Hlas Column from the Masters: Why am I writing this?

(AP photo of Stewart Cink)

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Why am I writing this?

Why am I telling you about a PGA Tour golfer who is cutting out the middlemen when it comes to getting information to his fans? Especially when the middlemen are media schlubs like me.

Well, you can follow Zach Johnson's good buddy Stewart Cink on Twitter, but I got Cink to talk in longer than 140-character bites after his practice round Tuesday at the Masters.

That his purpose his to get news to his fans and friends without people like me putting a spin on it is irrelevant. Well, not really.

I'm on Twitter myself to promote the Hlog (that's http://hlog.iowa.com, by the way), and I found Cink there last weekend. His user name is stewartcink.

Among some of his recent entries, some of which I edited for clarity.

* Packing for the trip over to Augusta tomorrow. I don't know why I ever UNPACK!!!

* Very windy weather Mon-Tues means curtailed practice rounds by many players. You can get into bad habits playing in cold wind.

* Definitely playing Par Three (the Masters' Par 3 Contest Wednesday) though. My son caddys and playing with close friend Z Johnson. Must overcome curse!

The curse? Since the Par 3 event began in 1960, no one who won it ever went on to win the Masters that year. Both Cink and Johnson -- and Padraig Harrington -- insist they want to win the Par 3 and challenge the curse.

Many think Twitter might as well be called Clutter. But when applied for good instead of mundane, it has its merits. If you enjoy pro golf, how could you not enjoy receiving updates from the life of someone on the PGA Tour?

Cink is no hack. He was on the U.S. Ryder Cup team last year and is ranked 18th in the world, six spots ahead of Johnson.

The Georgian is ahead of just about everyone on the PGA Tour in social networking on the Web.

"I was watching PTI (ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption), which is my favorite show," Cink said. "They had a thing on (Toronto Raptors forward) Chris Bosh and how he was on Twitter.

"I asked my 15-year-old son, Connor, what it was. He told me it's kind of like a bare-bones version of Facebook where you reallyl don't have to interact too much when you use it.

"Chris Bosh said he was using it to make direct contact with his fans without going through the media. So I decided I would sign up for an account and test it out, see how it was."

It's a hit. Quickly, Cink has amassed over 1,700 followers. He, however, does interact. He answers many many direct queries on his Twitter page.

"Right away it was popular with people out there," said Cink. "I was getting responses from people I would otherwise never be able to communicate with. It's safe. I have fun with it. It's pretty cool."

Another Masters entrant, Pat Perez, recently started Tweeting, too.

A Perez entry from Monday: In Augusta. Got in a few practice rounds already. Greens are solid, good weather is expected after Wed. and fired up for a big week.

But Perez wasn't keeping Cink's pace, at least off the course.

An hour after I interviewed Cink Tuesday, he posted this:  Got the pairings late this afternoon. Good to be late the first day with the cold temps. And get to tee it up with Tiger again.

Cink is in the same threesome with Tiger Woods Thursday and Friday.

Tiger may have four Masters green jackets, but Cink sent a photo of the view from the No. 5 tee around the world via Twitter on Tuesday.

Great, they not only want to do their own reporting, now these golfers are also photographers.