The Masters gets underway with Nicklaus, Player and Watson hitting ceremonial first shots

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — The Masters got underway Thursday after a 2 1/2-hour weather delay with wind still whipping under a cloudy sky, the first time since July at the British Open that golf's best players have come together on the same course for the same tournament.

Six-time champion Jack Nicklaus, with his wife Barbara on the bag, joined three-time winner Gary Player and two-time champion Tom Watson as thousands of patrons surrounded the first tee to watch them hit the traditional opening shots.

“It's not so easy to put the ball on the tee now, is it?” Player asked the others, before striping one down the fairway.

“Watch out on the left and right,” Nicklaus quipped, before he, too, drove it right down the middle.