Irish ripe to blossom among azaleas

IT wasn’t just the players who were in a quandary as to the kind of golf course they would wake up and find at Augusta this morning.

The green jackets of the National club were also in a dilemma as to how they should best set up their prized item as the world’s greatest went in search of the 69th title.

The weather forecast had a key role to play with rain virtually assured overnight. That in turn would help to take some of the steam out of the fastest greens seen here for many years, so it will be interesting to see the reaction of the officials.

Rough weather never bothered the Irish and all three of our contenders, Pádraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell, grew up on seaside courses where rain and wind were part and parcel of their daily lives.

And with eight of the 14 US tournaments this season disrupted by the elements, they will have learned well how to cope with the frustrations of it all.

Mind you, Clarke’s mindset won’t be helped should he read a piece in the latest edition of the US magazine “Golfweek” which contains the following: “Nowadays Clarke plays behind closed doors at Queenwood in the posh surroundings of Surrey, England. He is disdainful of journalists and fairly consumed with self-importance.”

Otherwise, the article is complimentary of all things Irish and why the (British) writer should have picked on Clarke in this fashion isn’t exactly clear.

In any event, it would be beneficial to his chances this week if he were not to read this piece until completing his involvement in the Masters.

He has been playing very well in practice, putting aside as best as he can the fact that his wife, Heather, is back home battling cancer and doing “very well”, in Darren’s words yesterday.

Interestingly, though, he has never done well at Augusta, not at least since his debut in 1998 when he opened with rounds of 76 and 73, scraped in on the cut mark, before shooting a best of the weekend 67, 69 for a share of 8th.

In the meantime, he has gone missed cut, 40th, 24th, 20th, 28th and missed cut so you’d hardly be putting your bottom dollar on him.

Harrington hasn’t exactly set Augusta alight either on his five previous visits.

He, too, has worries back home to occupy his mind but Ronan Flood, his close friend and caddy, said last night that he is coping admirably.

Harrington gave arguably the best media press conference of the week and is as well mentally as anyone could be in the circumstances.

Like everybody else, he is fascinated by the kind of course that awaits him should play be possible when he tees it up in the eighth match on the course at 2.27pm Irish time today.

“It’s precision play all the way at Augusta, you don’t get away with very much,” he says.

“It is the perfect course for tournament play. It can be set up any way they like. If they want to see birdies and eagles on the back nine, there will be birdies and eagles. But if they don’t want us to make pars, we’ll struggle. They can set it up in a way that really tests players.”

So the European Tour golfer of the month for March is in good shape going into the Masters, a remark that also applies to rookie McDowell.

The runner-up in the Bay Hill Classic last month is buoyed with confidence and looking forward avidly to his first Masters.

He is such a good player and a positive kind of guy that he could finish among the top 15, thus securing an automatic return invite for next year.