MASTERS DISPATCH: I just saw a birdie I'll not soon forget -- and it got topped by the same player two holes later

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- I am, by nature, full of guilt. Maybe that comes from going to Catholic school once upon a time. Maybe it just comes from being very guilty.

So, rather than sit in the media center all Sunday and watch the Masters unfold on big-screen television, I felt compelled to at least see some play in person.  So I went to the nearby No. 1 green and watched the last five twosomes of the day finish their first holes of play. Par-par. Par-par. Par-par. Par-bogey. Yawn.

Then came the next-to-last pairing of the day, Charl Schwartzel and K.J. Choi. Choi reached the green in two shots on the par-4. Schwartzel's second shot landed just a few feet from me, just on the other side of the gallery rope right of the green and down a slope. It was 90 feet or so from the pin.

"I always wanted to get hit by a golf ball," I told a pair of adult sisters from Atlanta. And it's true. Maybe I'd get a golf club or something else from the offending player. Out of, you know, guilt.

"My mother got hit by a golf ball when she was pregnant," one of the sisters said. "That's how it started."

I had jokingly told them that Charl's nickname was "Chuh." You know, short for "Chuck," since "Charl" isn't completely "Charles."

"I have a son named Charles," one of them said. "I don't think he'd like it if I called him 'Charl.' "

Anyhow, Schwartzel sized up the shot, then hit a bump-and-run up the slope and onto the green. It started well right of the pin, which was in the back left of the green. But it's speed was perfect, and the line was amazing as it curled around and headed right for the cup. Then ... it fell in the hole and the crowd around the green went nuts. Schwartzel raised his right arm in the air after pulling the ball from the cup, and I had seen one of the best shots I've ever seen in person. It provided goose bumps on a very warm afternoon.

I wondered if I'd be on CBS given how close I was to Schwartzel when he hit the shot. But I hope I wasn't. Because my mouth was wide-open after that ball went in the jar.

So I returned to the media center to type this and happened to look up at the big-screen. And Schwartzel holed out from 108 yards on the par-4 for an eagle to get to 11-under-par and tie Rory McIlroy for the lead.

It's often been said the Masters doesn't start until the back nine on Sunday, but today I beg to differ.