Win by Augusta native means free cars for some fans

Augusta boys Vaughn Taylor and Charles Howell III have some fans pulling extra-hard for them this week. If either wins, people who bought Hyundai Sonatas in March will get their cars for free, thanks to a dealership promotion. 

By T.J Auclair, PGATOUR.com Interactive Producer

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Naturally, there are scores of people pulling for local boys Charles Howell III and Vaughn Taylor at the Masters Tournament this week.

But aside from family and friends, perhaps no set of people are more hopeful that Howell or Taylor can walk away with a Green Jacket on Sunday than recent car buyers at Augusta's Taylor-Hyundai car dealership.

During the month of March, Taylor-Hyundai ran a promotion for its Sonata model. Anyone who paid cash or financed the Sonata would get the car free provided Howell or Taylor won the Masters.

Howell made the cut, but at 11 over par through three rounds was pretty much out of contention.

Taylor, on the other hand, could make it a very special Easter Sunday for some new car owners. He entered the third round just one shot off the lead and was going steady through his front nine on Saturday.

"We didn't have quite as much business as we would have liked for this promotion," admitted Taylor-Hyundai General Manager John Duckworth. "We didn't do a good enough job of getting the word out. But we're getting a lot of exposure now thanks to Vaughn."

With such a promotion, is Duckworth pulling for or against Taylor at this stage?

"We've got the promotion insured, so we're rooting for them not against them," an excited Duckworth said. "It won't cost us a dollar more whether Vaughn wins or not. We're pulling hard for him."

Augusta has not seen a native win the Masters since Larry Mize holed a miracle chip-shot from 140 feet on No. 11 in 1987 to defeat Greg Norman, and that fact wasn't lost on Duckworth.

"This is really is exciting," he said. "Vaughn is such a likable guy. If you've ever met and talked to him, you know he's not a standoffish, elitist kind of person. He truly is just one of the guys. He's got a very big following here and he's creating a lot of buzz. We're hoping he can hang on on moving day and we all know anything can happen on Sunday at the Masters."

Duckworth said if the final day of the Masters didn't fall on Easter, the employees of Taylor-Hyundai were hoping to gather with the recent Sonata buyers to watch the final round together.

"We've had contact with a couple of folks," he said. "Because of Easter, getting together tomorrow was just too hard to pull off."

Either way, Duckworth was sure everyone would be keeping a close eye on Taylor, hoping some prayers would be answered after he got through Amen Corner.