The stately links of the Augusta National Golf Club are the apex of the golfing world. Augusta is the top of the mountain that every professional golfer who has ever put on a set of spikes aspires to, it’s the Super Bowl of Golf!
Although there are three other major championships on the PGA Tour, the Masters is played each year at Augusta and remains the number one stop on the tour. That’s where you get that green jacket that every golfer out there would just love to be wearing home after the match.
The Masters, which has evolved into professional golf’s premier event, was started by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts back in 1934. Participation in the Masters remains by invitation only which is why the field for the match is smaller than that of the other PGA majors.
The legendary Jack Nicklaus holds the record for wins at the Masters with six. Last year’s Masters Champion was Adam Scott will be participating once again in 2014 with a legitimate chance to become the number one ranked golfer in the world at Doral this weekend if he can manage to beat Tiger Woods, that is if Tiger even shows up for the $9 Million tournament.
Woods dropped out of the Honda Classic last weekend due to back spasms which appeared to be causing him all sorts of discomfort and which translated into some of the poorest golf played by Tiger in quite awhile. He was uncertain as to whether he would be defending his championship at Doral this weekend.
Speculation is high that Woods would be better off to skip the intervening events and concentrate on getting to Augusta in good shape, even if that means giving up his status as the number one golfer on the planet.
The latest addition to the Masters entries is young Russell Henley from the University of Georgia who recently won the Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens in Florida thus qualifying him for the big event. Henley pulled off the surprising victory by knocking in a nice birdie putt on the first hole of sudden death play after finishing regulation play in a four way tie.
Henley missed the cut last year at Augusta and admits to wanting to have another go at it, “I try to think positive, and not get my hopes up too much about it, but if definitely I think about it a lot and hopefully this year will be a little bit better than the last.”
