Fans Notebook: Fitbits on the course

MASTERS PATRONS must leave their phones behind, but that doesn’t stop some from wearing technology on their wrists.

California couple Jerry and Carrie Fudenna both sported Fitbits that tracked their activity on the golf course.

Though they had been together all day, Jerry’s Fitbit registered more steps – 25,092 – than Carrie’s, which had 22,404.

“He always gets more than me,” she said, adding that the nine to 12 miles was about what she walks playing a round of golf.

As for the discrepancy, her husband had an explanation: “I have shorter legs.”

WHEN LANE SAUSER of Auburn, Ala., tells friends she doesn’t know how many times she’s been to the Masters, they sometimes find it odd she can’t remember each visit.

Sauser’s father, former Georgia state auditor Ernest B. Davis, started receiving badges and taking his family to the tournament decades ago. It was the start of a tradition that Sauser and her sister continue, alternating years, now that her mother, 92, no longer attends.

Sauser said the viewing experience has changed over the decades. She and her husband no longer seem to be able to park their folding chairs at No. 18 before the good spots are taken, she said.

Regardless, Augusta National “is doing everything right,” she said. “It’s all still very positive.”

HE DOESN’T USUALLY smoke cigars, but for Under Armour product line manager Patrick Vandenberg, following reigning Masters champ and chief Under Armour spokesman Jordan Spieth as he maintained a lead through the first day “seemed like a big occasion.”

Vandenberg and fellow manager Steve Schmitz, both of Baltimore, were having a blast with Under Armour’s team of about two dozen in town for the Masters.

Watching Gary Player make a hole-in-one at the Par-3 Contest was unforgettable, while “seeing the gallery build around (Spieth) and seeing kids get excited about him has been really neat,” Vandenberg said.

ELISA DAILY TOOK a moment to make her opinions known at one of Augusta National’s electronic survey machines sprinkled around the course for this year’s Masters.

“It’s very self-explanatory,” Daily said. “They asked about cleanliness, quality, the friendliness of staff – which is always excellent.”

Driving in from her Edgefield, S.C., home, Daily said getting parked had never been so quick and easy.

It took less than 15 minutes to get from Interstate 20 to a parking spot, she said.

“We never had such ease of getting in this place,” Daily said.