Big guns kept apart in low-key first round
There had been speculation McIlroy would be paired with Tiger Woods but the organisers opted for a series of relatively low-key pairings.
McIlroy and Ishikawa are off at 7.03pm Irish time along with US Ryder Cup star Anthony Kim and at 3.56pm on Friday.
Woods goes out in the match immediately ahead with fellow-American Stewart Cink and the Indian Jeev Milkha Singh (6.52pm Thursday, 4.03pm Friday).
Padraig Harrington has a starting time tomorrow of 3.34pm (Irish) and 6.41pm on Friday.
He plays with 2003 champion Mike Weir of Canada and another Japanese, Ryuji Imada.
Graeme McDowell’s partners are Australian Aaron Baddeley and big-hitting American left-hander Bubba Watson, and they go off at 4.40pm to-morrow and at 1.33pm on Friday.
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WITH his five year-old son Paddy on the bag, Pádraig Harrington today tries to win the Masters Par 3 tournament for a third time. He actually tied with David Toms in 2004 with his manager Adrian Mitchell of IMG as caddie before going all the way 12 months later when beating Eduardo Romero in a play-off.
His mother, Breda, has also enjoyed distinction of carrying for her son on what is without doubt the most beautiful pitch and putt course on the world and this afternoon it’s Paddy’s turn.
“There’s no preparation going into it bar ordering a little golf bag for my son to be able to carry around,” says Pádraig.
“You get the yardages on the first tee. Usually, I go 7 iron up but might go 8 iron up this time. I like the idea of going out and hitting a few wedge shots and I like the hype and the excitement out there. It gets you ready for the tournament.”
He laughs at the statistic that no winner of the Par 3 has gone on to capture the green jacket in the same year, laughing “boy, would I love to be the first to do that with my son on the bag”.
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IT’S a strange development when length seems to matter most to golf course architects, but Augusta National, for the first time in 20 years, will actually play ten yards shorter this year than in 2008.
The only score card change comes at the first which is reduced to 445 yards while the 7th and 15th could be reduced by ten and nine yards should they decide to use a couple of new tees.
But the course still measures a formidable 7,435 yards and if the strong, cold wind of the last few days remain, those under the par of 288 come Sunday night won’t be a million miles away from a green jacket.
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ENGLAND’S Paul Casey, winner in Houston at the week-end, isn’t bothered by the wind. He’s no stranger to difficult weather conditions although he also stressed that “putting is key around this place and guys like Tiger and Sergio and Phil, guys who have supreme control of the golf ball, are the guys we will see at the top of the leaderboard”.
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IT was Fuzzy Zoeller’s night in Augusta on Monday when the only man to win the Masters at the first attempt (1979) was presented with a key to the city by Mayor Deke Copenhaver. The occasion ended with fans chanting Zoeller’s name and the man himself insisting this would be his last Masters.
“The golf course is too long and that’s why I’m not enjoying myself,” he stated.
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SETANTA Sports 1 will give extensive coverage of the event over four days. Setanta are also providing coverage of tonight’s Par 3 contest. Live coverage begins at 8pm followed by delayed action at 10pm.
Tomorrow (9pm): Live US Masters; Friday (5.30pm): Repeated coverage of day 1; 9pm: Live Masters day two; Saturday (3pm): Day two highlights; Saturday (8.30pm): Live Masters day 3; Sunday (4.30pm): Repeated coverage of day 3; 7pm Live Masters day 4; Monday (3pm): Repeat coverage of day 4
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