It happens every few years in the final round of the Masters Tournament. Someone finishes play in or near the lead, and before the final group of the day has completed play.

Instead of standing around the scorer's tent to see whether the players on the course will catch or beat him, he's asked to wait in Jones Cabin, where he can watch the finish on television.

That's Jones Cabin as in Bobby Jones, the Augusta National co-founder. Located adjacent to the 10th tee, it's the cabin where Jones and his wife, Mary, stayed when they were at the club. It was one of the first two cabins built on the grounds, in 1945.

How's that for pressure? The golfer is already nervous as he watches the events unfolding on the course to see whether he'll win the green jacket. And who's he sitting next to? The ghost of Bobby Jones.

"It was a little nerve-wracking," said Larry Mize of his trip to Jones Cabin in 1987.

Mize and Seve Ballesteros waited in the cabin to see whether Greg Norman would birdie the 18th hole to win. After he made par, the trio headed to the 10th tee for a sudden death playoff, which Mize won on the 11th hole with a 140-foot chip-in for birdie.

Mize doesn't recall whether he was sitting next to Ballesteros when they were in Jones Cabin. He does remember that "we looked at each other when Greg missed his putt. It was kind of wild."

Two of the other golfers who have been in the cabin are Davis Love III and David Duval. Unlike Mize, they never got back on the course.

In 1995, Love closed with a final-round 66 and was the clubhouse leader. From his seat in the Cabin, he watched Ben Crenshaw birdie two of the final three holes to beat him.

The same thing happened to Duval in 1998. He led by a shot when he went to Jones Cabin, but ended up losing by one when Mark O'Meara birdied the final two holes.

"It was no big deal," Duval said of his visit to Jones Cabin. "I didn't think about it really."

Love did.

"It was an exciting experience because you think you have a chance to win the Masters," he said. "You get the scorecard right and then you're whisked off to the cabin and you think you might have actually won. You don't want to pull against a guy, but you think 'Gee, all he's got to do is make a bogey at 16 or 18 and I've won.' It was a strange feeling. "

Love left Jones Cabin wondering what had hit him after Crenshaw beat him by a shot.

"(Augusta National officials) said, 'We'd like for you to come over here to the Jones Cabin and wait because we don't want you to go to the media room,"' Love said.

"It was more like 'We're going to see if you're going to win or is there going to be a playoff,"' Love said. "You just didn't expect him to birdie Nos. 16 and 17. You figure he's got three holes to play and he's tied for the lead."

Love didn't hang around to see how Crenshaw would do on No. 18, where even a bogey would earn him the victory. That's what he made.

"When he made the birdie putt on No. 17, I said I'm going to the media room because I know he's not going to double bogey No. 18," Love said.

As Love watched Crenshaw's finish, he knew he was witnessing a special moment. Crenshaw, who had been playing poorly coming into the Masters, shot 70-67-69-68 for a victory he dedicated to his lifelong golf instructor, Harvey Penick, who had died earlier that week.

"It was meant for him to win," Love said of Crenshaw. "It was great to be a part of it. Next time, hopefully, when I get sent off to the cabin, I'll be a little more comfortable with it."

When Mize was in Jones Cabin, he sat on the first floor with a group of members. Love watched the finish on the second floor.

"It was just a bunch of people watching it on TV," Love recalls. "There was nothing spectacular going on in there. I got a glass of water and watched TV."

"The cabin was pretty full," said Mize, who can't remember whether he sat or stood. "There were a lot of people in there. There might have been a hello from somebody. I don't remember a whole lot of chit-chat. We were all busy watching the tournament on TV."