It was a jarring start to a tradition-bound tournament that has had its share of jarring changes over the past year, the past week, the past 24 hours.

Four-time champion Arnold Palmer announced he would say goodbye to the tournament he helped make famous. Six-time champion Jack Nicklaus skipped the event because of a bad back.

Three other champions -- Doug Ford, Gay Brewer and Billy Casper -- were invited to the club but told by mail not to bring their golf bags. Augusta National thereby started to end the venerable tradition of allowing past winners to play in the Masters as long as they like.

``Actually, I'm glad they made the decision for me,'' Casper said.

Then there were the changes to the course itself.

Yes, the powers that be have tinkered with their hallowed layout through the years, but never to this extent. Nine holes got facelifts this time, and almost no conversation has been complete this week without mention of how the extra 285 yards have affected play.

``I still flash back to when this whole place was dirt,'' Tom Fazio, the architect who oversaw the changes, said as he watched Tiger Woods tee off. ``Then, to flash forward to Tiger, it's exciting.''

Technological improvements in golf -- better clubs, balls, agronomy -- threatened to turn Augusta National into a relic. Club members chafed when Woods hit a sand wedge from 75 yards on the 18th hole last year to sew up his second Masters title.

``It takes us a while to make a decision down here,'' Augusta National chairman Hootie Johnson said. ``But the rapid pace of change has kind of speeded up our decision-making process.''

While Augusta was quick to adapt to technology, moving with the shifts in society has always been more of a challenge for the golf club born and bred in the cradle of Southern tradition.

One of the Augusta's few black members, U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Lloyd Ward, went public this week with the idea that Augusta ought to start allowing women in as members.

Johnson said, ``We have no exclusionary policies as far as our membership is concerned,'' but he wouldn't comment further.

Exclusionary practices at golf clubs were brought very much into public view in 1990, when Shoal Creek, an all-white club in Birmingham, Ala., nearly lost the PGA Championship when it balked at admitting blacks.

The outcry took such clubs to task, especially those in the South. Augusta adapted, adding a handful of black members -- a veritable revolution for a club that didn't even invite a black player to play in the Masters until 1975.

``I want to talk to members of Augusta and say, quite frankly, that's simply not enough,'' Ward said. ``You've got to have a broader membership, and that includes women.''

Yet another change will be seen this weekend, when Augusta allows CBS to extend its final-round coverage to show the leaders playing all 18 holes.

It's an acknowledgment that some traditions, no matter how special, must change with the times.

This isn't to say, of course, that tradition is completely a thing of the past here.

Augusta National has held firm against the onslaught of consumerism and mass marketing that has overrun golf, sports and society in general. The Masters has no title sponsor. And there are no corporate chalets lined up on these grounds, or garish advertisements to overwhelm the course.

``It's just pure golf,'' Greg Norman said. ``There's really no hoopla. You have a great driving range, and you walk onto the first tee and just play golf.''

Yet golf is not the same as it was when the great Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts teamed up 70 years ago to turn a nursery into one of the greatest golf courses in the world.

``I think Mr. Roberts and Bobby Jones set a pace for excellence and for courtesy and for doing the right thing,'' Johnson said. ``We just try to continue that.''