Nicklaus determined to avoid Palmer trap

A student of world affairs has included Tiger Woods in four pieces of compelling evidence that the world has become an impossibly strange place.

"You know it is all going to hell," says the maverick comedian Chris Rock, "when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the French accuse the Americans of arrogance and the Germans won't go to war."

However, there is still – just – Jack Nicklaus here at the Masters tournament, which was yesterday forced to delay its opening shots until some time today.

We have to say "just" because, at 63, the indications are that the Golden Bear will not inflict the kind of opened-ended sentimental deluge which, rather embarrassingly for even some of his staunchest admirers, the 73-year-old Arnold Palmer, will provoke once more when play does start. The additional threat is that Palmer will come back next year to "compete" in his 50th Masters.

After last year's mawkish "final' farewell" – someone said sourly that you had to be on a mountain top in the next state not to have had your handed pumped by the four-times winner of the Green Jacket – it will be hard not to see him as a forlorn old giant who just cannot live without the sound of the cheers.

Though Nicklaus supported his former fierce rival's successful plea to the Masters chairman, "Hootie" Johnson, to rescind the decision to end the life-time qualifying exemption for all former champions, he seems to reject implicitly the idea that he will walk the Augusta fairways for as long and as irrelevantly as Palmer. He made a glancing reference to the Palmer time warp this week, saying: "I'm not sure who will miss it more, the gallery or Arnold, to be very honest with you, because Arnold enjoys it so much. It's what he enjoys, it's what he likes to do."

What Nicklaus likes to do on a golf course, more than anything, he insists, is simply to compete. Without that element, he suggests, the cheers would soon enough start to empty his soul. "Realistically, do I think I can win the tournament? Probably not. I don't know how it will be under these conditions, but if I play as well I have in recent weeks I could finish in the top 10. Anyway, you have to have a goal. So I may as well have a goal of trying to finish as close as I can to the top. Whether I can get there or not, heck, who knows?"

Before the first colours go on the scoreboard here, Nicklaus has certainly achieved a degree of grace when comparing his long resistance to the claims of such challengers as Palmer, Gary Player, Tom Watson and Lee Trevino to the lonely eminence of Tiger Woods. He picks Woods to win a record-breaking third straight Masters title and gives the nod to Ernie Els as the most authentic threat.

Says Nicklaus: "It's true that when I was at my peak I always had to produce my best because there were quite a number of guys able to exploit any slips by me, but you have to understand that, when Gary and Tom and Lee were getting their winning experience, which made them so dangerous to me, there just weren't so many good players out there. Today there are a ton of good players out there, which makes it more difficult for someone challenging Tiger to build a foundation. But I do think Ernie is getting closer to being able to win multiple events and staying up there.

"Tiger? Well, he is just exceptional. He stands out above the field. There is no question about that. And, apart from his ability, I don't really know what's behind that. I think it's difficult to compare one era with another, but I still think it's a distinct possibility that Tiger will win as many Masters titles as Arnold and me combined. But so far he's only won three, so he still has a little work to do."

Nicklaus's work is just about done, he concedes, but the memory of what happened here five years ago remains an incitement to dream. "I finished sixth on one leg and, if one or two putts had gone down, who knows, I could have won. Doing something like that, well, that keeps you going for a few years." It also heads off the public nightmare of making a parody of the glories that have passed.

Revised first-round tee-off times for the Masters

US unless stated. All times BST ­ may be subject to further change depending on weather conditions

First Tee

12.30 S Lyle (GB), C Coody, T Aaron

12.40 S Ballesteros (Sp), K Triplett, M A Jimenez (Sp)

12.50 I Woosnam (GB), S Hoch, *G Zahringer

13.00 B Crenshaw, N Price (Zim), F Funk

13.10 J Sluman, S McCarron, S Lowery

13.20 J M Olazabal (Sp), C Montgomerie (GB), T Byrum

13.30 L Mize, J Byrd, T Clark (SA)

13.40 G Player (SA), N Fasth (Swe), J Rollins

13.50 R Beem, M Campbell (NZ), S Verplank

14.00 M O'Meara, P Lawrie (GB), L Roberts

14.10 J Nicklaus, *H Mahan, K J Choi (S Kor)

14.20 T Watson, P Harrington (Irl), M Weir (Can)

14.30 D Love III, S Maruyama (Japan), R Mediate

14.40 C Howell III, A Scott (Aus), J Rose (GB)

14.50 T Woods, *R Barnes, A Cabrera (Arg)

15.00 C Stadler, S Elkington (Aus), L Mattiace

10th Tee

12.30 B Estes, C Parry (Aus), J Maggert

12.40 C Perks (NZ), K Perry, C Riley

12.50 R Floyd, B Mayfair, C Campbell

13.00 B Faxon, C Di Marco, S Appleby (Aus)

13.10 F Couples, *A Larrazabal (Sp), J Kelly

13.20 F Zoeller, T Levet (Fr), T Taniguchi (Japan)

13.30 T Lehman, L Janzen, K Sutherland

13.40 A Palmer, *R Moore, P Tataurangi (NZ)

13.50 J Haas, E Romero (Arg), R Allenby (Aus)

14.00 N Faldo (Eng), T Izawa (Japan), J Leonard

14.10 V Singh (Fiji), R Goosen (SA), J Huston

14.20 P Mickelson, D Toms, P Lonard (Aus)

14.30 E Els (SA), J Furyk, S Garcia (Sp)

14.40 B Langer (Ger), D Clarke (NIrl), D Duval

14.50 J Cook, P Perez, S Katayama (Japan)

Provisional tee-off time for second round is 18.30, with a two-tee start as above.

* Denotes amateur