There are few better feelings than the sporting mood swing that takes place at this time of year. The clocks go forward and leave behind frozen pitches, abandoned race meetings and the set menu of men chasing balls of varying shapes in fixtures of no relevance. Now is when things start to matter. Defeat at rugby or football can be season-defining, a knockout blow, a pack-up-and-go-home moment. That’s real sport, the kind that matters because the hurt from losing takes time to heal.
There is no denying the appeal of the sharp end of the Champions League and Heineken Cup, but beyond lies a sporting summer of wonderful variety. Formula 1, tennis, cricket and athletics are all stocked with performers as good as it gets, but first up and most tantalising is spring’s heavyweight curtain-raiser, the Masters.
You don’t have to see the world through the bottom of a large pink gin to realise that golf is now the real global battleground of individual sport. Since the Masters of 2001 — 40 majors ago — golf’s biggest prizes have been won by players from North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia. Arguably the best player ever, Tiger Woods, is in apparent decline; his greatest rival, Phil Mickelson, has not won for a year; and of the top three players in the world, all European, only one (Martin Kaymer) has won a major championship.
Who puts on the green jacket in Augusta National’s Butler Cabin on Sunday week is almost impossible to predict. But you might care to have a small investment in Europe’s Lee Westwood and Luke Donald, who have been out there this week having a crafty practice, or much more likely America’s Nick Watney, who should go well.
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