STEVE RICHARDSON, the last Hampshire golfer to play in the Masters, tips Justin Rose for a top-20 finish at Augusta this week.

Rose has been paired with close friends Adam Scott and Augusta native Charles Howell III in the opening two rounds of the first major of the year, starting today.

Eleven years ago Richardson, like Rose, was the shining new light in English golf. The big fella from Lee-on-Solent had soared to 36th in the world rankings, six places higher than where Rose stands right now.

But Richardson admitted: "Technically Justin is a better player than I was. I believe he can go on and become a top-ten player in world golf.

"Like me, I'm sure he'll find Augusta everything he dreamed it would be.

"Playing there was the highlight of my career.

"It's a magical place but it's a tough test bordering on the unfair at some holes.

"You need a good long game which I had when I played there, but most of all you need a good touch on and around the greens.

"That's where Justin scores over me. I could hit the ball long but sometimes my chipping and putting let me down."

Nevertheless, Richardson made the cut in the 1992 Masters and was in line to make the top 24, the figure invited back for the following year, but he recalled: "I three-putted on three of the last greens and finished down in the 40s."

It proved Richardson's one and only visit to Augusta.

Over recent years, the magic touch has deserted him to such an extent that he has turned down the chance of a European Tour comeback in Portugal next week.

He won the Portuguese Open in 1991 and, as a former champion, was eligible to play next week, even though he failed to regain his European Tour card last autumn. "I'm just not playing well enough to compete in Portugal," said Richardson.

"I'll play the South Region tour in the summer and see how that goes before deciding whether to give it another go in Europe."

l James Knight, a former Hampshire teammate of Justin Rose, won one of amateur golf's big early season tournaments when he lifted the Berkhamsted Trophy at the weekend.

The 29-year-old player, from the Sandford Springs Club near Basingstoke, birdied his last two holes to clinch a one-stroke victory over Nottingham's Jamie Farnsworth.

It was a staggering display by the London-based sales manager, who admitted he didn't pick up a golf club between November and February.

Knight fired two rounds of 70 for a two-under-par total on a course with a standard scratch of 74 on the day.

Plans for a summer wedding and a house move curtained Knight's golf through the winter but the man who has won the Berkshire Trophy, the Selbourne Salver and the King George V Trophy in a fine amateur career, will again be a key figure for his county.