1952 Masters special for couple

Sam Snead won the Masters Tournament in 1952, the first time Don and Ace Millsaps, of Charlotte, N.C., attended the golf event.

Ace Millsaps remembers the year because she was pregnant with their daughter, Sydney.

“We still think the greatest thing on the course is the tree behind the (leaderboard) on No. 18,” Don Millsaps said. “The shape and age of it are remarkable.”

The couple recently gave their collection of tournament badges to their grandson to sell on the Internet.

Beth Thompson watched a turtle sun itself on the edge of the 16th green as her son, Michael Thompson, lined up his putt.

“Doesn’t get any better than that,” she said. “He (the turtle) just stays there. It’s like he’s watching the golf.”

Thompson said she also saw the turtles earlier in the week.

“He’s got a pretty good view there,” said Michael Thompson’s brother-in-law, Daryl Hodgkinson. “He’s got the best view in the house.”

Christie Smith’s collection of commemorative Masters pins adorns the brim of her straw hat. Smith, of Olney, Md., started collecting the pins, each representing a different hole on the course, seven years ago.

“It’s just a reminder of the fun times we had here at Augusta,” she said.

Smith wears the hat only during the Masters and occasionally on beach trips, she said.