NEVER mind putting the clocks forward or listening out for the first cuckoo, British summer time officially begins when the world's best golfers tee it up for the Masters at Augusta next month.

The first highlight of the year's sporting calendar, the Masters invariably throws up a classic story, whether it be Jack Nicklaus rolling back the years to win in 1986, Greg Norman throwing away a massive lead to let in Nick Faldo ten years later or Tiger Woods destroying the field to win by strokes 12 strokes in 1997.

Last year the unthinkable happened and Woods lost to Vijay Singh. The pair may well go head-to-head again next month after Woods pipped the Fijian to win the unofficial fifth Major at the Players Championship by one shot on Monday.

And it would take a foolish man to bet against the Tiger adding to his haul of Majors when the azaleas are in full bloom.

In most sports the domination of one man would threaten to kill the game as a spectacle.

But the Woods phenomenon has taken golf onto a new level and made it even more required viewing.

Everyone wants to see history made in their time and Woods is surely the only player for the foreseeable future capable of completing the Holy Grail of the Grand Slam of Majors.

So if we can't have a British winner it's Woods for me to win the lot this summer.

BRITISH can still be best however, as Paula Radcliffe so magnificently demonstrated at the weekend.

In a sporting programme dominated by England's welcome World Cup win under Sven Goran Eriksson and the exhausted cricket team's flop in Sri Lanka, Radcliffe was finally putting a gold medal around her neck.

It may not have been the highest profile event, but Radcliffe's victory in the mud of the World Cross Country Championships in Belgium was a triumph for commitment and honest endeavour.

After the heartbreaking sight of seeing the 27-year-old runs herself into the ground in Sydney while effectively doing nothing more than making the pace for the 10,000 metre Olympic gold medallist Gete Wami no-one would begrudge Radcliffe her moment of glory.

It was doubly fitting that Radcliffe should hold off the little Ethopian to win the 8km race, the real championship of a weekend which saw the roles reversed in the shorter race 24 hours later.

TALK about catching a crab. Just when the Boat Race had the chance to make itself interesting the umpire took in water and baled out.

So what if a Cambridge man lost his oar? Even ultra-boring Formula One would have called that a racing accident.

Either rowing with seven or watching the luckless crew member scrabble for his missing paddle would have provided the kind of drama never associated with the annual Thames trawl.

Instead it was back to a procession and another boring win for the Light Blues.

AND finally. Leave him alone. What good does pillorying Andy Cole do for England's cause? So he hasn't scored in international football and might not be good enough to cut it at the top level. But tabloid ranting surely won't change Sven Goran Erikkson's view and certainly won't help Cole find the elusive goals that could take England to the World Cup finals.

Surely the tabloids will sell more papers long-term if England play in Japan and Korea than they will this week by slagging off the unfortunate Cole.