Time to round off the greening of Augusta?

OF the 12 Irishmen who have competed in the Masters, the best finishes were achieved by Pádraig Harrington, tied fifth in 2002, and Darren Clarke, who shared eighth place in 1998.

The great amateur, Joe Carr, was the first Irishman to receive an invitation. A man who lived life to the full and became a member at Augusta (as is his son, John, today), Carr made the best of his three years amidst the famous cathedral pines.

One of the many unusual Masters traditions is to pair the reigning Masters champion with the holder of the British Amateur Championship. In 1967, Joe partnered Jack Nicklaus. He made the cut — but the Golden Bear was on his way home after 36 holes. Twelve months later, Carr again survived into the weekend; his partner over the opening two days, Arnold Palmer, did not!

“It was great to play with Jack Nicklaus,” recalled Carr years later. “There were close on 5,000 people watching us and they were shouting, ‘go get him, Jack, go, go Jack’. And the crowds there are always very fair so they’d also call to me, ‘and you, too, Irish’. I shot 76, 74 to Jack’s 72, 79, which meant I qualified and he didn’t. Much the same happened the next year. They were shouting ‘go get him, Arnie’ but I shot 75, 73 against 72, 79.”

While Bobby Jones was the genial face of Augusta National and the Masters, Clifford Roberts was the authoritarian who ran the place like a military operation. He broke that tradition when hearing of what Joe had done for the second successive year. “We’re thinking of inviting Carr back next year but who in the name of God will play with him?” he joked.

And as Joe would love to recall: “They gave me Sam Snead and neither of us qualified.”

Christy O’Connor Snr could have played the Masters but felt it wasn’t practical financially. Ironically, the next Irishman to do so was O’Connor’s nephew, Christy Jnr, in 1977. He failed to survive the cut. The same fate befell Garth McGimpsey who qualified by winning the British Amateur Championship at Royal Dornoch the previous year.

Ronan Rafferty was an automatic invitee in 1990 as holder of the European Tour order of merit. The Warrenpoint player shot rounds of 72, 74, 69 and 72 for an even par total of 288, 10 behind Nick Faldo who defeated Raymond Floyd in a play-off.

Another Ulster man, David Feherty, now of CBS TV fame, tied for 52nd in 1992 on four over par although it wasn’t until 1998 that Irish participation became an every year occurrence.

That saw Darren Clarke tied eighth on his first visit. He jointly led after an opening 66 in 2003 but gradually fell back into the pack and hasn’t returned to Augusta since missing the cut in 2007.

Pádraig Harrington tied for 19th in the first of his 10 appearances in 2000 and was fifth a couple of years later. Paul McGinley and Graeme McDowell and British Amateur champions Michael Hoey and Brian McElhinney all enjoyed the special thrill of Masters participation in the early years of the new millennium with McGinley doing himself proud on his maiden voyage in 2002 by tying for 18th.

Rory McIlroy brought the Irish total up to the round dozen last year and shared 20th position. He is back this week, with Harrington and McDowell. Just as Seve Ballesteros made the breakthrough for Europe in 1980, the time will come when an Irishman also slips on the green jacket in the Butler Cabin on the Sunday night of a Masters week.

Could that occasion be just six days away?