Date: April 05, 2007
Author:

Aussies at the Masters Preview

Adam Scott s fist pumping win on Sunday at the Shell Houston Open has once again turned our attentions towards the hope of an Australian attempting to do what none of their countrymen have done before them – don the famous Green jacket and hold aloft the silver trophy at the prestigious Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday April 8. Scott will be joined by seven counterparts in total from down under as all eyes turn towards the 71st US Masters at Augusta National starting on Thursday. The Australasian contingent includes Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Aaron Baddeley, Michael Campbell NZL, Geoff Ogilvy, Nick O Hern, Rod Pampling and Scott. There should be plenty of air time for the Australasian contingent this week, for Baddeley in particular. The 26 year old who returns to Augusta for the first time since 2001 will know he has arrived when he tees off alongside World Number 1 Tiger Woods and England s Paul Casey at 1:52pm local time. Geoff Ogilvy is in another marquee group with crowd favourite Fred Couples and Ernie Els at 10:34am and Adam Scott with defending champion Phil Mickelson and Ritchie Ramsay. Scott s win, teamed with Stuart Appleby s second placing, Aaron Baddeley s victory this year at the FBR Open, Robert Allenby s best ever start to a US Tour season with six Top 10 s from eight events and Geoff Ogilvy s second and third placing s at the world Golf Championship events is boding well for a fine aussie showing this week. Additionally five of those contenders are currently in the Top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking, an outstanding achievement. Scott leads the group at world number 3 (which equals the highest World Ranking of his career first achieved at the beginning of 2007), followed by Ogilvy at number 8, O Hern at 16, Allenby at 17 and Appleby at 19. Baddeley is just outside that number at 26 and Pampling and Campbell follow in 42nd and 45th places. The Australasian contingent will be attempting to achieve what has eluded Australian golfers since the first tournament was held in 1934. The media is always saying when is an Australian going to win here, when is an Australian going to win here, which probably doesn&apost help everyone&aposs cause, said US Open Champion and Major aussie hope for this week s title Geoff Ogilvy. Someone will do it. Adam won last week; he&aposs one week away from winning a major. Stuart is obviously close; Robert (Allenby) had played great this year; Badds is playing great this year. Five years ago, oh, there were one or two guys who might do all right in the Masters. There&aposs five or six legitimate guys right now who you could see winning on Sunday. It’s kind of an enigma that an aussie hasn t won before because it s (Augusta National) such a similar style of play though it looks completely different, but it s similar to Royal Melbourne or Kingston Heath. It’s just a similar style of shots that you need to play well here. Obviously Greg (Norman) had a few chances, Paz was up there one year, there are a lot of guys who have had a chance but just like any other tournament at the moment in the world. Australians are probably more likely to win one now than they were five years ago because there are just more of them in the field and there s more good players. Every year the chances go up of the drought being broken. Since the start of the event, the Australians have been runner-up six times. Jim Ferrier who plied his trade as one of the greatest Australian amateurs, winning the Australian Open twice, joined the professional circuit in the US and went on to win 22 Tour titles, including the US PGA Championship in 1947. However, despite his nickname of The Undertaker for the way he buried his opponents, the famed Masters eluded him and he was runner up to Jimmy Demaret in 1950. Next to feel the Masters trophy slip from his grasp was Bruce Crampton who was runner up to Jack Nicklaus in 1972. Crampton, the first Australian golfer to win more than $1 million in prizemoney, had 15 tournament wins, but no Major amongst them. Jack Nicklaus proved to be Crampton s nemesis, as the Australian finished runner up to him twice at the US PGA Championship, once at the Masters and once at the US Open. Jack Newton was the next Australian to finish second at the Masters. The 1979 Australian Open champion had five birdies on the first six holes at Augusta in 1980, but it wasn t enough and he finished runner up to Spaniard Seve Ballesteros. The final three runner up placing s at the Masters were all earned by The Great White Shark , Greg Norman in 1986, 1987 & 1996. 