Catch of the day

On the gastronomic advice of southern boy Boo Weekley it was into old Augusta town for a spot of alligator.

"I've caught a few. I've used a lassoo, a net and a hook," said Weekley, "and we don't go after anything bigger than four or five feet. We leave them for the game wardens. We take some of them to a pond away from the cows and we eat some. They're good."

At the Tap Tap Tacos and Tapas Bar they were offering a wrap of alligator and blue cheese and as it was duly ordered the waiter gently rolled his eyes as he was asked to make it snappy. The taste was a richer version of chicken with a slightly firmer texture and the cheese gave it, ahem, a bit of bite.

Verdict: more memorable than peach cobbler.

While Rory Sabbatini was winning the annual par-3 golf contest, the Augusta Hooters establishment was running an equally, if not more attractive, par-3 bikini competition.

Eschewing the undoubted delights of that on the crass neon-lit Washington Road that runs outside Augusta National, it was off downtown for some real local culture at the Soul Bar, a shrine to the late James Brown where, as he would have said, you go to feel good because you knew that it would.

Like the Augusta National course there are dangerous hazards: a pool hustler who insists on local rules "and none of your effing nonsense" and a guy wanting to shadow box. Ah, but you can relax to the live Shaun Piazza Band, downing a few beers while sitting on a re-deployed church pew. And say a prayer just like the players do at Amen Corner.

The par-3 competition is a bit like a kindergarten with players' children acting as caddies and wallowing in the reflected adulation of their fathers.

Phil Mickelson's eldest daughter Amanda is a case in point. Wearing a miniature white caddie's uniform she was allowed to go on to the practice putting green where, after tip-tapping a ball up a slope, she finally holed out from some two inches to great applause.

Amanda turned to her adoring gallery to wave in recognition, doing a full 360 degrees to make sure she milked it for all it was worth. It was a much more assured performance that her father's funny little squat jump when he holed the winning putt in 2006.