Masters 2016: Tom Watson still has ability to surprise but Arnold Palmer looks increasingly frail

Tiger Woods describes it as the hardest putt at Augusta, third green, back right, where a ball can reach terminal velocity as the ground falls away. This was the putt facing Tom Watson on Thursday, 40 feet of pure treachery down the slope. Imagine the roar, therefore, when the ball dropped dead weight into the centre of the cup, taking its final breath as it crept over the edge.

The strike against par gave Watson a share of the lead. He is 66 years old and making his final Masters appearance. This was territory he never expected to hold. His rule lasted until the seventh, a hole that induces terror in him since he is forced by dint of a diminishing shoulder turn to hit a long iron into a tiny green designed to take a wedge.

But that was not the detail that tripped him up. That would be his honesty and integrity, calling a shot on himself when his putter forced the ball to move a fraction at address. “The ball moved so it must have been the putter,” he said. What a man.

It could be that Watson is invited to hang around after Tuesday’s champion’s dinner next year to slip into the shoes of the increasingly frail Arnold Palmer at the ceremonial start with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. Dear old Arnie, now 86 years old, was wheeled to the first tee at 8am but it was all he could do to get to his feet and give a ginger thumbs up via shaky right hand.

The scene beneath the giant oak was a picture as Nicklaus and Player made their way from the clubhouse through a human funnel of cheering admirers. It is easy to be cynical at moments like these but somehow the power of nostalgia sweeps away all negativity.

Player, the fittest 80-year-old on earth, had obviously been practising for weeks, sweeping majestically through the impact zone and sending the ball on its way with a lusty thwack. Nicklaus was altogether too quick, hooking his ball down the hill with a whippy, three-quarter swing. That’s 76-year-olds for you.

Watson would follow through the same tunnel of love an hour later to begin his 43rd Masters. The applause was deafening, peppered with exaltations of “you da man”. It was the same coming up the 18th. “I’ve been around a long time. These people know me pretty well,” he said after signing for a two-over par 74.