1986 was a heart-wrenching year for Norman on the US circuit. He watched Bob Tway hole a bunker shot to take the US PGA title from him and Jack Nicklaus finish with a final round 65, to beat him by one shot, taking the US Masters trophy and his sixth Masters title. The following year, forced into a play off, Norman watched American Larry Mize pitch in from 45 metres on the second extra hole to snatch the Green Jacket and the 1997 US Masters title. But it was eight years later at Augusta National that saw the hearts of Greg Norman and Australian golf fans broken. Everything pointed to a first Australian victory at Augusta when Norman led after every round. He tied the course record with a 9-under-par-63 on the opening day with his closest rival, Phil Mickelson trailing by two shots. Norman added a 69 for a 12 under 132 total after the second round extending his lead to four strokes with Nick Faldo his closest rival. After the third round Norman s lead had stretched to six ahead of Faldo and Mickelson at 7 shots back. Faldo produced some of the finest golf ever seen at the Augusta National on the final day, to take an overnight six-stroke deficit and turn it around into a five stroke win. In claiming his third Masters trophy, Faldo joined an elite group of six men with three or more Masters titles. Of the seven Australasians already in the field the closest any has come to the Masters title was in 2005 when Rod Pampling finished T5 in his first outing at the Augusta National. Pampling shot four under, finishing eight shots behind Tiger Woods who defeated Chris Di Marco in a play-off. Last year Pampling alongside fellow aussie Geoff Ogilvy was the best finisher in the record 10 strong Australasian field finishing T16. Pampling s best result at the Majors last year was his US Masters top16. Previously his best result was a T5 finish, also at the Masters. Pampling won his second title on the US Tour when he took out the Bay Hill Invitational two weeks before last years Masters and he will be lining up this week to defend his title at the newly names Arnold Palmer Invitational. Pampling s has made 7 cuts from 8 events this year on the US Tour with his best results T22 at the season opening Mercedes Championship and most recently T17 at the WGC Accenture MatchPlay. 2007 will be Pamplings third appearance at the US Masters. He is currently 42nd on the OWGR. Geoff Ogilvy s T16 on debut at last year s Masters was a preview of what was to become the biggest win of his golfing career when he followed it up two months later by becoming the first Australian in 11 years to win a Major as he triumphed at the US Open at Winged Foot. Recently, Ogilvy almost mirrored his preparations to 2006 when he went down by one shot in his title defence of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. The 29 year old is no longer green at the Masters and comes to the event a much wiser and more experienced campaigner. This year, he&aposs finished in the top 10 in three of the seven events he&aposs played, including 2nd at the Accenture Matchplay, T8 at the Sony Open and a tie for third at the CA Championship two weeks ago.. He is currently the world number 8 and 8th on the US Tour Money List. The most experienced campaigner at this year s event is Stuart Appleby. The 36 year old Victorian has appeared at the Masters ten times with his best finish T19 at last year s event. Prior to 2006 Appleby s best finish was T21 at his first outing in 1997. He finished T43 in 2005. Appleby, an 8 time winner on the US PGA Tour began the year with a T13 at the Mercedes Championship and had showed fair form until last week when he narrowly missed capturing his second successive Shell Houston Open title, finishing T2 and three shots behind fellow countryman and winner Adam Scott. Stuart moved to number 19 on the OWGR and 28th on the US Tour Money List. Robert Allenby will line up for his 8th Masters this year on the back of his best start to a US season since he joined the Tour nine years ago. Coming off one of his worst seasons in the US in 2006, he has recorded six top-10 finishes in 8 starts – three more than he recorded in the entire season last year. His outstanding season has included T3 at the Nissan Open and WGC – CA Championships, T5 at the Honda Classic, T8 at the Sony Open and Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and T9 at the Buick Invitational. With this form it is unfathomable to think that Allenby won t easily beat his previous best finish of T22 at the Masters last year. Prior to last year his best finish was T29 in 2002. He has thrice missed the cut, in 1997 and most recently in 2004 and 2005, but can head to this year s event in Augusta brimming with confidence as he sits at no 11 on the US Money List and 17 on the OWGR. Adam Scott, the highest ranked Australian on the Official World Golf Ranking, currently in 3rd position has carried high hopes from many in the golfing world to be the first Australian to win at Augusta and has reignited those hopes with his stunning three shot victory at last week s Shell Houtson Open. Scott s outstanding results have included winning events in the USA, Europe and Asia including THE PLAYERS Championship and Booz Allen Classic in 2004, the 2005 Johnnie Walker Classic and the 2006 THE TOUR