ROBBIE GREENFIELD
’ve decided that 12 months is really too long to wait for the Masters to come around. It’s made worse by the fact that the first two months of our year here in the Middle East go by in a whitetrousered flash of breathlessly exciting Desert Swing madness, and then March drags on like Christmas Eve for a seven-yearold. I mean I love the Florida Swing and the WGC Matchplay, but seriously, I’m done waiting for Augusta!
Luckily, by the time this magazine appears in print we will have less than seven days before the greatest tournament on the planet begins (sorry The Open, I love you and your amazing history dearly, and I love links golf more than any other kind, but nothing quite tugs on the heart strings like spring time in Amen Corner).
I therefore feel compelled to do something foolish. It’s a word that begins with ‘P’ and is not something any self respecting golf journalist should ever commit to print, because you can’t just log in and edit it out like it never happened. It is of course, a prediction.
Maybe this is false bravado brought on by the fact that I correctly tipped Jordan Spieth to win his first Green Jacket in the run-up to last year’s Masters. But with hindsight, that was hardly a Nostradamus- esque call. I mean, he had already demonstrated something of a penchant for Augusta by finishing second as a 20-year- old, not to mention the fact he had been winning golf tournaments by wide margins and doing silly things like shooting a Sunday 63 on the hardest course in Australia. His first round 64 one year ago had an almost inevitable feel to it, and sure enough, Spieth made the rest of the tournament feel like an extended victory procession.
When it comes to the Masters, familiarity is just as important as form. I’m not sure when Fred Couples and Bernhard Langer will decide to quit contending for the Masters over the first two rounds, but my best guess is it will be at least 2035 before they’ve had enough. Every golf course has specialists, but Augusta seems to take this to the next level. Spieth, Bubba and Phil Mickelson are firmly in that camp of course. For Rory McIlroy and even Jason Day (who finished runner-up to Charl Schwartzel in 2011) the jury is still out.
This year’s tournament appears to be wide open, with Spieth a little off his game, McIlroy struggling for consistency, and the likes of Schwartzel, Day and Scott all coming nicely to the boil. But as open as it is, I still believe there are less than 10 players who are realistic challengers for a Green Jacket. And although I’m not his biggest fan, I can’t help but feel that the Bubba love affair with the Masters has another chapter in it. Of all the favourites, Watson is carrying the most potent combination of form and familiarity into the 2016 Masters. And he is my tip for a Green Jacket.