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Tiger Woods is not much mentioned anymore at this Masters as the fact of his forced absence owing to injury has now been fully absorbed and assimilated. There does not appear to be any dominant figure on the horizon, no perpetual favourite to win, no one with the momentum of 79 PGA and many other victories and therefore the chief threat is only oneself.
This is not a team sport where, if you falter, your partner can back you up. Each is competing against the entire field and also against any daemons presently or prospectively within oneself. To expect a reward on every shot is to invite disappointment as the contest progresses; to remain basically unaffected by potential outcomes enables pinpoint focus on the shot at hand - this is called "being in the Zone", where the thing that you strive for is achieved but you don't know it. That's where all golfers at this level seek to perpetually be as it enables full commitment to the shot with the best outcome. That's when all the hundreds of muscles are fully in sync with the external forces of nature and with the most important organ in your body (not what you're thinking Duke!) - the one between the ears, the brain. When the brain disengages, disaster occurs.
So it was in 1996 when Greg Norman started thinking of whether they would have a Green Jacket large enough to fit him and thereby forfeited a six shot lead to enable Nick Faldo to win; so it was in 2011 that Rory McIlroy simply imploded and shot an amateurish 80 when he seemed to had the Green Jacket over his shoulder; and so it has been twice for Adam Scott, once when he unbelievably bogied the last four holes in the Open to allow an unexpected victory to Ernie Els and the second time when he shot a poor 76 when leading at this year's Arnold Palmer invitational. What was Tiger thinking when he was leading by two shots in the final round of the PGA Championship that allowed Y E Yang to win?
The reason for the foregoing is that while the players physically toil in the magnificent Augusta National Course their wonders to perform, the real battle is in their individual heads. This year, if you have been following only your favourite players such as Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Keegan Bradley or any of a host of great champions, you are lucky to be taking the weekend off with them!
Some of the greatest players, including several who were expected to contend have been bested by the 51 players that have qualified to play the final two rounds. From the terrific ups and downs it becomes evident that the tournament is still winnable by anybody.
We had seen Bill Haas virtually fading into oblivion from being the leader, Adam Scott having a remarkable roller coaster round, and four or five first timers finding themselves in the running.
In the afternoon, the greens were beginning to harden and turn a little yellow at the fringes. This acute condition tested even greats such as Oosthuizen whose neatly executed pitch from behind the par five 15th green, checked just a bit and continued rolling only to be stopped by the water in Rae's creek. The turtles, disturbed by the ensuing ripples, noted that Louis had slipped from being joint leader at -4 to be three behind.
McIlroy showed exceptional brilliance in his shot making but could not convert any of his putts into birdies and just about made the cut by not three putting the 18th.
The cut includes only 51 players and McIlroy, the last in the field has to therefore play with a marker. Because there are two persons in every flight, the markers role is to be a non-competing player alongside a contestant who would otherwise have had to play alone. Given the nature of this sport, a talented player like Rory could shoot a 64, 65 over the weekend and still win. It is now going to be difficult to achieve the winning score of -16 which I had predicted; my guess now is that -14 should win the day, but then who will reach that figure is still completely up for grabs. Despite Tiger not being in the fray the denouement is building up to be the traditional drama that the Masters always seems to offer. I would gingerly put a wager on Jordan Spieth, the highly talented 20 year old first timer.
The author is chairman of Mawana Sugars Ltd and co-chairman of Usha International Ltd
