I love the silliness, beauty and falseness of Augusta

Peter Alliss is one such artist of the spoken word, a man who talks from the heart, without arrogance or the need to raise his voice.

He lets the pictures do the talking, his comments are his observations.

Nowhere is the need to let sight prevail over sound greater than at Augusta National, where Alliss will be found over the next four days, enhancing the visual brilliance of the Masters, possibly for the last time.

"It's wonderful bull and blarney and I would defend it to the death," he says of the Masters experience.

The 79-year-old commentator has been part of the Masters television coverage for more years than he cares to remember but this could be his last with the BBC's contract to screen the green jacket tussle expiring this year and Sky leading a queue of broadcasters to win the rights.

Yet such a scenario will not detract from Alliss's enjoyment of the Augusta occasion.

"I love the silliness of it, the beauty of it and the falseness of it, the manufactured way it is," he said. "I've been there when there's been frost and they had to bring in azaleas in tubs.

"It's always a wonderful occasion, they are their own people, they run it their way and they bow a knee to no one.

"I get the feeling that if the game's governing bodies didn't want certain things they'd reply 'off you go' and run it for themselves with just a few friends.

"You never see an aerial shot of Augusta because it's in an awful area of town. Washington Road is full of hamburger joints, it's a garish strip of metal and modern rubbish.

"It's not like looking from high on any of our courses in Britain. The mystique of Augusta, the trees and everything is perpetuated, but, good God, bless 'em, it's wonderful.

"The Masters will always be something very, very special."

Alliss was talking at Oulton Hall Golf Club in Leeds at the launch of the De Vere Club membership scheme.

The wine flowed all day and the affable Alliss had no qualms about the media's demands throughout what would be a tiring day for a man half his age.

"I'm not a contortionist you know," he quips as the Yorkshire Post photographer bends him this way and that for an artistic picture.

The De Vere chain wanted a man to talk up the need to buck the economic downturn by getting people playing golf, and they have picked the right voice.

Getting him talking about this week's Masters is just as easy. "I think it'll be the most interesting, difficult, wonderful Masters ever," says Alliss, whose dad Percy caddied at Hallamshire Golf Club in Sheffield.

"We need sunny weather, not too hot, not too humid, and for people to enjoy it.

"I'd like a European winner, or rather a British winner and if we don't have a British winner then a Spaniard or a Frenchman.

"One of ours, though, rather than one of them," he says, referring to the Americans, though he is not confident one of the 26 Europeans in the field has the mental application to book an appointment in the Butler Cabin on Sunday evening for the traditional donning of the green jacket which goes with victory.

"It's about time, we haven't had one since 1996. There's half-a-dozen who could do it, but I don't know whether they've got the mental strength. They've certainly got the game, they hit the ball well.

"Ross Fisher, Oliver Wilson, (Ian) Poulter, (Paul) Casey, there's loads of them, but can they do it?

"It's all about mastering the mind. We are having a bonanza at the moment with the amount of players coming through, it's just a question of who can control the mind, control the fears.

"If we find one or two of those then we have some top players, they just have to hold their nerve. Look at the people who have won majors and tried to change their games, like Trevor Immelman or Michael Campbell. All of a sudden, they think they have to change and get better.

"This is where the mind comes in. Once you can do something you can hone it a little bit but that's as far as you can go. If you've climbed Everest that's the highest you can climb, but people are saying 'there must be a mountain somewhere I can climb'."

Whoever climbs to the top at Augusta this week, it will be Alliss's voice taking us through it, possibly for the last time, so enjoy it while you can.