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It might be eight years since a European won any major, but there is another group of players who are fighting even more against history at Augusta this coming week.

This will be the 71st staging of the Masters, but the list of champions includes not one Australian.

The seven attempting to break the duck this time are a pretty impressive bunch - reigning US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, world number five Adam Scott, Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Nick O’Hern, Rod Pampling and Aaron Baddeley.

Ogilvy points to the impact of compatriot Greg Norman, a nearly man in Augusta in his own playing days, for the current depth of Australian talent, one of whom he hopes will come out on top next Sunday.

“We had the best and most notable player in the world (Norman) and he made a lot of kids pick up golf 20 years ago,” says the 29-year-old from Adelaide.

“I mean, he was Tiger Woods before Tiger Woods came along. He was the big gallery draw and had that aura whenever he went anywhere.

“We all wanted to be Greg Norman. He made golf cool in Australia - before him it wasn’t.

“He had success and then Finchy (Ian Baker-Finch) came along and had success and (Steve) Elkington won a major.

“Winning promotes winning. You play against a guy in Australia and you beat him and then he goes to the US Tour and wins a tournament you think ‘if he can do it, I can do that’ and it snowballs.

“Sport is just life in Australia. All of Australia is happy when the cricket team is winning and the football is going well and the golfers are doing well.

“It’s just part of the culture. The government puts money is and the coaching is great. No stone is left unturned and it’s showing.

“We’ve got 20-something guys on the (US) Tour and it seems to be growing every year. When you see one win you might see another in the next few weeks just because they’re jealous.”

Five-time Open champion Peter Thomson never finished higher than fifth in eight Masters appearances, Bruce Devlin and Bruce Crampton were fourth and second respectively, then Jack Newton was runner-up to Seve Ballesteros in 1980.

But it was Norman who suffered real agonies. Fourth on his debut in 1981 it appeared the ‘Great White Shark’ had the perfect game for Augusta and 1986 looked set to be the year.

That was until 46-year-old Jack Nicklaus came home in just 30 and pipped him by one. Then, 12 months later, Norman seemed seconds from victory when Larry Mize holed the unlikeliest of chips and won their play-off.

Four more top-six finishes followed before he began the 1996 tournament with a course record equalling 63, led by six with a round to play, but succumbed to the pressure put on him by Nick Faldo in the final round and collapsed to a 78.

Ogilvy will be playing just his second Masters, but a 16th place finish was enough to encourage him for his return.

“I had a great time,” he recalls. “I actually had a putt to go two or three behind on Sunday - but then three-putted. I think the moral of the story was don’t hit it above the 13th hole on Sunday.

“Any time you play Augusta you’re going to be better the next time. There are right spots and wrong spots to hit it on every hole. It really is an experience golf course where you have to use your brains.”

Scott went as one of the favourites three years ago after capturing the Players Championship two weeks earlier, but he had an absolute shocker with rounds of 80 and 73.

The 26-year-old took until last August to record his first top-seven finish in any major, but third place in the US PGA after a closing 67 will give him belief heading to Augusta.

And, as was shown at Winged Foot last June, the important thing is to get in position and then see what happens.

It was thanks to double bogeys at the final hole by both Colin Montgomerie and Phil Mickelson that gave Ogilvy his first major title - and Australia’s first since Elkington at the 1995 US PGA.

Source - www.sportinglife.com

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