon Hack had a TV radio that allowed him to hear the audio of the CBS telecast, so he kept on peppering us with updates. But even then, if Damon had told me that Retief Goosen did a stip tease at Amen Corner, I’d have to take his word for it.

Of course, I’m back inside the press room now in order to file this update. Plus, there’s about 17 people in contention right now, so it no longer makes sense to follow one guy.

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Meanwhile, maybe it’s time to dust off that Rory Sabbatini epic I’ve been working on. The South African has a one-shot lead over countryman Retief Goosen and Stuart Appleby through 13 holes, while Woods looks utterly adrift after his bogey on No. 10. The four-time Masters champ is 2-over par and three shots off the lead.

I always thought the fact that he has never come from behind in a major was just a statistical oddity. But maybe there’s something more to it than I thought…