"Mr. Payne is a wonderful gentleman; he sees that, he's listening, he knows."

Anthony Cotton writes about the quiet at Augusta National, and quotes Mark O'Meara extensively:

"It's definitely different," said Mark O'Meara, the 1998 Masters champ.

"If you hear Tiger Woods say that, the No. 1 player in the world and one of the most powerful players in the world, then, yeah, something's changed.

"People want to hear roars. That's what I think is so great about the (British) Open Championship. They really don't mess with the course that much. The weather and conditions dictate what the scoring's going to be like."

"I'm 51 now and I've had my day in the sun, but I'd rather see it to where some of the holes like 7, and a couple of others, where maybe they back off a little bit. Where you can see a guy post a 31 on Sunday, or make a couple of eagles and birdies," O'Meara said. "I think Mr. Payne is a wonderful gentleman; he sees that, he's listening, he knows."

I interviewed O'Meara recently for Golf World and he really made the point about how much less the course is "running." Boy was that evident this week.

"I wouldn't be surprised if in the future they back off on some of the length and try to make it a little bit faster.

"Speed the course up and it's always going to play tougher — even if it's short, it doesn't matter. If it's firm and fast, I don't care what the length is, it's going to play difficult. I don't think it's going to be back to where it was when I won in '98, but I do think they're going to make the players think a little bit more."