Can Jason Day, Geoff Ogilvy and Adam Scott hold their nerve?

Simon Lewis
Augusta

They contributed to a thrilling final day at the Masters in 2011 and will have an entire, sports-mad nation willing them to an historic victory this weekend. The only question is: can Jason Day, Geoff Ogilvy and Adam Scott hold their nerve with the hopes of Australia on their shoulders?

Remarkably, given the golfing talent that has emerged from the land Down Under, Australia has never supplied a champion to the fabled list of champions at Augusta National.

Most famously, Greg Norman went agonisingly and memorably close as a runner-up in 1986 (to Jack Nicklaus), 1987 (to Larry Mize) and 1996 (to Nick Faldo) and scored three other top-three finishes but last year three Australians finished in the top six.

Ogilvy tied for fourth while Day and Scott tied for second as South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel trumped them all by setting a Masters record with four birdies in his closing four holes.

And so a nation had to wait another year, this time sending six Aussies into bat when the tournament gets under way on Thursday.

And with the near miss last year – Scott led by a shot going to the 17th and thought he had done enough with a par-par finish while Day was delighted to birdie 17 and 18 – expectations are bound to have been raised back in Oz.

Scott, for one, sees no problem with that.

“I don’t think it adds to a burden. I think it makes the story a little juicier. It’s going to happen, for sure. We have a lot of great players and we always have, and it’s just not happened. I think it’s just coincidence that it has not happened.

“One year someone is going to get across the line. To be the first would be incredible for an Australian, because not only would you be the Masters Champion, but in Australia, there would be that little asterisk next to your name of the first, finally.

“It’s one of those sporting hurdles that no Australian has gotten over, and it may be one of the last ones for the sports that we play in our country, after Cadel Evans winning Tour de France last year. Now the Masters has really gone beyond just golfers in Australia, too.

“I think, thanks to Greg Norman and the years he played and the icon he is in Australia, he took golf beyond just the golfers and made it recognised by the whole Australian public.”

Day even upped the ante when he described winning the Masters as his “Holy Grail”.

“I would love to win this tournament one day,” the 24-year-old said. “I do believe that an Australian will win it soon. In Australian sports, we have conquered a lot of different sporting events around the world. This is probably one of the last few that we would like to get to.

“But I would be very, very happy if one of the Australians this week won. Obviously I think that will kind of ease the pressure off our shoulders, and we can just go and play instead of worrying about being the first person to win.

“I think this week, I’ve just got to focus on my own game and not worry about anything else, not worry about the outcome of what could happen if I do win. If I have a chance to win, I’ve just got to focus on what I need to do out there.”

Such is Day’s focus he has not spent any time considering the reaction an Australian win this Sunday would mean to the country.
“I have no idea. Maybe a parade? That would be fantastic,” he said with a laugh.

“I don’t think that’s going to go that far but it’s going to be big. There have been a lot of Australians come close obviously over the years. So I’m not too sure.

“We’ll see. Hopefully this week.”

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/iNHVGiCFDFs/post.aspx

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