It’s been 17 years since I played in my first Masters Tournament, but it feels like only yesterday as the memories from that first visit are burned into my mind so clearly. To this day, it’s one of the best weeks of my life.
My teenage years were filled for one week each April watching European stars donning the Green Jacket, so to say it was a dream come true to play in the Masters would be an understatement.
Receiving the invite is a joy in itself, when it drops through the letter box. How wonderfully old fashioned it is to send out those beautiful invitations for us to treasure for the rest of our days! From that moment onwards, it’s hard to give anything other than the Masters your full attention.
I can remember arriving at Atlanta airport and being intrigued as to which direction we would travel, a strange thing to remember one might think, but it’s the only time I can ever really remember wondering this upon arrival somewhere. The mystique of Augusta National at play once again.
I can remember the joy on my guests’ faces as they arrived at what can only be described as the mansion I had rented for the week, and how early I rose on Sunday morning, like a kid on Christmas Day, ready to take that drive into the most famous golf club in the world.
Quite how unlucky I was that in 2005 all the players were ushered into a gravel car park alongside Magnolia Drive, rather than down it, I will ever know. Alas, it was to be my only let down of the week.
I assume all new players that visit Augusta for the first time do the same as I did. Take a wander around the clubhouse, it’s as classy as you might expect. Then take a walk out of the back door to have a look at the first and tenth tees, the ninth and 18th greens, and wonder at just how much the course drops away below you.
Arriving on Sunday to witness the members still playing with their guests is a wonderful little Augusta quirk that only belongs to them. You feel like a guest at a golf club rather than a competitor in a Major Championship, how utterly wonderful.
What struck me also was just how excited the great names of the game were to be there once again. August National really has created something so coveted that it seems to excite an ageing jack Nicklaus just as much as it does a young rookie as myself. In this, the Masters is truly unique.
This year’s chapter seems destined to be an absolute cracker and make no bones about it. Now that LIV Golf has got going, the Majors are set to benefit more than anyone else. Only four times a year do the world’s best players get together now, and the Masters has the box seat in starting things off as per usual.
Let’s look at the headliners. Jon Rahm is playing like a man possessed, the number one player in the world, it’s where he feels he belongs right now and he’s desperate to prove it, week after week. Scotty Scheffler just won’t go away. His win at the Waste Management Phoenix Open to defend his title was sublime, a reminder that he is nothing other than a class act. Defending that title in the madness of the desert must take some doing.
Rory put together his win in Dubai without his A Game whilst taking the weight of the old golfing world on his shoulders as he faced down Patrick Reed. Rory’s two-birdie-finish to win under incredible circumstances will stand him in good stead when his next Major chance arrives. He knows as well as anyone though that it’s hard to win with your B Game. Timing could be everything for Rory this year, if his game clicks at the right time…watch out.
Tiger will arrive at his favourite venue champing at the bit to produce his next miracle. His timing perhaps couldn’t be better, with four rounds under his belt at Riviera he will be confident that the unimaginable can once again happen. Jordan Spieth is hitting it well and we all know how much Augusta suits his game.
The LIV boys will arrive on even bigger private jets than they did last year and will feel that they have a point to prove. For so much of the year now it’s safe to say they play under the radar. The Majors bring them back to the forefront once again and rest assured Cam Smith, for one, will want to prove that he is better than ever. He of all the LIV players made the jump in his prime – whether this proves to be a burden or an inspiration we’ll have to wait and see.
DJ, Brooks, Bryson, Bubba…who knows what game they will bring with them. Now that they’re nearly a year on from the biggest decision of their golfing lives, it’ll be interesting to see how it has affected them. Is Sergio full of the joys of spring, or burdened by his change in circumstances for instance? I fancy it will be the former, happy to be involved in the Major Championships he coveted as a child, playing practice rounds with Jose Maria Olazabal perhaps, or his LIV contemporaries?
The champions locker room is small at Augusta so Mickelson, DJ, Reed, Garcia, Schwartzel, makes quite a LIV crowd. Who wouldn’t want to be a fly on the wall in there this April as they slip on their shoes next to Tiger and Co.
Golf has entered a new era and this year’s Masters is the Major that will usher it in for real. The story lines are set, the cast has been named, the 13th has been lengthened and come Masters Sunday, I think we will be in for one heck of a ride once more.
