CADDIE'S ROLE: It was the "King's" tournament at the "King's" course of Bay Hill, Orlando, Florida, last week.

Arnold Palmer was the host of the Bay Hill Invitational event. Back in 1979, Arnold took over the flagging Florida Citrus Open and brought it to Bay Hill. It has had a prestigious ring to it since then and marks the first warm-up event for the many overseas players in the lead-up to the Masters.

In fact, with Orlando being the adopted home of both American and foreign professionals, it is a home from home event for a large portion of the field.

The 74-year-old host played with Mark O'Meara and Chad Campbell in the first two rounds. I got to watch him perform, as Retief and I were in the group behind him.

There are mixed emotions about whether a semi-elderly man who has no chance to compete at such a high level any more should take up a valuable spot in a big event. Does he add or detract to the tournament as a player? Surely Arnie's presence as an ambassador would be more appropriate at this stage.

Certainly his opening round of 88, which was backed up by a more respectable 79 in the second round, would suggest that it is almost farcical to have such a mismatched competitor. But the reality of watching the King greet his golfing subjects in his domain would suggest that he should peg it up in Bay Hill for as long as he can.

I must add that the average age of the weekday spectators there was not below 60; so there is plenty of nostalgic support in Florida for old-timers.

Despite Arnold hitting the ball so often, he never held us up once. He may not have been burning the course up, but he was getting it around quickly. Needless to say, he approached every green to a hero's welcome.

I took the opportunity of my first missed cut over here to experience what it was like to watch the princely Tiger Woods live at a tournament. Instead of marching down the first with a herd of spectators, I planted myself in the shade of an oak tree behind the par three second green and lay in wait for the arrival of the Woods entourage.

Some red-beaked ibises were taking advantage of the front pin position on the second by pecking vigorously at the verdant rough to the left of the green which was close to their natural habitat, a small stream. Perhaps they thought they would go undisturbed by even the wildest of tee-shots.

It was only a matter of time, however, before the second hole was going to become a mob scene, as Tiger was just three groups behind, so either way the birds were going to be disturbed.

I waded through a sea of advertising in the daily pairing sheet to get to the actual names and times of the players. It was a brochure that would look more appropriate promoting expensive real estate: glossy and full of pretty pictures.

When I finally got to the thick of it, I realised that Kenny Perry and Brad Faxon were to be the ultimate support act to make way for the star billing on the second hole last Saturday. With them came the mob, accompanying photographers and television crews. The stage was set for the arrival of Tiger - oh, and his playing partner, Frank Lickliter.

Tiger missed the green on the high side and duffed his chip short of the green. "He's having a bad day," the woman behind me remarked.

He had parred the first and bogeyed the second, surely it was a bit early to put the mockers on Tiger's luck so early in the round? "I have him in a pool at work and he goes and does that. I mean, he is my main gig, you don't expect him to do that," another disappointed spectator growled from behind me.

It didn't take me long while among the punters to realise just how much they demand from Woods. It is as if they forget that he is human and expect every shot to be spot-on perfection.

When the Woods troop vacated the second, Patrick Sheehan hit his approach to about 12 feet to a deafening silence. The best shot of the day and not even a ripple of applause. The aficionados had moved on to follow the Tiger.

The crowd had thinned out considerably over the next three holes; it seemed like only the real fans made the full journey with their idol.

As we got back to the sixth, the Tiger troop had thickened to over seven deep. Obviously the plan for many is to walk as little as possible by zig-zagging across Bay Hill with minimum effort. Tiger went on - with much disappointment from his followers - to shoot 74.

There was an element of denial in the television interview afterwards as he pointed out how he was moving towards where he wanted to be with his swing. The media were upset that they could not plug his attempt at five-in-a-row Bay Hill victories, as it was now well out of reach.

Johnny Miller looked at Tiger's statistics and listened to his interview and commented that someone was not facing up to the reality of the situation. He had challenged the Prince.

The King, however, was given plenty of time. I wonder what Tiger will be doing when he is in his 70s. Will he be giving his aficionados a chance to have a lingering meander down the Woods memory lane, or will he be a reclusive old legend enjoying his privacy?