Caroline pitches in as Rory tees up for Augusta glory

It is now 14 years since Europe produced a winner of a Masters green jacket, but Rory McIlroy’s timely return to form suggests that wait could be about to end at Augusta this week.

And there would be no better time than 2013, 30 years on from Seve Ballesteros’s second green jacket, 25 years on from Sandy Lyle’s win, and 20 since Bernhard Langer’s triumph, to end a Euro drought stretching back to José Maria Olazábal’s second win back in 1999.

At the risk of sounding faintly ridiculous, there has not been much for McIlroy to celebrate since he inked a 10-year equipment deal with Nike that gives him the sort of financial security several European nations would be only too pleased to possess.

However, after struggling with a new swing and those new clubs, McIlroy’s second-placed finish at the Texas Open last week means the USPGA Champion tees off in Georgia today in fine spirits and looking in better shape to contend for back-to-back Major victories.