THE AUGUSTA NATIONAL itself may be endorsement-free, but its tournament is simultaneously the time for endorsers to get maximum exposure for their wares. Shingo Katayama, for instance, took great pleasure in pulling out the new Nike black golf ball in the par-three competition on Wednesday. Wednesday was also the closing date for Callaway’s extremely healthy “If Phil wins, you win” promotion: for the 13 days before the start of the Masters, punters in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, France and Sweden who bought a Big Bertha Titanium 454 driver were informed that if Mickelson wins this week, they would get their money back. Sales in the UK went up by 500 per cent.

The most noteworthy piece of business done this week, however, is the deal struck on the Washington Road, a long drive away from the golf course, in the car park outside Hooters. For the uninitiated, Hooters is a bar-restaurant not notably targeted at sophisticates, its trademark being its well-proportioned waitresses and their uniforms: tight-fitting cut-off orange T-shirts with complimentary tight, orange shorts. John Daly has made a habit of parking his merchandise trailer in this car park and selling his own endorsed goods in person after finishing his day job on the course. But Daly and Hooters have got on so well that Hooters have signed him as one of their own.

“He’s sort of like we are — a little politically incorrect,” Bob Brooks, the Hooters chairman, said.

“I think we’re similar in the way we love people and treat people with respect and have a lot of fun,” Daly said. “It is really a perfect fit for me.”

If you were at the announcement of the deal, on the Washington Road this week, you may have benefited from a verbal clause in the contract that Hooters immediately pour 100 free Miller Lites for its punters. So this was a good start to Masters week for the Wild Thing: a hole-in-one in practice on Monday, an endorsement deal on Tuesday.

There are other notable clauses in this contract. Daly gets an unlimited lifetime supply of Hooters food and beer; he and Hooters will also work on a line of co-branded merchandise; and finally, it is obligatory that he takes a place on the judging panel in the annual Hooters international swimsuit pageant.

Golf mum hoping gamble pays off

TIGER WOODS’S influence on the game of golf was already extreme but he has now inspired followers into changing their identities. Terri Iligan is a Tennessee mother with a brood of five, one of whom has a swing she feels is worth developing. Having decided to send the talented daughter to the same golf school that Woods attended, she elected to raise the cash for the considerable fees by selling off the rights to giving her a new name.

She thus advertised on eBay, describing it as a whole “lifetime of advertising for your company”. She added that she was 33 years old, fit and had a perfect driving record, so the contract was likely to last a long time. She is now $15,000 the richer having been renamed after an internet gambling site, goldenpalace.com. “To my kids and to my husband, I will always be Terri. My husband is real supportive,” she told her local TV station. “He thinks it’s funny. As long as the kids get to call me Mom, they don’t care.”

Butcher laps it up at Stringfellows

OK, THIS HAS absolutely nothing to do with golf, but it’s too important a news item to miss. For part of his testimonial year, Mark Butcher, the Surrey and England cricketer, has sent out invitations for a “Gentlemen’s Evening” at Stringfellows. If interested, the deal is £85 plus VAT for buffet supper, a number of drinks and a free lap dance for each guest.

A good week for:

Snoopy, who, in the new Peanuts comic-strip book called It’s Par For The Course, Charlie Brown, qualifies for the Masters. Unfortunately, he has a dog of an experience and chokes under the pressure. His exploits are endorsed in a foreword by Johnny Miller, the 1973 US Open champion, who was a friend of Charles M. Schulz, who created Snoopy.

A bad week for:

1. Golf clubs. Not only did Jesper Parnevik leave his in the garage of his Florida home, but Craig Stadler lost one of his altogether in the water on the 16th in practice on Tuesday. After losing his grip on the club and sending it swimming, Stadler sent his caddie in — unsuccessfully — to retrieve it.

2. Colvend Golf Club, near Dalbeattie, Scotland, which is mourning the passing away of one of the most successful club golfers of all time. Betty Barbour was the 29-times women’s champion, an on-off reign that spanned seven decades. She first won in 1935 and finally in 1990, a sprightly 77 years old. She was also notable for being the club captain, the first woman golfer in the country to be elected to such a post.