Englishman Danny Willett, who capitalised on Jordan Spieth’s dramatic final round capitulation last year has found ownership of a Green Jacket a heavy burden; indeed, that was his last victory, although he did show some evidence of form out in Asia, in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur as the 2016/17 season got underway.
It is hard however, to make a case for a successful defence by Willett; fair dues to him, he seized the moment last year when Spieth left the door wide open, striding through it with all the adrenaline of a young man presented with the biggest sporting opportunity of his career to date, topped-up by becoming a father for the first time just days earlier and having no time to think about Augusta National and the challenges that lay ahead.
Rory McIlroy’s recent injury woes may have suppressed much of the talk of the career Grand Slam, and with the successive top 10 finishes at Augusta, logic would suggest the world number-two could be in the mix come the afternoon of Sunday 9th April, but the longer the Northern Irishman goes without laying the ghost of 2011, when he blew a four-shot final round lead with an eight-over-par 80, the more the continuing absence of a Green Jacket will prey on his mind.
It’s also worth bearing in mind, particularly with Tiger Woods either indisposed through injury or bang out-of-form for the best part of a decade, that McIlroy, for all his promise and undoubted talent still has only four, ‘Majors’ to his name, no Masters title and two USPGA Championships, considered by many to be the junior partner of the four flagship events.
It took until 1961 for a non-American to don the Green Jacket, when South African Gary Player prevented a successful Arnold Palmer defence, but the Stars & Stripes have far from had it their own way since.
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