Is it naughty to again hope for a Masters with the apparent White Knights of golf – The PGA Tour battling their archrivals, The nasty LIV Golf League?
The US Masters is definitely a sporting event not to be missed either in person at Augusta National or sitting on your favourite lounge chair, remote in hand for when the first coffee kicks in and you need to press pause.
The knife’s edge design and layout of that golf course where a 6 inch misjudgement from 150 yards can see a players pill rolling down a slope back to their feet, or worse, bobbing up and down crying for help in 20 feet of water. That reminds me of a terrible joke by the legendary Rodney Rude about the bloke who didn’t have a body, only a head.
Back when he was a young head, he once found himself on the starters block at a school swimming competition. When the gun goes off, he dives into the pool and sinks straight to the bottom. A nearby teacher jumps out of her chair rescues the head and sits him on the tiles near the pool. “What the hell happened?” she asks – “I got a bloody cramp!” says the head.
Anywho… as you can probably remember, last years Masters had the then PGA Tour star, Jon Rahm going “head to head” against LIV’s biggest (literally) name, in Brooks Keopka. It was ripper viewing with Rahm finally getting the edge on Keopka and winning his second career major. Despite the green jacket going to one of the White Knights best, when the dust had settled, it was pretty much a draw between to the two foes, with Rahm, Henly and Spieth sharing the top 6 with Keopka, Mickelson and Reed.
In 2023 18 LIV players were in the tiny Masters field but given the state of the Official World Golf Rankings and the continued non acceptance of LIV as a tour worthy of points, 2024 will only see 13. That’s only because, outside of the obvious recent major winners like Cam Smith (2022 Open Championship), Bryson DeChambeau (2020 US Open) Brooks Keopka (pretty much any major he plays in without injury), plus all the former Masters winners – Rahm, Johnson, Bubba, Reed, Sergio, Lefty and Schwartzel. Theres only those who have recently joined LIV and still clinging onto their place in the top 50 in the antiquated World Rankings who make up the rest.
The Augusta National Committee do have a couple of special invitations up their green sleeves each tournament and this year they have shown the good sense to offer Joaquin Niemann a start, I’d suggest as a result of his Aussie Open victory last December.
So who do we see Rahmbo going through that always awkward process of trying to match up the winners arm to a sleeve to this year?
Well who’s playing the best on the PGA/DP World Tour? Well given the Americans have poached another 10 of the best players in Europe from last years Money List, I suppose we have to look at who’s been winning in Trump-Land. A quick squizz down the PGA Tour winners list for this year and I might as well have read the nearest phone book.
There was a couple of standouts however… the world number one player by the name of Scheffler just won the Arnould Palmer Invitational by a lap and a half with the aid of a new putter. Despite foot work resembling Michael Flatley, Scotty’s ball striking is better than anyone on the planet but his inability to wave the flatstick in the general direction of the hole has prevented him from winning every second week. The 2022 Masters Champ is my number one pick. (Yes I know Im going out on a limb).
Rahm will have something to prove but I reckon he feels that way every time he puts on a pair of duds.
Everyone wants Rory to finally break his major drought and maybe that’s why he still hasn’t and probably won’t again?
I tell you this for nothing though. I have this weird feeling in my waters….. and that reminds me I’m overdue for my doctor to whack on the old rubber glove and become quite personal.
I’m sensing something with Jason Day and I really don’t know why… his form so far this year hasn’t been startling and his striking stats aren’t much chop but he has notched up 3 top tens from a handful of starts and his knowledge of the Augusta National nuances is invaluable.
Just to clarify how invaluable, because they have no value, my insights and opinions are on picking winners of Major Golf Championships, Im throwing in another name, Ludvig Aberg.
Again it’s merely a case of “It’s the vibe of the thing”
If you have any thoughts on my picks and they won’t make me cry, let us know.
Good luck readers.
