Chapter One: At the Point of a Bayonet "Mr. Johnson, this is the first Masters that you're presiding over as chairman -- I just wonder how it feels personally, and what responsibility you feel to both the past and the future?""Well, it is a great honor to be in this position, and I feel a great responsibility to preserve the traditions and the customs established by Bob Jones and Cliff Roberts. I guess that is the main concern that I have."With those words, William Woodward (Hootie) Johnson was officially introduced to his public. He had been named Augusta National Golf Club's fifth chairman on May 1, 1998, but it was nearly a year later -- on Wednesday of Masters week in April 1999 -- that he first commanded the stage, at the annual press conference conducted by the club chairman on the eve of the tournament. For the better part of half an hour Johnson was questioned about such mundane matters as the tournament's revamped qualifying criteria and proposals to speed up the pace of play. His responses were authoritative and informed with the proper reverence. At one point Johnson was asked if he was "nervous" about how his tenure as chairman would be remembered, given that for his first Masters he was unveiling significant changes to four holes and a well-groomed layer of rough framing the fairways -- a noteworthy departure from Bobby Jones's vision of the course.

"Well, anything having to do with Augusta National is a heavy responsibility and one that we always give careful thought to," said Johnson. "It is a national treasure. It is something precious and something to be preserved."Near the end of the Q&A session Christine Brennan raised a hand. Since the debut of her weekly column in USA Today in 1998, Brennan had emerged as one of the most prominent sportswriters in the country. Her Olympic background -- including two books about figure skating -- had provided her with an opportunity to write often about women's sports, and she was never shy about crusading for her sisters. The 1999 Masters was Brennan's first sojourn to the manly world of Augusta National; she was not imbued with the reflexive deference to this famous club that is typical of so many sportswriters covering the tournament. Earlier in the week Brennan had read a clip about Augusta National's aversion to publicly discussing its membership; without identifying herself, Brennan said to Johnson, "We were talking yesterday" -- reporters, that is -- "trying to get the numbers straight.

If you wouldn't mind telling us how many African Americans there are at Augusta National and how many women members? And if there are no women members, why aren't there?""Well, that's a club matter, ma'am, and all club matters are private," Johnson replied."Are there women members?""That's a club matter, ma'am, and all club matters are private."The next question was about the recent course renovations, and the press conference petered out shortly thereafter."I've heard reporters saying that there were chuckles in the room when I asked those questions," Brennan says. "I think that's how they want to remember the moment. As I recall, there was complete silence. Awkward silence. But afterward, some of my buddies came up and punched me on the arm and they were like, 'Way to go, you've been at the Masters exactly one day and you're already causing trouble.

' That didn't bother me. What bothered me was, Why didn't anyone else follow up? Was it so unique a question, so out of left field, that they couldn't see it was a legitimate issue?"Brennan's acidic column came out the next day, April 8, 1999, the first round of the sixty-third Masters. It began, "I made a right turn off the main drag in Augusta the other day and ended up in 1975. Or perhaps it was 1940. It was hard to tell." She recounted her exchange with Johnson, then quoted him saying, "It is something precious and something to be preserved." Brenna.