Championship. Scott s best result at the Masters was when he tied for 9th in 2002. In 2003 he finished T23, missed the cut in 04, T33 in 2005 and T27 in 2006. Scott has played just four events on the US Tour in 2007 returning after a long break to capture a title and is on a roll. 2005 US OPEN Champion Kiwi Michael Campbell will make his fifth appearance at the Masters. Campbell missed the cut in 2006. He played in 2004 where he finished T45, 2002 (T69) and 2001 (T83). Currently ranked 36th on the Official World Golf Ranking, Campbell has had a mixed start to the 2007 season. His results in 2007 have included: T27 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, T80 at the Dubai Desert Classic, T69 at the Maybank Malaysian Open, and most recently T33 at the WGC Accenture Match Play. WA s Nick O Hern will return to at Augusta for the third time on the back of his best result at the event last year when he finished T19 alongside Stuart Appleby. O Hern most notably defeated Tiger Woods for the second successive year at the 2006 World Championship Accenture Match-play Championships and is most fondly remembered on home shores for his emphatic victory over Peter Lonard on the fourth play-off hole at the 2006 Cadbury Schweppes Australian PGA Championship, to gain his first title on home soil and finish number one on the Australasian Tour s Order of Merit. In 2007 he has played five events on the US Tour with his results including T5 at the WGC Accenture MatchPlay and T6 at the WGC CA Championships. A big event performer, O Hern is currently World number 16. Twenty six year old Aaron Baddeley returns to Augusta National for the first time since 2001 and will have little time to settle any nerves as he lines up alongside World Number 1 Tiger Woods for his tee time at 1:52m. 2007 will be Baddeley s third appearance at Augusta. He contested in 2000 and 2001 where he missed the cut on both occassions. Baddeley was among seven golfers who qualified for the Masters thanks to world rankings and money lists released the Monday prior to the Masters. Baddeley was safely inside the World Top 50, ranked 25th and also qualified courtesy of being in the top 10 on the US Money List. Regarded as one of the best putters in the game, Baddeley is coming off a win in 2007 (FBR Open) and 3 top 10 finishes from 8 appearances. He is the leading Australian on the US Tour Money List and most recently finished T6 at the WGC CA championship at Doral last week. The 2005 US Masters begins on April 6 at the Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta Georgia. American Phil Mickelson is the defending champion. Courtesy PGA Tour of Australasia First Round Tee Times: 8.00am: Billy Mayfair, Ian Poulter 8.11am: Scott Verplank, Nick O Hern, Joe Durant 8.22am: Larry Mize, Tim Clark, Troy Matteson 8.33am: Sandy Lyle, Dean Wilson, Bradley Dredge 8.44am: Ben Crenshaw, John Kelly, Davis Love III 8.55am: Chris DiMarco, Kenneth Ferrie, Steve Stricker 9.06am: Gary Player, Julien Guerrier, Vaughn Taylor 9.17am: Arron Oberholser, Niclas Fasth, Zach Johnson 9.28am: Tom Watson, Casey Watabu, Fred Funk 9.39am: Mark O Meara, Dave Womack, Stuart Appleby 9.50am: Bernhard Langer, Rich Beem, Colin Montgomerie, 10.01am: Chad Campbell, Angel Cabrera, JJ Henry 10.23am: Mike Weir, KJ Choi, Henrik Stenson 10.34am: Fred Couples, Geoff Ogilvy, Ernie Els 10.45am: Sergio Garcia, Bart Bryant, Shingo Katayama 10.56am: Phil Mickelson, Richie Ramsay, Adam Scott 11.07am: Jose Maria Olazabal, Charles Howell III, Justin Rose 11.18am: Stewart Cink, Todd Hamilton 11.29am: Seve Ballesteros, Carl Pettersson, Paul Goydos 11.40am: Ian Woosnam, Tim Herron, Robert Karlsson 11.51am: Jim Furyk, Rod Pampling, Ben Curtis 12.02pm: Ray Floyd, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Jeff Sluman 12.13pm: Robert Allenby, Brett Wetterich, Lee Westwood 12.24pm: Shaun Micheel, Jeev Milkha Singh, Ben Crane 12.46pm: Craig Stadler, David Howell, Stephen Ames 12.57pm: Retief Goosen, John Rollins, YE Yang 1.08pm: Michael Campbell NZL , Lucas Glover, Rory Sabbatini 1.19pm: Fuzzy Zoeller, Darren Clarke, Johan Edfors 1.30pm: Mark Calcavecchia, Thomas Bjorn, Tom Pernice Jnr 1.41pm: Padraig Harrington, Jerry Kelly, Luke Donald 1.52pm: Tiger Woods, Paul Casey, Aaron Baddeley 2.03pm: Vijay Singh, Brett Quigley Hideto Tanihara 2.14pm: Trevor Immelman, Camilo Villegas, David Toms Television Coverage NETWORK TEN will broadcast all four days of the US Masters in High Definition Live from Augusta National Golf Club from Thursday 5 April to Sunday 8 April. FOX SPORTS will show a delayed coverage. NETWORK TEN (AEST) Friday April 6 Round 1 5:45am-9.00am LIVE Saturday April 7 Round 2 5:45am-9.00am LIVE Sunday April 8 Round 3 5:15am-9.00am LIVE Monday April 9 Final Round 4:15am-9.00am LIVE FOX SPORTS Friday April 6 Round 1 12.00am DELAY (FOX SPORTS 1) Saturday April 7 Round 2 11.00am DELAY (FOX SPORTS 1) Sunday April 8 Third Round 4.00pm DELAY (FOX SPORTS 3) Monday April 9 Final Round 12.00pm Delay (FOX SPORTS 1)