Golf, Augusta Masters: Mcllroy the favourite, but the crowd cheers on Tiger Woods. Molinari the Italian hope

AUGUSTA (GEORGIA) — The sun lights up the colors of theAugusta National and the heat around 30° uncovers the flowered, colorful shirts, dangerously similar to tapestries that the spectators wear following the questionable trend imposed by the golf clothing stylists. But it’s an illusion: it will be spring on the first day of the tournament (Thursday), then underneath with umbrellas and anoraks. From Friday to Sunday the frost arrives, with drops of 10-15° degrees in temperatures and, above all, a lot of rain will arrive, changing the cards on the table of the game: softer greens and therefore more controllable with the approaches, but slow fairways that will limit the trajectories of long shots. Even a forced extension to Monday cannot be ruled out, if the risk of lightning (lethal for players and the public) is confirmed. And a Monday finale would be an event here. The extraordinary underground ventilation system will probably work at full capacity which, extended to all the hectares of the field, is able to guarantee its practicability even in extreme conditions. But if Zeus starts throwing arrows down, there’s going to be trouble.

Tiger Woods, the fans close to the champion

If the hearts of the 50,000 spectators continue to beat in unison with that of Tiger Woods (winner here the first of his five times in ’97 when the lira was still there and Bill Clinton was in the White House) the mind tells everyone that the old, bruised champion can’t do it anymore. In a very wide range of possible protagonists, there are three names to watch more closely: McIlroy, Scheffler And Rahm. Whoever of them wins would be No. 1 in the world. In the case of Scheffler, a confirmation: he is already in first place in the ranking and is the reigning champion. The 6 victories and 16 top 10 obtained in the last 28 races speak for him: a car.

Rory Mcllroy, the favorite at the Augusta Masters

McIlroy is the most awaited: a year ago, with a perfect 64, without even a bogey and by pocketing the last birdie directly from the bunker of the 72nd hole, he managed to hoist himself to 2nd place but without being able to undermine Scheffler, too far ahead of him after three laps. It seems incredible that a player of his level, technically the best in the world, hasn’t won a Major for nine years and, above all, has never won here, where in 2011 he seemed close to triumph, starting the last round with 4 lead shots. Which weren’t enough due to a series of disasters on the second nine holes, which even relegated him to 15th place. As for Rahm, he had a dazzling start to the season: 4 successes in 6 tournaments before a small tarnish also due to some physical problems.

Golf, the 18 rebels of the LIV and the derby with the faithful to the PGA Tour

We are talking about super champions, not just good players. But in golf everything can be decided by a single shot of a few centimeters right or wrong and therefore the names of the squad are many. One in particular, however, deserves double attention: that of the 30-year-old Australian Cameron Smith. Protagonist of an extraordinary 2022, the mustachioed and long-haired boy from Brisbane, showed up at last year’s Masters having won in Hawaii in January with a record of 34 strokes under par and at “The Players” in March, considered the fifth Major. Third here in Augusta, he went on to win the Open Championship in the temple of St Andrews, coming back from McIlroy, before emigrating to LIV, the Arab super league. Were he to win, he would throw more fuel on the fire of controversy between the two circuits. Because the “derby” between the 18 LIV players invited to the Masters and the “loyalists” who remained loyal to the PGA Tour is destined to characterize this tournament. Where our Molinari he will play the first two days alongside one of them, the “bomber” DeChambeau, which bases almost everything on the staggering power of his shots. Met after the last 9 test holes on the eve, Molinari didn’t seem very optimistic about the not short period of fluctuating play. And yet here, like McIlroy, he had gone four years ago just a few steps away from victory.