In that first year of '83, Seve Ballesteros won for the second time when he began the final round with a birdie-eagle-par-birdie burst. The course measured 6,925 yards. There was absolutely no rough. And me and my press brethren were housed in a '50s-era Quonset hut, set at a downgrade of about three feet which allowed water to rush inside every time it rained - which in 1983 was frequent, necessitating a Monday final round.

The '80s, though, were exciting times for the Masters. In 1985, a young German named Bernhard Langer was the champion. Few people had heard of Langer, but he became a fascinating story when he began to regale us with his life story - raised under poor circumstances, the son of a European prisoner of war who escaped when he jumped from a moving train in Czechoslovakia; Bernhard's struggles as he rode a bicycle to his caddy job as a 10-year-old; and finally, winning the Masters title.

For a long time on that Sunday, it looked as though Curtis Strange, he who had shot 80 to open the tournament, was going to be the champion. Strange had a four-shot lead after nine holes in the final round, and still was up by three as he stood on the 13th tee. But water shots on 13 and 15 doomed him - as they have doomed so many at the Masters.

Photo: © David Cannon/Getty Images Jack Nicklaus making birdie on 17 on the way to winning the 1986 Masters.

In 1986, 46-year-old Jack Nicklaus shot 30 on the final nine to win the greatest Masters ever. Regardless of where I stood, I could hear the roars as Jack birdied this hole, then that hole, until he finally finished the round 30 minutes before the final group. Greg Norman finished second with Tom Kite after his 4-iron went right into the crowd at 18, leading to a bogey and the coronation of Nicklaus. Norman, incidentally, would lead all four majors on Saturday in 1986, but alas, he could only win the British Open.

Norman was in for more heartbreak in 1987 when Larry Mize chipped in from the rough 120 feet away to win a playoff, turning a near-certain bogey into a sudden birdie. The sudden turn of events produced a roar that would rival that of Nicklausian magnitude, since Mize happened to be an Augusta native.

In 1988, Sandy Lyle won to start a run of six European victories in seven years. Nick Faldo won first in 1989 when Scott Hoch missed a playoff putt of less than three feet, then Faldo defeated Ray Floyd in '90 on the same 11th hole in another playoff as Floyd's approach sailed into a greenside lake.

Ian Woosnam won in 1991, despite an ugly incident when an American fan loudly and crudely insulted him as he played Sunday. And I remember well 1993, when Chip Beck incurred the wrath of the television announcers for laying up on the 15th - and losing to Langer. And then in 1994, Jose Maria Olazabal won the first time. One year later Olazabal would be bedridden for more than a year with a mysterious foot ailment.