Adam Scott closes Lytham wound in style

Photograph from Wikipedia Commons

The Masters. Pure sporting theatre as always. In the midst of heartbreak for so many, there was adulation for Adam Scott as he conquered the undulations of Augusta National to end the Australian Green Jacket curse.

Many demons were banished today; Scott's collapse at Royal Lytham and St Annes is now a distant memory and there will finally be a Masters winner down under.

The Masters 2013 day 1 - as it happened

77th Masters not all about the big guns

Photograph from Wikipedia Commons

The Masters brings the best out of the best and always has done. Augusta National is a course that separates the men from the boys, although it is more difficult than ever to distinguish the difference. 

It isn't hard to differentiate in a literal sense; 14-year-old Chinese prodigy Tianlang Guan will play alongside two-time champion Ben Crenshaw who is 47 years his senior. However in golfing terms, despite Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson being the three favourites, the Green Jacket is there for the taking. 

Major championships are becoming increasingly tough to predict, Ernie Els' romantic Open win last July halted a run of nine consecutive first-time major winners. Although Rory McIlroy claimed his second major win in two years with his emphatic victory at the USPGA and Tiger Woods has won three times this season en route to world number one, there are a whole host of players hopeful of conquering Augusta.

The Masters 2013

Photograph from Wikipedia Commons

Nothing grabs attention quite like the Masters. The green pinnacle of golf that is Augusta National captures the imagination of the world for one week every year thanks to its meticulously prepared fairways and greens, and the majestic pine-straws that bring about the death of so many a round. 

The players are mere midgets in the face of 7,400 metres so daunting, yet so beautiful. In 48 hours time 93 men of all ages and stature will take their turns to attempt to conquer the beast, and what a spectacle it promises to be. 

From the sorry (Kenny Perry 2009) to the sublime (Nicklaus 1986), the Masters never fails to disappoint and this year could excite the pallet more than ever. There are plenty of tales ready to be written. Could 14-year-old Tianlang Guan make the cut despite not being able to reach all the greens in regulation? Will Sergio Garcia win his first major on the 30th anniversary of the late Seve Ballesteros' last Masters win, in the same week that it would have been the great Spaniard's birthday? Only time will tell. 

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