When Iain Pyman becomes a professional golfer next week the first thing he will appreciate will be the anonymity. His days as a high- flying amateur virtually ended yesterday when he brought back an 82 from a painful encounter with the Augusta National limelight.

The 21-year-old Amateur champion will be just as happy to lose the world's attention as he will the raging toothache that helped to ruin the climax of his excellent career in the ranks of the unpaid. He neglected to blame the rogue wisdom tooth that dogged his round with Arnold Palmer, but admitted that on Wednesday he would have gladly gone home and left behind 'what should have been the best week of my life'.

Pyman was in the dentist's chair for two hours on Tuesday as the core from the tooth that started playing up during practice on Monday was removed. The operation left him in considerable pain, which worsened when he developed a gum infection. Mercifully, the ache eased off enough to give him a comfortable night's sleep and he reported to Augusta National yesterday morning as perky as any young man is likely to be just before he tees off in the US Masters with Arnie's Army in tow.

When he went for a final loosener on the driving range, however, the pain came back with a vengeance. And it hurt most when he hit the ball. It was a clear incentive to shoot a 62 and keep those occasions to a minimum.

His drive on the first soared 40 yards past the great man's and demoted the toothache. A birdie on the second brought a look on Pyman's face that said 'what tooth?'

The professional game tends to look upon the top amateurs rather like the rest of us regard nuns - enormous respect exists for their unviolated state. The treatment, which involves being paired with one of the legends at the big events, also carries a duty about which Pyman and his father, Dennis, who caddied for him, were informed by the organisers. The player's golf bag and visor bore the name of an equipment manufacturer and they had to get replacements from the souvenir shop which, oddly enough, advertised Augusta National.

But the burden was not a new bag but the calamity that overtook Pyman's game on the third and never let him alone. He was by no means the only one to suffer from the greens - 'I was scared of them and I paid for it,' he said - but suffer he did.

As Pyman joins the IMG stable no doubt his father will return to being a bank manager and we will be robbed of an engaging family partnership. Their relationship is an object lesson to all golf's warring fathers and sons. Perhaps aspiring youngsters will be encouraged by Pyman's example and warn their dads: 'If you don't be quiet, I won't take you to the Masters.'