Dredge and Ferrie warm up on 'Cardiac Hill'

Two weeks before they make their Masters debuts, Bradley Dredge and Kenneth Ferrie are adding hill-walking to their golf practice this week.

Having failed to qualify for the CA World Championship in Florida the pair compete in the Madeira Islands Open on a course which tests fitness as well as ability. Augusta National always shocks newcomers with the severity of some of the climbs and drops, but it has nothing on this spectacular setting in Santo da Serra overlooking the Atlantic. One incline has become known as "Cardiac Hill".

Dredge won his first European Tour title at the event in 2003, by eight strokes after a third-round 60 containing 10 birdies and an eagle. It would have matched the tour's lowest round but for the fact that placing was allowed on the fairways.

The 33-year-old Welshman qualified for the Masters by finishing 50th in the world last year. Ferrie earned his spot via the US Open last June. Joint leader with Phil Mickelson with a round to go the Ashington golfer slipped to sixth, but was then told he had made it to Augusta by a single stroke.

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