Well folks, we’re nearing that time of year again when the world’s best golfers head to the promised land of Augusta National. Soon, you’ll all be stocking the fridge, disconnecting the telephone and making sure the takeaway menus are close by as you settle in for four of the best golfing days of the year. I’m beyond excited to head back to this sublime corner of Georgia for what promises to be quite a tournament.
Majors have always been the pinnacle of the sport, but the continuing divide between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour/DP World Tour brings even more to these blockbuster events. It seems mad that we’re in this situation, but the last time the likes of Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau were in the same field as your McIlroys, Schefflers and Hovlands was The Open Championship in July last year. That’s almost nine months ago. While most, if not all, agree that it’s criminal for the game’s best players to be kept apart for so much of the year, it doesn’t half whet the appetite for The Masters.
Nowhere in the golfing world seems to excite quite as much as Augusta National. It’s a very interesting place to broadcast from and I think it’s fair to say there are more rules and regulations than some places, but it’s still an absolute pleasure to return each year. I just hope the weather plays its part this time around, though – the last couple of years, it’s been a bit overcast and muddy and that definitely changes the nature of the layout.
Before we get into the course and the contenders, I want to applaud Augusta National for its tournament invitations. BothThorbjorn Olesen and Ryo Hisatsune have been playing great golf of late, while Joaquin Niemann clearly deserves to be in the field despite his LIV Golf association. I’m not sure he would have been invited this time last year, but The Masters has always supported the growth of the international game at the same time as assembling world-class fields.
I often get asked for my course insights in the lead-up to The Masters. Apart from saying it’s bloody hilly, it’s hard to give much that people don’t already know. That’s the beauty of it taking place at the same course each
