World’s best gear up for Augusta showdown
AUGUSTA: Top-ranked Jason Day, defending champion Jordan Spieth, career Grand Slam seeker Rory McIlroy and a host of elite rivals have sparked an exceptional level of excitement for the 80th Masters.
A field of 89 will tee off Thursday morning at Augusta National in quest of the green jacket awarded a Masters champion, but only one will slide their arms inside the sleeves come Sunday.
Australia’s Day comes off triumphs at Bay Hill and the WGC Match Play. Northern Ireland’s McIlroy has found his form at just the right moment and American Spieth’s record-tying wire-to-wire win from last year still resonates in the Georgia pines.
Add Aussie Adam Scott, twice a winner last month, plus fourthranked Bubba Watson, a twotime Masters champion, 2015 Players winner Rickie Fowler and five-time major winner Phil Mickelson and the stage is set for a showdown on golf ’s most acclaimed course. DAY’S CAMPAIGN “I would enjoy a Spieth McIlroy Fowler Scott Watson Mickelson Sunday,” Day said. “That would be a lot of fun.” Day has won six of his past 13 events, including his first major title at last year’s PGA Championship, to overtake Spieth as world No 1. Day is trying to become only the fifth player to win the PGA one year and the Masters the next to join Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead.
McIlroy is on hand to capture a fifth major title and complete a career Grand Slam at age 26, joining Nicklaus, Woods, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen in having won all four majors at least once.
“It’s definitely a motivation to be able to put your name alongside those five guys,” McIlroy said. “I haven’t been in a situation where I’ve felt the pressure of it, really, because I didn’t have a real chance to win last year.”
McIlroy dismisses the notion of added tension impacting his game, saying, “Pressure is for tires.” But he knows it will increase every year he does not add a green jacket to his trophy list. “I feel like I’ve got everything I need to become a Masters champion,” McIlroy said. “But I think each and every year that passes that I don’t, it will become increasingly more difficult, so there’s no time like the present to get it done.”
Spieth will try to become the first back-to-back Masters winner since Tiger Woods in 2002. Woods is skipping this year’s event because he has not fully recovered from back surgery last year. “Going to try and just use last year as momentum,” Spieth said. “It’s also going to be a lot of fun walking these fairways, reliving those memories with the crowds and the roars.” LAHIRI STAYS CALM Anirban Lahiri is taking a calm and calculated approach to the Augusta Masters and said he will look to be patient this week as scoring is likely to be difficult.
Lahiri, 28, who made the cut on his debut last year, has played the front and back nines and spent a lot of time on the putting greens, chipping area and some at the range. “I have been here last year, so I know a little and I know I just need to be patient and take the chances that come my way. And I know that chipping and putting could be very crucial here,” said Lahiri, who tees off with Jimmy Walker and Soren Kjeldsen in the first round on Thursday.