Tiger Woods will try to green his laurels and sheathe his fifth green jacket, Bubba Watson will try to wear for the third time in four years the precious garment that distinguishes the Masters champions and the world number one, Rory McIlroy, and Jordan Spieth will fight to write his name for the first time on the famous trophy. Of course, the first Grand Slam event of this season has many pretenders and the fight for the title is expected to be very close.
Woods, who a few weeks ago is no longer among the top 100 in the world ranking for the first time, will play his twenty-first Masters and he will do so after almost two months without competing and after some terrible results in his last appearances. We will have to see in what form he returns to Augusta National, although it is certain that he will not do it like when he won his titles, the first in 1997 and the last in 2005. “I’m excited to be back and playing at this level again,” says the Californian winner of fourteen majors. “I feel like my game is finally ready to compete at the highest level. No one can ever understand how hard I’ve worked to come back, I’ve worked from sun up to sun down.”
About his young compatriot Spieth, 21 years old, with a victory this season and who finished second last year at the Masters, Tiger says that he won the first time at Augusta when Spieth “was still in diapers”. The former world number one acknowledges that there is a new generation of youngsters coming through and that “the game has evolved a lot since I started at the top”.
Yesterday Tiger was one of the first to appear on the 1st fairway. He completed nine holes with his friend Mark O’Meara and under the watchful eye of a legion of fans, who as on Monday scrutinized his game eager to perceive any sign that confirms that their idol is back. “I’ve seen the old Tiger again,” O’Meara, winner of the 1998 Masters and one of Woods’ best friends on the PGA Tour, said afterwards.
Three Spaniards will be among the 98 players in contention at Augusta National: Sergio García, Miguel Ángel Jiménez and José María Olazábal. The Spaniard from Castellón, ninth in the world ranking, is the one who arrives in the best moment of his game, although the talent of the player from Malaga, who last year finished fourth in the famous course of Georgia, should never be discarded.
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