Four-time major champion Raymond Floyd has announced he will not compete in this year's Masters, ending the 67-year-old American golder's run of appearances in the year's first major at 44.
Floyd won the 1976 Masters, firing an opening-round 65 that remains the best start for any Masters champion, as well as the 1986 US Open and the 1969 and 1982 PGA Championships.
He says he doesn't feel as if it's the end of an era and it's been a a real special 44 years.
Floyd was listed among this year's competitors but follows into retirement such Masters legends as Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, who will serve as ceremonial starters of Friday's first round at Augusta National.
He ttled for second place twice at the Masters, losing a 1990 playoff to Nick Faldo and finishing two shots behind Fred Couples in 1992, the year be became first man to win on the regular and senior tours in the same year.
