17 days ’til The 2015 Masters: Which Aussies will be playing?
Got Masters fever yet? It’s only two weeks away!
We are just over two weeks away from the first major golf tournament of 2015, The Masters; and so far we have six Australians will be gracing the fairways of Augusta National.
Not surprisingly Adam Scott will be teeing it up on Thursday April 9, and as the world’s fourth ranked golfer, it’s hard to know what he will bring to Augusta this year.
After a great return to tournament golf in 2015 using the short putter, Scott missed the cut the following week and still hasn’t been tested on greens anywhere as quick as what they will be at Augusta. It remains to be seen if the 2013 Masters champion will bring the short putter along with him in two weeks time.
World number five Jason Day has the best form of any of the Australian golfers this year. Day has had two top-5 finishes and a victory in his five starts in 2015 and looks primed for his best shot at The Masters.
Marc Leishman earns his spot in the field courtesy of finishing in the world’s top-50 golfers at the end of 2014. But the boy from Warrnambool has missed two cuts this year and dropped some places in the world rankings. Leish needs to find some form and confidence fast.
John Senden finished top-10 in last year’s Masters despite finishing eight strokes behind eventual winner Bubba Watson, however his 2015 has been remarkably similar to Leishman. Two missed cuts and without a decent finish in 2015, Senden also needs to quickly sharpen his game.
Geoff Ogilvy arrives back at Augusta for the first time since 2012 thanks to a remarkable finish to the 2014 PGA Tour season. All but out of the FedEx Cup playoffs until a few other golfers missed a few putts, Ogilvy then put together a few a few decent weeks to make the season ending Tour Championship – enough to earn himself a place in The Masters.
Ogilvy hasn’t set the world on fire since and ranked just outside the world’s top-100, the 2006 US Open winner will be itching to prove himself back on the big stage.
Antonio Murdaca earned himself a place in the prestigious field after his dominant win at the Asia-Pacific Amateur. Most will be assuming that the 19-year-old Murdaca will struggle to make the cut but he’s already spent a week practising at Augusta and showed great form to win the South Australian Amateur Classic.
That’s not to say there won’t be more Australians in the field in two weeks time, but everyone else better get a move on and win one of the next two PGA Tour events like Matt Jones did last year.
