OUR MASTERS TRIO HAS STRONG CLAIMS
REMEMBER back in 2013 when Australian golf fans were bemoaning the fact that our smallest contingent of players in many years would contest the Masters and, as such, had little chance of breaking the hoodoo that had seemingly stopped one of our own ever slipping on the green jacket? Our foursome of Adam Scott, Jason Day, John Senden and Marc Leishman were given little chance of changing the course of Masters history. How wrong we all were as Scott rolled in THAT putt in the dark to win the Masters. Not much has changed in five years. Three of the aforementioned Australians (correct at the time of going to press) will tee it up at Augusta this year. Scott, Day and Leishman will be flying the Aussie flag among the dozens of Americans, seven Englishmen, four Spaniards and South Africans staking strong claims for the title. ‘Sendo’ has been on leave from the game for almost a year as his son, Jacob, was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Perhaps our meagre numbers checking into Augusta National should be seen as an omen. After all, Scott, Day and Leishman dominated the leaderboard for four days in 2013 when there were just four Aussies in the field. There were more Aussie journalists than players at Augusta that year. Five years on and we’re hoping a second green jacket will head home for Christmas.
All three Aussies have genuine claims on the green jacket. The recent form of Leishman and Day suggests they will ensure the large throng of Australians who make the pilgrimage to Augusta will have something to cheer about.
Scotty has been struggling but you can never write off a champion. Perhaps, with lower expectations, he can find his game on the hallowed turf at Augusta and win the green jacket for a second time.
The Aussies aside, it will be fascinating to see how Tiger Woods goes in the first real test of how ‘2018 Tiger Woods’ measures up to the twenty and thirty-somethings looking to bring him down.
All eyes will be on Woods and rightly so. It’s great to have him back playing and to have golf grabbing some newspaper space and TV coverage. I tend to think much of the golf industry, including the media, took Woods for granted before his indefinite break and, now that he’s back, they can’t get enough of him.
This year, the Nine Network will broadcast the Masters live on one of its channels, while FoxSports will also televise the tournament.
If, for some reason you can’t be near a TV, you can follow what is happening at the Masters via our website. Golf Australia magazine will be on the ground at the Masters and will provide daily wrap-up stories, previews leading into the tournament and photo galleries. You can also follow our tweets @GolfAustMag or @BrendanJames2