“IN your life, have you ever seen anything like that?”
If you’re a golf fan, you’ll probably recognise that famous line of commentary.
April means one thing in my house… The Masters.
Long before I took up golf I was always glued to the first major tournament of the year.
Pre Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods always seemed to be the story and one of the most iconic moments accompanied that piece of commentary as he chipped in on the 16th hole with the ball dropping into the hole on the last rotation during a tense final round in 2005.
As soon as Rory started playing at Augusta in 2009 I, like the rest of us here, have been willing him every shot. I would absolutely love to see him don the green jacket. Rory has always said golf owes you nothing – you have to earn everything in the game, but I do feel he deserves to join the elite club of only five golfers who have won all four majors to complete the grand slam. His talent is there for all to see and how often do we hear players and commentators say that when Rory is playing his best no one is better?
The Masters is the one that has alluded Rory so far in his glittering career. He finished runner up in 2022 and his chip in from the bunker on the 16th that year will go down as one of the most memorable shots in recent Masters history. So will this be his year? Well, if we knew that it we wouldn’t have the twists and turns that come with majors. The best players in the world competing at the smallest of margins in one of the world’s toughest sports.
Rory goes in every year as one of the favourites, but the added pressure has been a hindrance in the past. He’s tried many things like cutting back media commitments and other off course activities on the week of the Masters. He’s tried playing less and playing more in the build up. But ultimately trying to complete the grand slam will come down to so many variables affecting him and the other 85 golfers expected to compete in the field over the four days.
No-one could argue Rory has more than enough talent to go out and win at Augusta National and when you hear Tiger Woods saying “it’s just a matter of time” before he does, it adds fresh optimism ahead of this year’s tournament.
Rory may not have won a major since 2014 but he’s been the victim of his own success in many ways because winning four majors in four years at such a young age raised the bar to unsustainable levels with the talent coming through the sport.
Since his last major victory, the PGA Championship, he has had 20 top ten finishes in majors, more than any other player over the same period. Rory has described ending his major drought as “the final piece of the puzzle” for this year and the green jacket would be the perfect fit for that puzzle.
Of course the big guns will be out to fire themselves into contention. If fit, Tiger will want a record sixth Masters title, defending champion Jon Rahm will be in the spotlight after his move to the breakaway LIV tournament and World No.1 Scottie Scheffler must be the most consistent player going into this year’s tournament following his blistering start to the year.
I, like many of you, will be glued to the TV cheering on Rory in a couple of weeks time. But if it doesn’t happen this year for him, there will be plenty more opportunities.
Masters fever will be upon us in no time and driving ranges up and down the country are ready for one of their busiest periods of the year.
Watching one of the greatest tournaments on the planet inspires many amateur golfers to dust their clubs off from winter and try getting their swing back.
First Ulster Press Golf outing of the year at Clandeboye Golf Club
I did this recently for the first Ulster Press Golf outing of the year. And let’s just say I needed to book a lesson afterwards!
The rain has been a killer for courses over the last while with most golf clubs having to close their courses more than they’ve been able to open them. Clandeboye Golf Club has worked tirelessly at trying to keep at least one of their two courses open and have an excellent green keeping team that have achieved this more often than not.
They had the famous Dufferin Course ready for us hacks to hack our way around last month and we owe huge thanks to manager Andrew Adair and his staff for looking after us so well and making sure we could play 18 holes despite the trying wet conditions leading up to the day.
It was great to get back out with friends and colleagues and enjoy getting our heads showered, quite literally at times! It had been a busy few months and covering the success of back to back Six Nations Champions Ireland so it was great way to unwind.
Ireland’s women have shown great progress from last year when they finished with the wooden spoon and although they haven’t picked up a win at the time of writing, there are big improvements within their performances under new coach Scott Bemand.
They are playing their three home matches around the country this time to try and engage with fans. Dublin hosted their recent game with Italy, they play Wales in Cork on April 13 and Belfast will be the host city for their final game against Scotland on April 27 at 2:30pm at the Kingspan.
That is, of course, the same day as our Local Women Sport Awards ceremony this year.
I am very excited to once again by hosting the Awards. I was part of the judging panel and have to say all categories are so competitive this year – we are looking forward to celebrating the resounding success of our talented sports women in a few weeks time!
It was also a privilege to be involved as Athletics NI hosted their first awards since the covid pandemic last month. We had a memorable night celebrating all the talent and volunteers that make up the big athletics family.
Lady Mary Peters was our special guest alongside star heptathlete, Commonwealth Silver medalist and Olympic hopeful Kate O’Connor (below). We wish her every success in her quest to reach the Paris Games this summer.
See you all on the 27th as we celebrate and recognise your hard work and dedication to the one passion we all have in common, sport. And if Rory wins the Masters I’m going for a green dress this year!
Covering Ireland’s game against England at Twickenham for UTV
Ireland’s final Guinness Six Nations game against Scotland before lifting the trophy
Congratulations to Linfield who won the Bet McLean Cup in March
