Augusta, Ga. ? Gary Player might never see the early morning fog that delayed The Masters and wrapped a gray blanket of mystery around Arnold Palmer’s ceremonial drive. He might never get his day, his dinner, his moment in the Augusta National sun.

They’ve built plaques and statues and misty-eyed afternoons for Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, but the third wheel of the Big Three machine rolls on without a tribute to call his own.

Why haven’t the overlords of The Masters given Player his thanks-for-the-memories due?

“You’d have to ask them that,” Player said Thursday.

At 72, he’d just broken the tournament record with his 51st appearance, shooting 83 on a young man’s course that he plays to a par of 80. The scoreboard said 11-over, 15 shots off a lead shared by Justin Rose and Trevor Immelman, 11 back of Mr. Prevent Defense himself, Tiger Woods, and yet Player went home believing he’d arrive at the ballpark this morning needing three birdies to get back to even.

Old men play these mind games sometimes, if only to recapture a piece of their youth more elusive than a butterfly. Player has spent 63 of his 72 years in the gym, hardening his 5-foot-7 body and battling the vile forces of gravity and time.

Yet no matter how many stomach crunches he does before dawn, Player can’t alter the course of human nature.

He might be the Jack LaLanne of South Africa, but he’s not Palmer. He’s not Nicklaus.

He’s not American. And he’s not celebrated quite like the icon he is, even at a place – Augusta – that knows an icon when it sees one.

Player remains the outsider, the three-time champ who has to practically invite himself to whack a ceremonial tee ball to be named later because nobody at the club has raised the possibility.

“Sure, I’d love to be with Arnold someday,” Player said of the King, who has the honorary stage to himself after Nelson, Snead and Sarazen played it as a threesome for so many years.

If the people who run The Masters see Player as a worthy vaudeville partner for Palmer, they haven’t dropped a hint. Why? The educated guess goes like this: Player isn’t their cup of ceremonial tea.

Masters elders openly coveted Palmer for the role during his final years of victory laps in Tiger Woods’ field. They couldn’t wait to slap Arnie down on the first tee for a heroic one-and-done swing.

Player isn’t the object of the same affection. He doesn’t tear his philosophy out of the Augusta National playbook, doesn’t subscribe to Palmer’s see-no-evil, speak-no-evil approach to the social ills of sport.

Steroids in golf? Player not only declared his belief that some players were on the Roger Clemens program; he claimed he’d actually heard one juicer’s confession.

Thursday, under the old clubhouse oak, Player wouldn’t dare retreat from his claim.

“They asked me, ‘Do I know any golfers (who used steroids)?’ and I said, ‘Yes, I did,”‘ Player said. “And I know doctors that have had players on beta blockers for 10 years. So we’re dreaming. All athletes are on it, and I don’t know where we’re going.”

He promised to return for a 52nd appearance. The three-time champ is the last man standing at Augusta, even if the people who run the Masters would quietly prefer otherwise.