Generally in sport, it’s the close to miss, adopted by the bravery of getting as much as go once more, solely to overlook out as soon as extra that leaves essentially the most indelible emotional mark. The repeated hope and optimism, crushed each time, typically in more and more merciless methods, till there aren’t any extra possibilities left.
Possibly this would be the yr that Jimmy White lastly wins the World Snooker Championship…? Or the England males’s soccer workforce lastly win one other main event…? Or Eire lastly make it previous a Rugby World Cup quarter-final…?
Or Rory McIlroy lastly wins the Masters to finish a profession grand slam…?
The story is well-known. As a prodigiously gifted 21-year-old on the 2011 Masters, he led by 4 strokes heading into the ultimate day and nonetheless had a bonus on the flip, just for essentially the most spectacular Sunday back-nine collapse to happen as he shot 80 to drop out of the highest 10.
He promptly shook that off to win a primary main later that summer time en path to racking up 4 of the game’s greatest titles in three years, inviting Tiger Woods comparisons and solutions that he might even eclipse Jack Nicklaus’s seemingly untouchable document of 18 males’s majors.
However the Masters all the time eluded him. 5 consecutive top-10 finishes from 2014 to 2018, a fifth place in 2020 and second spot behind a rampant Scottie Scheffler in 2022 show he has a recreation greater than able to taming Augusta Nationwide however the inexperienced jacket is but to adorn the Northern Irishman’s burly shoulders.
The broader main drought has reached a decade, so he’d undoubtedly chunk your hand off for even a 3rd PGA Championship crown however the Masters stays the final word, tantalising objective. The event victory that might enable him to affix Nicklaus, Woods, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan and Gary Participant in capturing a profession grand slam.
Yearly, McIlroy alters his Augusta preparation to attempt to break the duck. This season, it has concerned enjoying a a lot busier schedule than regular and visiting legendary coach Butch Harmon in Las Vegas for a swing tip or two.
“I met Butch after I was 14 years outdated, so we’ve all the time had a very good relationship,” declared McIlroy. “If there’s one man that I wish to go and get a second opinion from, it’s him. It’s the identical stuff that I’ve been making an attempt to do with my coach Michael [Bannon], however he form of simply stated it differently that possibly hit dwelling with me a bit of bit extra. It was a extremely worthwhile journey.”
The proof will solely be seen as soon as we all know who’s donning the inexperienced jacket come Sunday night. Possibly that is the yr that the McIlroy grand slam dream is lastly realised…
Whereas Rory’s quest for immortality grabs its annual headlines, the 2024 Masters has loads of different sub-plots to make it some of the intriguing males’s golf majors for a very long time.
The shadow of golf’s civil struggle between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf looms depressingly giant because the optimism of final yr’s shock announcement that the 2 sides have been on the point of a merger to carry everyone again collectively has pale within the absence of any tangible momentum in direction of that objective.
Gamers are nonetheless crossing the divide, LIV nonetheless can’t provide rating factors for his or her occasions and out-of-touch multimillionaires are nonetheless portraying themselves as exhausting achieved by. Talor Gooch, with zero main top-10 finishes to his identify, claims the winner of the 2024 Masters can have an asterisk by their identify as a result of he isn’t enjoying within the event. Nobody ever stated skilled golfers have been essentially the most self-aware bunch…
The civil struggle has an added twist this week as reigning Masters champion and presumed loyalist Jon Rahm has made the change from PGA to LIV since successful the inexperienced jacket final April. The actual fact Rahm is way much less broadly despised than some former converts like Patrick Reed and Phil Mickelson has sophisticated issues and whereas golf followers endure on a week-to-week foundation by not watching the world’s finest sq. off, it has added additional intrigue to the majors.
Rahm might effectively be the primary first-time winner since Sir Nick Faldo to retain his title, which might be a boon for LIV and a blow for the PGA, however whereas the politics of golf could also be unbearable, Augusta ought to at the least present 4 days of world-class golf to take our thoughts off all of it.
The Spaniard actually gained’t have issues all his personal means, although, with world No 1 Scheffler wanting unbeatable at occasions this season and the bookies’ favorite to win a second inexperienced jacket two years after grabbing his first. If his putter behaves, there’s a real probability Scheffler might run away with the event but when not, a slew of candidates from each excursions are ready within the wings to pounce.
Xander Schauffele leads the band of gamers but to win a serious who might simply rectify that this week, Jordan Spieth and Hideki Matsuyama are among the many former winners greater than able to repeating the trick and main machine Brooks Koepka lives for weeks like this. A sixth main title to cement his place as the best participant of his technology, and a primary inexperienced jacket to depart him only a Claret Jug away from his personal profession grand slam, will likely be precisely what the big-event animal expects as he heads up Magnolia Lane this week.
McIlroy’s yearly pursuit could effectively finish in heartbreak as soon as extra however the Masters by no means fails to ship and a welcome distraction from the civil struggle is precisely what the game of golf wants.
