Masters Fan Notebook: First-time fans track Tiger to start the week

Les Williams was wearing a shiny white ball cap with a large Tiger Woods logo sewn on the front as he chatted and ate with his wife Robin on the pine straw.

The pair arrived at 9:30 a.m. Monday at Augusta National, with a day planned around seeing four-time Masters Tournament winner Tiger Woods.

Photos: Tiger's Monday Masters Practice

“We love Tiger,” Les said. “He shows resilience, he hangs in there and he’s coming back. He’s not let things get him down.”

Robin said the the two started the day shopping, bought lunch and were getting ready to hit the greens and get a glimpse of Woods.

“After all of his comeback surgeries and everything, he’s going to be the comeback kid,” Robin said after taking a bite of her egg salad sandwich.

The Spartanburg, S.C., residents both said their favorite menu item at the Masters was the egg salad sandwich and that they’d end their day by making sure to grab pimento cheese sandwiches.

Friends Teaching Friends

Teenagers Josh Patel and Joshua Lolar came out to Augusta National on Monday to make one of Patel’s long-time dreams come true – follow around the world’s best golfers.

“Just getting to walk around and see the professional golfers up close in personal is really fun,” the 15-year-old Patel said. “It’s crazy. You’re walking with them and there’s nothing like it.”

Lolar, who isn’t into golf, came out to support Patel, who calls himself a huge golf fan.

“Josh will tell me, 'That’s No. 2 in the world right there,' and I’ll be like, 'Whoa,'” Lolar said.

The friends from Columbia, S.C., said they planned on hanging around the 17th and 18th holes to watch the players  come through.

The two are fans of the chicken biscuit and pimento cheese sandwich.

Photos: Monday Masters Patrons

“It’s not like some of the cheap concession food you get at another sports event,” Patel said. “You can tell they really put their time into it.”

First Time For the Family

Don Neder from Houston brought his three sons for a boys day out on the course.

David, Joseph and Michael all live in different places than their father, but converged for a special day. 

“It’s been awesome,” said Neder, 65. “It’s the first time for all of us so we got to walk around and experience the course. We got to see the back nine and watch them skip the balls across the water. We got to experience the gift shop. We hit just right as far as timing goes.”

Joseph, 26, was enamored with Augusta National's organization.

“The operations of it all,” Joseph said. “How clean everything is. How they keep all the lines moving, how much staff is involved with making this operate. It’s very impressive.”

Photos: Masters Monday Practice Round

All four men had different favorite golfers and looked forward to seeing them. David was able to watch Justin Thomas and Tiger Woods, while Michael and Don looked forward to seeing Texas native Jordan Spieth.

Michael said his favorite golfer is Dustin Johnson. The highlight of his day was seeing the current world’s ranked no. 2 play.

“I was happy to see him play,” Michael said. “The dude’s a man. He’s a little more aggressive than the rest. He’s a little more people-like outside of golf with the personality. He’s just a big powerful golfer.”