Singh
chooses Thai for Masters menu
Tiger Woods
was content with cheeseburgers and milk shakes. Sandy Lyle wanted
a native Scottish dish known as haggis. Sushi and fajitas were on
Mark O'Meara's plate.
For Vijay Singh,
chicken panang curry was the order of the day.
As defending
Masters champion, Singh got to pick the menu for the champions dinner
on Tuesday night. He called on close friends Charlie and Nan Niyomkul,
who run the popular Tamarind Thai restaurant in Atlanta.
The couple
put together a family-style menu, beginning with spring rolls and
chicken satay for the appetizers, followed by scallop and shrimp
coconut lemongrass soup.
For the main
dish, chicken panang curry -- Singh's favorite -- was accompanied
by baked sea bass with three-favor chili sauce, rack of lamb with
yellow curry sauce and baked sea scallops with pepper garlic sauce.
For desert:
lychee sorbee. Washing it all down: Singha beer, a native Thai beverage.
``It's a goooood
menu,'' Singh said.
The Niyomkuls
set up their own kitchen at Augusta National on Tuesday afternoon,
with four friends assisting in the preparation. They also planned
to take time explaining the exotic dishes to former champions who
might be a bit skeptical about trying the spicy Asian cuisine.
``It's something
new,'' Charlie Niyomkul said. ``A lot of the players do like Thai
food: Sandy Lyle, Ian Woosnam, Nick Faldo. For the older guys, we
have set aside 45 minutes to educate those people. We'll just go
around and talk to them, try to talk them into it. It's going to
be some nice food.''
MICKELSON'S CADDIE
In a sport
where the golfer-caddie relationship is fragile, Phil Mickelson
has maintained the same guy on his bag since joining the PGA Tour.
Mickelson said
it's simple why he has maintained a nearly decade-long relationship
with Jim Mackay.
``I've got
the best caddy on the tour,'' Mickelson said. ``I really do. I feel
very fortunate to have him, and I want to make sure he doesn't leave
me.''
The golfer
gave an example of Mackay's attention to detail. At The International,
a Colorado tournament that Mickelson has won twice, the caddie keeps
a chart documenting every shot.
``It is the
most difficult place to pull a club because the altitude is so difficult
to judge,'' Mickelson said. ``He has written down what yardage we've
had, what club I've hit, how far it flew, what the temperature was,
what the wind conditions were and ultimately where it ended up.
``Now, after
eight years of five rounds a day, that's 40 shots we have to go
back on, saying, 'You had a 9-iron, you had 156 and it flew 152'
and so forth.''
Mickelson also
appreciates his caddie's professionalism.
``He's never
been late in the nine years we've been together,'' Mickelson said.
``I just want to make sure I do everything I can so that he doesn't
leave.''
TIGER'S VIEW
Tiger Woods
loves competing, and loves winning. His glare of intensity coming
down the stretch of a tournament is unmatched in the game.
Sometimes,
though, Woods thinks people shouldn't take sports so seriously.
``To be honest
with you, it is a special tournament and we are here at The Masters
and that is very special,'' Woods said. ``But, you know what? I
guarantee you, come Sunday night, win or lose, life is going to
go on. The sun will come up on Monday.''
Woods was quick
to say he is quite eager to begin play.
``But it's
not -- what I've learned from playing out here, it's not life or
death. I enjoy competing and it is fun. Take it as that.''
LOVE THE BRIDESMAID
Davis Love
III has one major win, the 1997 PGA Championship, and a bit of a
reputation as a bridesmaid in the majors.
He tried to
put his failure to finish off some majors in a different light Tuesday
by using some other sports as analogies.
``You can look
at stats a lot of ways. Duke has only got three national championships
out of how many,'' Love said. ``If a guy has been to the Final Four
all these times or the Braves have been in the playoffs every year
in the last nine years and they have only won one, well, they are
the best team in baseball in the last 10 years other than the Yankees.''
Still, Love
admitted he would have liked to have won a few more majors.
``Yeah, I wish
I would have won more,'' he said. ``I wish I won every week. What
do I expect to do? I expect to win a bunch, and I just haven't done
it.''
DIVOTS
It began raining
about 10 a.m., delaying practice rounds for about two hours and
softening greens that were extremely slick on Monday. ... For the
second year in a row, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player
will play together in the first two rounds. Between them, they have
13 green jackets.
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