The Masters is great for reflective meandering.

If you're not strolling along Magnolia Lane then you're wandering down memory lane. The patrons love their nostalgia in this corner of Georgia. The mere sight of a Jack Nicklaus or an Arnold Palmer can provoke a flood of emotional reverence that would burst the banks of Rae's Creek.

Here at the 79th Masters this week, it will be an old master's 44th consecutive appearance. And he's finally calling it a day. Ben Crenshaw's run of trips to Augusta is bettered only by Raymond Floyd (45), Doug Ford (46) and the aforementioned Arnie (50). He'll still be here in future years, of course, and slipping into his seat at the Champions' Dinner but the annual marches round the fairways and greens of this golfing haven with his trusty old bag man Carl Jackson will be no more.

Twenty years after he claimed his second Green Jacket in 1995, an emotional triumph that came just a week after the death of his long time mentor Harvey Penick, Crenshaw is preparing to close a chapter in his sporting life. "I've probably stayed too long," said the 63-year-old Texan with a smile. "But that's the wonderful thing about this place. If you win, you get to come back for the rest of your life. And we will. Julie (his wife) and I will come back the rest of our lives. I don't know what we're going to do yet. We might just find a place in the grandstands on 15 and just sit there. It's going to be emotional for me, but it's emotional for every champion who decides to step down. It's part of life."

Part of this life has been the alliance with Jackson, the caddie whose first Masters was as a 14-year-old in 1961. This week, it will be his 53rd. Whether the end comes on Friday night or on Sunday, Jackson and Crenshaw, who will be making their 39th Masters appearance together, will walk up the 18th one last time as a double act. "A lifetime is going to flash in our face," said Jackson. Crenshaw has always maintained that "everything I've achieved at the Masters I owe to Carl Jackson." The appreciation is mutual. "I owe Ben a life," added Jackson.

Crenshaw's conquest of Augusta in 1995 was an emotional rollercoaster. Amid the grief caused by the loss of his coach, there was glory. "It was certainly my week," Crenshaw said. "I don't think I've ever played a tournament with only five bogeys all week. I never suffered any dark periods and I definitely had a couple of Harvey bounces. I had a 15th club in my bag and it was Harvey. To have played that well that week is beyond my comprehension."

As one great Texan prepares to exit the Masters stage, another golfer from that neck of the woods is looking to flourish on it. Jordan Spieth is the new, young gunslinger from the Lone Star State and his share of second on his debut in the Masters a year ago underlined his vast potential. Crenshaw is well aware of the abundant qualities that the 21-year-old possesses. "When I first met him, I'll never forget it," he said of the rapidly rising world No 4. "I looked right at him and he looked at me and I thought I was looking at Wyatt Earp. He just had that look about him, just wonderful. I'm telling you, he's way more mature than what I was when I was 21. He has things together. I'm sure it has struck all of you that he's way mature beyond his years. I think one of the really wonderful things that I really do like about him is that he's got competitive fire. You can see it. I think he carries that off in a great fashion. He doesn't get out of hand and he just seems to be moving forward in the game. I think the world of him."

The world, it seems, is Spieth's oyster. The sun may be setting on Crenshaw's Masters career but Spieth's accomplishments continue to herald a bright new dawn.