Scheffler, Facing the Unknown

Scottie Scheffler has been on fire for over a year. The Dallas player — though born in New Jersey — exploded sometime in the months after winning a singles match with Jon Rahm at Ryder 2021. The Palmer Invitational, the World Match Play just a month and a half away, arrives in Augusta last spring wrapped in an aura of unusual favoritism for the player who has not yet had a grand slam tournament. But it has already reached number 1.

So, in his third Masters, he responded to expectations with a renet reserved for the chosen ones, won the green jacket by three shots over Rory McIlroy and continued in 2022 with a steady hand. Although she did not have many major tournaments, she tied for fourth at the Southern Hills PGA Championship, second at the US Open in Brookline and eighth at the British Open in St. Andrews. Big words.

From tomorrow (Movistar Golf, 15:30) Scheffler faces a different pressure, defending the Grand Slam, defending the Masters. Another test on his shoulders, although the first major tournament of the year is the most favorable in one respect: it brings together fewer top players than other major golf events, because it always has an invitation for the legends who made it big. tournament.

Scheffler left Augusta a year ago reinforced as No. 1, a position he alternated with Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy over the next 12 months. Favoritism that he internalizes with a cool and simple character on the field. Ideal for tension management, which course with as many turns as the Masters can handle the favorites? Most analysts think so. That this calmness helps him on big stages.

Scheffler understood Augusta’s secrets very early. Only in the first round of his three visits to the Masters did he deliver a card above par, the one of 73 from that Thursday in 2021. Since then, he has prudently dealt with the challenges of a course where retouching the 13th hole this spring will advise a largely conservative strategy for his first two a blow.

Nicklaus, Faldo and Woods

When Scheffler hits the Augusta 1 tee tomorrow, history will see him. Only three players have retained the Masters title since its inception in 1934: Jack Nickalus (with wins in 1965 and 1966), Nick Faldo (1989 and 1990) and Tiger Woods (2001 and 2002).

The European circuit can punish its players who play LIV

The European Tour (now the DP World Tour, due to the sponsorship in force since last year) can sanction its member players who compete, without prior approval, in the tests of the calendar of the Saudi Arabian capital born in 2022 with excessive prize money.

how is it going Time, the British judiciary ruled in favor of the Old Continent tour in the fight against players who played the first LIV Golf tournament without first obtaining approval, and those who were subsequently fined. The fine was £100,000 (around €110,000) for those club members who competed in June 2022 at the Centurion Club, with South African Charl Schwartzel winning.

Adrian Otaegui

Those sanctions – including Spanish player Adrián Otaegui – were suspended after those involved appealed. With this decision of the British judiciary, the possibility is opened again for the DP World Tour to sanction those of its players who play unauthorized LIV Golf tests. The same way the PGA Tour does.

The stars who compete in the Saudi capital are currently banned from the world’s major tournaments, the ones with the greatest tradition, but, at least for now, they can compete in the four grand slams governed by their own rules. There is an appeal against the decision of the British court.

The par 3 tournament opens today

The casual par 3 tournament opens the Masters show today (Movistar Golf, 21:00). Tomorrow the telecast in Spain starts at half past four in the afternoon, in the Multi-Augusta format, in which only the images of the most important matches are mixed, the Amen Corner signal (holes 11, 12 and 13), plus holes 15 and 16, and continues from nine in the evening with the official signal.

On Friday, the telecast will follow the same format and schedule.