Danny Willett. Boom! Dustin Johnson. Boom! Henrik Stenson. Boom! Jimmy Walker. Boom!
From The Masters to the US Open to The Open Championship to The PGA Championship, golf’s top events in 2016 fell to first-time Major champions, writes GARY LEMKE.
Now, as we lift the lid on the pressure cooker of the first Major of 2017, The Masters, can we expect to see another new name pull on the famed Green Jacket? Or lift the Claret Jug, or one of the other US-hosted big ones?
The chances are actually quite favourable. Such is the depth in the men’s game that by the beginning of April there were 10 players in the world’s top 20 who hadn’t won aMajor – and six of them are still in their twenties. In fact, the oldest player in the top 20 to have not won a Major was Paul Casey, the 39-year-old Englishman.
So, as the year unfolds, and given the competitiveness of the men’s top order, expect to see a new face win a Major title.
It all starts at Augusta, where Willett last year put together a bogey-free, five-under final round of 67 to surge to the top of the leaderboard. He was aided, it must be admitted, by defending champion Jordan Spieth’s meltdown at the par-three 12th hole, where he twice dunked his ball into the water and staggered off the green with a seven.
This time, the quality in the top 20 is going to ensure that the favourites, like Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Spieth, are going to have to bring their A-game from the first tee-off.
Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Sergio Garcia, Alex Noren, Patrick Reed, Casey, Tyrrell Hatton, Branden Grace and Matt Kuchar were all in that top 20 less than a month before The Masters was to get under way, and a case could be made for each of those 10 players to be a Green Jacket contender on the week.
And, if not one among them wins at Augusta, who would bet against one or more of them tasting success at Erin Hills, Royal Birkdale or Quail Hollow Club later in the year?
Grace is the top-ranked South African in the field, but he has missed the cut the past three years, so the bookmakers will not be scared to lengthen his odds of winning. In 2016 he recorded rounds of 75 and 77. In 2014 it was even worse, with a first-round 84 ruining his hopes that couldn’t be raised with a second-round 69.
He explained away his missed cut in 2015, saying, ‘Maybe I wanted it too much.’
Gary Player knows all about the pressure that comes with teeing it up with the elite at The Masters. ‘In 1961, I had to teach myself to relax,’ he says. ‘I kept telling myself, “Tomorrow I have the chance to become the first foreign winner of The Masters”. I had to make sure I didn’t have time to worry about the nerves and choking.’
Grace had fancied his chances last year. He felt ‘I can go there and compete now. I don’t see my ball striking as being any worse than the great players in the world. It’s just about doing it at the right time and making the putts at the right time.
‘I feel that’s been the big change for me,’ he said, before missing the cut.
The 28-year-old did rebound to tie for fifth at the US Open and tied for fourth at The PGA Championship, so there is no reason to believe he doesn’t belong with the big boys. Although Grace’s recent form hasn’t been as strong as he would have hoped, he showed glimpses of what he is capable of when he finished third behind Noren at the 2016 Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City.
The highest-ranked player in the world to have not yet won a Major, is Matsuyama, the 25-year-old Japanese sensation. For him, it appears more a case of when, not if, he makes the breakthrough. At the beginning of December he laid bare his ambitions. ‘All my focus and preparation will be for The Masters,’ he said.
‘Hopefully, along the way, I can play well on the PGA Tour, but The Masters is my next goal.’
In his first six starts in 2017, Matsuyama had one victory (SBS Tournament of Champions), a runner-up spot (Sony Open in Hawaii), and finished in the top 10 at the other four tournaments.
Suddenly, pre-Masters odds of 14-1 for Matsuyama seem quite generous, considering Spieth was the 6-1 favourite, followed by Johnson at 7-1 and McIlroy at 8-1. Grace himself was as long as 80-1 to don the Green Jacket; really long and bizarre odds, considering Tiger Woods was priced at 66-1 and is a doubtful starter, let alone contender.
McIlroy would be a popular winner, with South Africans warming to him for coming to the country to play at the national Open in January, where he finished second after a playoff with Graeme Storm.
He too, has earmarked The Masters as his big goal for 2017. ‘It is the biggest tournament of my year and it will continue as my main goal until I win it.’
The Northern Irishman has a best finish of fourth at Augusta in 2015, but will return to the first Major of the season in April with high hopes of improving that performance. ‘I’ve no problem saying that. It’s the one Major I’m yet to win. As long as I’m good for that, I don’t care what it takes,’ he added.
The 27-year-old boasts four career Majors to date, but has yet to collect one of golf’s premier prizes since winning The PGA Championship in 2014.
‘There is nothing like that feeling of winning a Major. I won the FedExCup last year and that was great, as was being part of the Ryder Cup the following week, but for me winning a Major – there is no greater feeling in golf.
‘I haven’t won in a couple of years, but the greatest players in the game have gone through stretches of not winning any Majors in a couple of years.
‘Jack Nicklaus went through a stretch from 1967 to 1970. Tiger won 14 of them from 1997 to 2008, but that’s not normal. That is so far from the norm. I was averaging one a year over a four-year stretch, which was fantastic, and I could do it again.’
Former world No 1, Australian Jason Day, is another who puts a Masters victory at the top of his bucket list. Day once said he’d like to scatter his late father Alvin’s ashes on Augusta National, and reckons, ‘If I won here and died the next day, I’d be a very happy man.’
And another twenty-something, Fowler, also mapped out his ambitions for 2017.
‘The past couple of years, the Majors have been kind of the No 1 point to look at, especially after 2014, having the good finishes there. So, yeah, the Majors for me are probably the No 1 goal. To see one of my best friends, Justin [Thomas], play the way he’s played lately, yeah, it’s inspiring and motivating. Like I said, to continue to push myself to play better. But winning is what I want too – to win tournaments around the world, but the Majors are No 1.’
Everyone in this year’s field is in it to win it – but that’s equally true of the other three Majors that will follow.
Michael Bamberger is a senior writer at Sports Illustrated. He said: ‘After Johnson, I’m going with Phil Mickelson, Fred Couples, Spieth, in that order.
‘Phil, because he does rise to the occasion, he’s still long and he knows the course inside and out. Fred, because we’ve had so many young winners this year it seems logical there should be some counter-balance to it all. Spieth, because he’s such a smart golfer and I think he will correct whatever it was that went wrong last year on Sunday.’
Jeff Ritter is the digital development editor at SI. He says: ‘Johnson is the new favourite, but I felt great about Hideki a month ago and I’m not going to abandon him just yet. Also, in three trips to Augusta, Spieth has yet to finish outside the top two. Hard to imagine he isn’t in the mix.’
But perhaps the truest word comes from the caddie for 20th-ranked Kuchar.
‘I’d say at this moment DJ is the clear favourite, but there’s still enough time for others to join him in the heavy favourites category. I still maintain this is one of the most wide-open fields in Masters history and wouldn’t be surprised if any of 20-25 players were to don the jacket.’
– This article first appeared in the April issue of Compleat Golfer, now on sale
Photo: Getty Images
