AUGUSTA HIGHS AND LOWS: Rory McIlroy is the obvious underachiever at the Masters after a disastrous trip to America, while Open champion Cameron Smith takes the sand master title
- Sportsmail’s Riath Al-Samarrai gives his Masters highs and lows accolades
- Rory McIlroy takes the underachievers title for his torrid showing at Augusta
- While Tiger Woods was a wounded warrior as he limped out of the Masters
The greens at Augusta won’t see the pros return for another 12 months after the Masters concluded on Sunday.
An enthralling weekend of action raised plenty of talking points and highlight reels, but who deserves a special mention?
Sportsmail‘s RIATH AL-SAMARRAI gives his highs and lows from the Masters.
The underachiever
Rory McIlroy. He arrived as one of the favourites and with the relaxed air of a man who knew he had a superb chance of finally completing the Grand Slam.
What played out via a missed cut was desperately underwhelming and will only add to the considerable scar tissue he has accumulated at the one major he is yet to win.
He has all the shots to conquer Augusta, and indeed any course, but the pressure of chasing history is only going to get tougher as the wait goes on.
Rory McIlroy was the obvious underachiever after he failed to make the cut after day two
McIlroy couldn’t find his feet at Augusta and endured a hugely underwhelming two rounds
Overachiever
US amateur champion Sam Bennett. The 23-year-old is a testament to the absurd strength of US college golf, which remains a conveyor belt of talent.
A tattoo on his wrist carries a quote from his late father: ‘Don’t wait to do something.’
Judging from the time he spent on the first page of the leaderboard, the message seems to have hit home.
Amateur Sam Bennett spent a large part of the weekend amongst the top spots on the leaderboard
The long goodbye
Sandy Lyle signed off on his fine career by missing the cut at the tournament he won in 1988. However, his farewell went on a little longer than expected.
He was poised to putt out on the 18th when play was suspended on Friday evening because of the fallen trees, before returning on Saturday morning for his final two putts.
How did he prepare for those last blows? ‘A lot of tequila — and a bit of whisky tasting at about 1 o’clock this morning.’
Sand Master
For shot of the tournament a nod goes to Open champion Cameron Smith. On the par-five 8th hole of his second round, he found himself in a fairway bunker 258 yards from the pin but eschewed the usual approaches for the situation by taking out a wood and nailing the connection. He carded an eagle. Golf, but not as we know it.
Open champion Cameron Smith takes the sand master title for his bunker shot that ended with an eagle on the 8th hole
Tearing up trees
The most troubling moment came on Friday when three huge trees fell between the 16th green and 17th tee.
It was a miracle no one was hurt and it was also mildly bizarre that Augusta National did not stage any sort of press briefing to discuss the situation and what measures were being taken on safety grounds.
Masters officials refused to comment on what caused three 100ft pine trees to fall at Augusta
Questionable innovations
An addition to this year’s broadcasts were the on-course interviews with players. It offered some insight but appeared to do few favours for McIlroy and Justin Thomas — they both missed the cut.
When McIlroy was asked for the one player he would like to hear from in such a scenario, he answered Tiger Woods. When asked for the chances of that happening, he said ‘zero’. Woods might be on to something.
Wounded warrior
Even on one leg Tiger made the cut. That was astonishing, considering he was limping throughout on the right leg he almost lost to his 2021 car crash.
Tiger Woods limped out of the Masters after withdrawing through injury on Sunday
Woods was clearly in pain as he limped his way round Augusta on his injured right leg
Despite showing he can still hit the ball a mile, the suspicion is growing that he will soon decide these hard walks are no longer deemed to be worth the pain.
Norman no-mates
Greg Norman, the increasingly marginalised CEO of LIV, was somewhat aggrieved to have not been sent an invitation to the Masters this year.
Augusta chairman Fred Ridley explained the snub was a means to ‘keep the focus on the competition’. The fall and fall of the former Open champion is quite remarkable.
