Augusta National is a daunting task for players at the best of times, but this year it’s set to present a particularly stern test of golf.
The sun has been shining on the course all week without a drop of rain in sight, and that means it’s set to play incredibly fast, especially when Sunday rolls around.
Last year, the winning score from Rory McIlroy was 11-under par, and it will take a phenomenal week of golf to better that this week.
Jon Rahm, one of the favourites to win the Green Jacket, said what winning score he hopes to see.
Jon Rahm hopes the winning Masters score will be 6-under-par
With the wind swirling and the sun shining, balls should be flying off the green all weekend long. And Rahm, the US Open winner in 2021, says the harder the course, the better.
Speaking on the eve of The Masters, he said, “The golf course has had such good weather. It’s in such good shape. With how much control they have over the agronomy here, they can do whatever they want.
“They can make it as firm and difficult as they want, as soft and as easy as they want. Most likely going to go with firm and difficult. They’re really good at managing the pace of the tournament to where somehow somebody is between 10- and 13-under.
“The last few years been really good at that. I kind of hope they let it go a little bit in the other way and make it difficult, right? It’s in such good shape and so healthy that they could make it one of those Masters where the winner is 6-, 7-under and it’s perfect weather.”
It would be an incredible watch on Sunday if players are scratching and clawing to make par down the stretch, so long may this weather continue!
Jon Rahm says what it will take to win The Masters this year
With the conditions playing tough, Rahm, like many of his competitors, preached the importance of patience for those who want to win this year.
The Spaniard was asked how he plans to manage his expectations throughout the week’s action, and he said, “We all want to win, right? I think in this game a lot of the time you have to have some patience. That might be the hardest thing to remind yourself, right? It’s four days.
“Rory last year started with an even par round and ended up winning it. I think there was a stat at one point that every time Tiger won, he never shot less than 70 first round or something like that. So you kind of can build up to it.
“I think Jack said it famously, tag along, tag along, tag along until you make your stride on the last 18 holes. So you don’t need to do anything special. I think it’s where the expectations come in. You think you need to go shoot 5-under every day and this is not the case.”
This event cannot be won on the opening day, but it can be lost, so expect these players to attempt to safely navigate Augusta on Thursday.