AUGUSTA, Ga. - Jack Nicklaus thrusting his putter into the air in triumph. Arnold Palmer wincing and willing a shot safely home. Tom Watson, Gary Player, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan.

There is a reason it's called the Masters. That's who wins at Augusta National Golf Club. In the 59 tournaments since the first in 1934, 27 have been won by players who ended up with five or more major championships.

Only 13 winners - five still active - claimed a lone Masters as their sole major championship.

And when the 60th Masters starts today on a fast, firm Augusta layout, it's likely it will be the beginning of a shaking out process that will produce another masterful champion.

''In the major championships, it is limiting the mistakes that wins,'' Colin Montgomerie said yesterday before his final tuneup.

Nowhere is that more true than Augusta National, where the steeply contoured greens, greased up to warp speed for the tournament, demand unshakeable nerves, particularly on Sunday when the history of the event haunts the contenders over the tantalizing and treacherous back nine.

''To win here you have to be brave,'' Montgomerie said. ''There are certain putts here that you have to be firm on. If you start thinking about the putt coming back, you've already missed the one you have.''

There are 93 players in a field swollen by the large number of first-time winners on the tour, but it's a fair bet the green jacket placed on the winner Sunday afternoon will be something in a size that fits Nick Faldo, Greg Norman, Ernie Els, Fred Couples, John Daly or Montgomerie.

All except Montgomerie - probably the best player in the world right now - have won major championships. And Montgomerie, the curly-haired Scotsman playing with a new confidence after losing nearly 40 pounds, has been in the hunt enough to know how to win.

Ask Norman who will win here, and he ticks off the names of Montgomerie, Els and Couples. Ask Faldo, and he quickly mentions Montgomerie.

And Norman, Faldo and Montgomerie all feel good enough about their own games to say they can win it. They also agree that the course is playing about as fast as they can remember.

Brisk wind early in the week dried the layout, and frost on the eve of the tournament helped firm it up even more. Speed, after all, is Augusta National's main line of defense.

With no rough and little water, it is hard-rolling fairways and quick greens that present a problem.

''This golf course and this particular style of architecture leads to great tournaments,'' defending champion Ben Crenshaw said. ''With no rough, the reachable par 5s and the nature of the greens, it is a direct antithesis of what is entirely predictable. It was built to depict some of those conditions you have at St. Andrews.''

The constantly changing nature of Augusta National - much like St. Andrews - is one of the reasons experienced players do so well here. While course knowledge helps, the knowledge that the course will throw something unexpected at you is probably the best piece of information to have.

''The power of these greens has everyone thinking,'' Crenshaw said. ''They are so undulating and so different in contour and texture that you don't always have the same putts on the same line from year to year. There are some holes where I don't think I've ever had the same putt twice,'' said Crenshaw.

Montgomerie said the course changes so much, even during tournament week, that he no longer spends all week playing practice rounds, merely putting in 27 holes before play starts.