Golf Central

On this day in 1979, 27-year-old Fuzzy Zoeller became the first golfer since Gene Sarazen to win the Masters in his first attempt (and Sarazen doesn't really count because the event was only two years old in 1935), when he birdied the second playoff hole, knocking off Ed Sneed and Tom Watson, and celebrating by chucking his putter skyward ...

It's gone a bit downhill at Augusta for Fuzzy (who also won the '84 US Open) since that unlikely triumph. A notorious jokester, Zoeller was caught in a swirl of controversy after making inflammatory remarks about "fried chicken and collard greens" after Tiger Woods' 1997 win. And in 2008, he shot 81-79 to miss the cut at Augusta again, becoming a symbol for some who don't believe former champions should have lifetime exemptions.

As for us, we like to see the old guys at Augusta. It's called tradition, and the Masters is ripe with traditions. In fact, it's one of the few tournaments that really has it ...

Also, on this day in 1984 Ben Crenshaw won the first of his two Green Jackets, putting like a genius and firing a final-round 68 to beat Watson by two ...

Believe it or not, there's a real world outside of Augusta, Georgia - and in it, in 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first black player to appear in a major league baseball game, breaking that sport's colour line, when he made his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He's not a golfer, but Jackie Robinson is still one of our heroes ...

And strangely enough, in 1955 in frumpy little Des Plaines, Illinois near Chicago's O'Hare Airport, the first McDonald's restaurant was opened by entrepreneur Ray Kroc. Today there are more than 31,000 locations of the ubiquitous fast-food chain, of which Tiger Woods was once a huge fan, and which takes more than $22 billion a year in revenue. That's success, golf fans. Today, the free-entry McDonald's Museum is located on the original site in a replica building ...

So it's Victor Regalado! as they exclaimed with joy in Tijuana in 1948 for the only native-born Mexican to win on the PGA Tour (twice); to old-school rock 'n' roller Marty Wilde (69, pops of Kim); Brummie rasta poet Benjamin Zephaniah (50); hot-in-a-strange-way thespian Emma Thompson (49); Page 3 fave Sam Fox (42); Canadian punching bag Arturo Gatti (36) and now-legal Harry Potter starlet Emma Watson (18) ... 'Til tomorrow!