The build-up to this year’s Masters has been… strange.
No events for Rory McIlroy, he’s been recovering from a back injury, nor for Scottie Scheffler, who withdrew from the Houston Open as he and his wife were expecting another baby. And the final LIV Golf event before Augusta was weeks before the tournament, so no Jon Rahm or Bryson DeChambeau either.
So, instead of the usual suspects gracing the top of the leaderboard as we have come to expect, Matt Fitzpatrick beat David Lipsky to the Valspar Championship, and Gary Woodland produced the feel-good story of the year by winning in Houston.
The best players on the planet, McIlroy and Scheffler, will have to shake off some rust in order to win the Green Jacket after weeks away from competitive action. So this year, are we more likely to get a winner out of left field instead of one of the favourites?
Scott Van Pelt says he doesn’t think there will be an underdog winner of The Masters this year
Despite these unusual circumstances in the build-up to The Masters, ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt still believes that one of the big names will claim the Green Jacket at Augusta this year.
Responding to a question asked by The Golfing Gazette, he said, “I don’t think it will be a left field winner. This event, more than most, tends to have a leaderboard on Sunday with very familiar names that all have great frames of reference here.
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“And with Rory and Jon, you have past champions, and Bryson, you have a guy who finished fifth last year and is clearly trending in the right direction in terms of what works at Augusta and has been playing fantastic golf on LIV.
“I don’t think whether they play this week or not has anything to do with next week. To me, it’s always surprising when guys who are that talented don’t find a way on the first or second page on the board at Augusta, where they have played well in the past.”
If Van Pelt is right and we see all of these names fighting at the top of the leaderboard this week, then it’s bound to be a blockbuster finale on Sunday.
Curtis Strange said he’d feel ‘rusty’ if he didn’t play three weeks before The Masters
Two-time US Open winner Curtis Strange said he would not want to face Augusta National after not playing for a number of weeks.
When asked by The Golfing Gazette if he expects McIlroy, Scheffler and others to be rusty, he said, “That all depends on the individual. Do you play the week before or do you not? I certainly would not want to take off two or three weeks before. I always felt like I was a bit rusty. I went in there apprehensive if I had not played for two or three weeks before.
“Normally, you are okay, but this is not a normal week. You have to be extremely sharp with the finer parts of the game, around and on the greens.
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“To me, you get that way by playing competitive golf. But I will say that Jon Rahm is playing better than he has played in a year and a half, DeChambeau is playing well. I think that two guys that you would expect to be on the leaderboard late on Sunday.
“But everybody is different. Everybody takes it in differently. But I think once you are there for a number of years, especially with Jon being a past champion here.”
What all of those players have going for them is extensive knowledge of the course and experience to fall back on, and they’ll all be leaning on that to get them through their opening round unscathed.
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