Can Rose rise to the occasion?

WORLD number one Justin Rose is the man to beat at this week’s Masters, where recent history suggests the sport’s heavyweights will populate the leaderboard by Sunday at a major championship that is more predictable than any other.

Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy is the second favourite from a formidable European contingent, while Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas are the best American bets, even if Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will loom larger in the public imagination.

There has been no long-shot winner at Augusta National since 69th ranked Angel Cabrera collected the Green Jacket in 2009, though even the Argentine’s victory was far from a huge shock given his pedigree as a US Open champion two years earlier.

Nobody ranked outside the top 30 in the world has won since then, and even Patrick Reed, though not one of the favourites last year, was still ranked a healthy 24th and not a completely unexpected champion.

An Augusta winner must be able to draw his driver, fade his irons from hanging lies and have the artistry to hit great recovery shots. He must also be on form and mentally resilient.

Englishman Rose ticks all these boxes. It is almost as if Augusta was designed with him in mind.

He has finished top-15 in each of the past five years, including a pair of runner-up finishes.

Rose has been a machine from tee to green, and if the putter co-operates it will take a mighty performance from someone else to beat him.