The players change each year, at least some of them. Arnie and Jack are no longer in the lineup, and this year will be last of 52 starts for the Black Knight, Gary Player.

Tiger and Phil are no longer the young guns, but the keepers and makers of traditions. Some who would be king have made their challenges, fallen back and faded, making way for a new crop of players to try their hand. Time passes, leaving the elders no longer competitive to a new and much longer game.

The pimento cheese and egg salad sandwiches on uber white bread are still available for a buck-fifty and a cold beer still costs a dollar. There are always lines at the gift shop because this is one place that still has a sense of exclusivity. If you want Masters merchandise, you can buy it only here, and you can buy it only once week a year. It's simply not sold any other way. Concessions are here for the benefit of the patrons, said one of the security people assigned to a player.

Fans are called patrons at The Masters. How does that make you feel? Pretty special, just like everything else here. As a second-time visitor, the experience is even better. The first time around, you spend the whole time trying to get used to the place and figure out where you are. Everything is new and there are so many sights and sounds to soak in. The second time around, you know a little more and can focus better. It enriches the experience in many ways, but of course it's never quite like the first time.

There is a big difference between seeing a practice round and going to the actual tournament. From Thursday through Sunday, the players are focused on the course. They don't show much emotion, rarely acknowledge the crowd other than a tip of the cap after a good shot. Emotions are close to the surface, and the slightest letup can lead to an errant shot.

But on practice days, players are much lighter. They smile and joke with each other, get their photos taken with the crowd, and are overall very engaging. If they hit a poor shot, they get a do-over. Padraig Harrington smiled his entire way around the course, joked with the caddies and playing partner J.M. Singh. Newcomer Steve Wilson took time to get his photo taken with several people at the tee box, and spoke to fans as he walked along the fairway. Nice guy, you hope he does well.

Once players get to the greens, they rarely putt at the cup. They are more interested in where the cups are going to be placed during the competition. It's kind of odd to watch four players all putting in seemingly random fashion. But there's really nothing random about it.

The first-time contestants seemed to play most often by themselves. Maybe they don't have a lot of friends yet. Or, maybe they can learn more by going solo. They certainly seem to hit more shots than the old-timers. Most seem more serious, more intense. To make the cut, they have to be focused until Friday.

One of the great traditions on practice days is on Redbud, the No. 16 hole. There is a pond from just in front of the green to the edge of the green. This is the hole where Tiger Woods made a dramatic slow-mo chip-in a few years ago. After hitting their tee shots, the players move to the edge of the pond and try to skip a ball across the pond and land it on the green. About half of them make it, and when they do it is cheered. When the ball doesn't make it across, the player is booed in jest. On Tuesday, Vijay Singh not only got it across the water and on the green, but holed it for an ace. The crowd roared. This is a good example of the relaxed atmosphere on practice days.

Whatever day you can get there, it's a special treat. The Masters, because it's always in the same place, has a tradition that no other tournament has. Augusta National is a special golf course. Come this weekend, we'll see Tiger and Phil squaring off, a few new guys will be making some noise, and the old guard, including Player, will no longer be in the mix.

Rebirth and renewal, it's the tradition of The Masters. And the azaleas really are as beautiful as advertised.

Pat Taylor is the Advertising Director for The Pilot and can be contacted at pat@thepilot.com.