Last night was the final game of the “Final Four.” Duke, traditionally one of the best teams, and one that often makes it to the final game in the Final Four, played against Butler, a small college in Indianapolis with 4,000 students, a school that has played many good games to reach the final. The difference in scores for the two teams was just two points, with Duke winning.

Today was another very hot day, as if it were already summer. The temperature was at a high of 89 degrees, but felt like 96 degrees. The early morning weather forecast mentioned that temperatures would be 10 to 15 degrees higher than usual Augusta temperatures. Though temperatures usually reach 90 degrees during Masters week, this was an unusually hot day. Some clients became overheated due to the weather on the course, and one woman in her seventies became ill from the heat at the Amen corner yesterday. It was difficult to get back to the main gate to leave because the area from the Amen corner to the main gate since it was featured as the lowest place to get over the hill. Some clients, including this woman, had to cancel their early morning transportation in order to take a rest.

The morning was not quite so hot, but once the sun was higher, the temperature rose quickly. Because of the heat, many of the people who had gone to the course in the morning came back to the executive club from the course at lunch time. Fortunately, brief showers are expected on Thursday afternoon, and then through the end of this week, the weather is expected to be cooler.

Surprisingly, there were even more people today than yesterday, the first day of the Masters. As with yesterday, throngs of people came as if the Masters Tournament were today (it’s actually Thursday through Sunday). The souvenir shop inside the course was still very crowded today, and it seems as if merchandise will be sold out before we get to the first day of the Masters Tournament on Thursday.

Four or five golf equipment trailers for brands such as Titlist, parked just in front of the employee and media gate. The people inside those trailers are technical staffs who help their players from the golf equipment side with items such as golf clubs and balls. We saw them going in and out of the gate to support the players behind the scenes.

Tiger Woods received many encouraging words, welcome messages, and applause from the fans wherever he went to practice today. When he was close to the fans, he smiled and said “Thank you, thank you” many times. While he walked besides the fans and whenever he came across kids, he threw or gave the balls to them. He was happy to sign autographs for fans anytime he could. The local TV media praised his great attitude, as well as the very polite attitudes of the fans toward Tiger, calling him, “New Tiger.” But they did not forget to speculate whether he was trying to get sponsors back and hoping to restore his popularity.

The players are invited and come to the Masters from various countries around the world. Fans, as well, come to the Masters from all over the world. I met a gentleman from England who said he comes almost every year to the Masters. We saw many people from various countries in Europe and Asia, as well as from Australia. Hiroto Takagi, our Executive at Bryton Harry Inc. had a TV interview today which was broadcast at 5p.m. on the Augusta local TV news, “News 12.” The news reported that the international environment at this great golf tournament attracts numerous people from overseas and generates global business opportunities for people. They cited our Masters Tickets and Hospitality services, which we brought the international clients particularly from Japan and entertain them at the Masters.

On the way back to the hotel from the Masters at the end of the day, I saw many beautiful dogwood trees. Dogwood flowers have four petals that grow in a cross shape, and usually blossom just before Easter. People say that the dogwood is a “fortune tree,” and, as the name suggests, the tree grows low, like a dog. I also saw many beautiful flowers, such as the magnolia, which is the symbol flower of the Masters.

Tomorrow is the Par 3 Contest, starting at 1 p.m. The gate opens at 8:00 a.m. and closes at 6:30 p.m. If you walk in front of the Club House and see the No.1 hole on your right hand side, you will find it. You will see the two beautiful ponds, DeSoto Springs Pond and Ike’s Pond. There are nine par 3 courses around the two lakes. The record for this contest, which Art Wall (1965) and Gay Brewer (1973) share, is 20.