The Masters

April 7, 2008

The first major of the year starts on Thursday at Augusta. What an amazing looking golf course, hopefully I’ll make it there for the Masters sometime, or maybe even get to play the course, which looks difficult as it’s members only. If someone told me I could play a round of golf on any course I wanted I’d have to pick Augusta. Maybe, coming from Scotland, I just take for granted all the great courses we have here. I think the closer you live to somewhere famous the less likely you are to visit it, for some reason. I’m sure there’s many people in Scotland who’ve never even been to St Andrews, in the same way there’s probably many New Yorkers who’ve never visited the Statue of Liberty or been to the top of the Empire State building. When I worked in Edinburgh I used to see the castle every day but I’ve never been on the tour inside, i’ve only ever seen it from the outside.

I wonder what someone from the US would say when asked which course they’d want to play? Would it be Augusta, the Old Course at St Andrews or maybe somewhere else? I guess the one thing that makes Augusta different, and more desirable to play, is how inaccessible it seems to be. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who’s played Augusta, I think you need to be a member or a guest of a member.

The question everyone seems to be asking this year is, can anyone beat Tiger Woods? Well he’s definitely not unbeatable, as Geoff Ogilvy proved a few weeks ago at the World Golf Championships. With Ogilvy also finishing 2nd last week at the Houston open it’s looks like he’ll be Tiger’s main threat. But when you look at the statistics, in 2007 and 2008 Tiger’s played in 23 tournaments and won 12 of them. In 2008 alone he’s played 5 and won 4 so it’s hard to see him not winning. My one hope is that it’s close, I hate it when a big tournament like this is all but over with most of the last round still to play. Of the other players, I think Lee Westwood, KJ Choi and of course Ogilvy are all in with a chance. Can’t wait to see what happens.