The marshall on the practice range cast his eyes down the line of players hitting ball after ball towards the giant green netting that prevents balls going over the boundary fence on to Washington Road.

Then, one player caught his eye. It was Sandy Lyle, who was wearing a distinctive cowboy hat. "Looks like Shingo (Katayama), with that hat," laughed the marshall, obviously convinced that the style didn't suit the Scot.

What he didn't know was that the sun is no friend of Lyle's, that the hat - just like the protective sun screen he smothers onto his arms and face - was there for a reason. The week before last, Lyle underwent minor surgery at the Mayo Clinic near where he lives in Ponte Vedra, Florida, for a growth on his arm. He was lucky, it wasn't - as was feared - skin cancer.

"It wasn't a growth," said Lyle yesterday. "It was more like a small contained, low grade abscess . . . (but) if it was left that way, it could develop into a cancerous growth. I'd had it for a couple of months, where there was old scar tissue. It's not like it is the end of the world. They just let you know that, in the future, you've got to keep a check on it. But I've always been careful where the sun is concerned."

The surgical procedure was relatively routine, lasting about 20 minutes and resulted in seven stitches which have been removed.

"The only thing is that it is in an awkward spot," said Lyle, revealing the scar on the inside of his elbow. "There's no twinge now, nothing to be worried about. If it had been three or four days ago, I would have said I'd have to look after it very carefully. But it has healed up pretty good. It's pretty well hung together with superglue."

Lyle became the fourth non-American to capture the Masters title when he won in dramatic fashion in 1988, hitting a seven-iron approach from a fairway bunker on the 72nd hole and holing the 10-foot birdie putt to win by a stroke from Mark Calcavecchia.

This is his 24th Masters appearance, and the sense of excitement remains as strong as ever.

"There's always a spring in your step when you come through the front entrance onto that driveway . . . hopefully, it should be a good week. It's a bit of a pilgrimage, one that always gets my juices going and I'll be playing to win."

At least Lyle made the pilgrimage to Augusta with his golf clubs, which is more than can be said for Jesper Parnevik who arrived on Sunday only to realise he had left his clubs in the garage of his Florida home.

"He arrived to play the Masters without his clubs?" said an incredulous Nick Faldo. "What does that tell you? That maybe that volcano dust has been a bit too strong? I think that molten magma has burned a few pathways in the grey matter."

Fortunately for Parnevik, a neighbour who goes by the name of Tiger Woods hadn't yet left his residence . . . and agreed to chauffeur the Swede's golf clubs to Augusta National.