Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
For many golf fans worldwide, the season starts this week with the first Major championship of the year, the US Masters.
Rae's Creek, Amen Corner, the Green Jacket, Magnolia drive, the best players in the world and over 70 years of tradition combine to provide us with the spectacle that is the US Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, Georgia every first full week in April.
There is possibly no more beautiful setting in world sport than Augusta and it is the great Robert Tyre Jones Jnr (or Bobby as he is better known) who we have to thank for this magnificent sporting masterpiece.
Upon his retirement from championship golf in 1930, Bobby Jones hoped to realise his dream of building a golf course. Following a brief conversation with Clifford Roberts, with whom Jones had met several times during the mid-1920s, it was decided the club would be built near Augusta, Georgia, provided that a suitable piece of ground was available.
A property called Fruitland Nurseries was recommended which fitted perfectly with Jones' vision. Construction on the new course began in the first half of 1931 and the course opened in December 1932 with a limited amount of member play. Formal opening took place in January 1933.
The first tournament was held on March 22, 1934, and beginning in 1940, the Masters was scheduled each year during the first full week in April. That first tournament was won by Horton Smith. In 1935 Gene Sarazen hit the famous 'shot heard 'round the world' scoring a double eagle on the par 5 15th hole, tying Craig Wood and forcing a playoff. Sarazen won the 36-hole playoff the following day by five strokes.
The 1950s included two victories by Ben Hogan, and the first of four for Arnold Palmer. Palmer's 1958 win began the tradition of Amen Corner. In 1960 the Par 3 Contest was begun, and in 1965-1966 Jack Nicklaus became the first Masters champion to defend his title successfully.
During the 1970s the two founders of the Masters Tournament passed away. Both Jones and Roberts left indelible impressions on the Masters and on the world of golf. The following decade Spaniard Seve Ballesteros won twice and Tom Watson captured his second title. This week, many peoples' thoughts will be with the Spaniard as he continues his recovery from a brain tumour at the end of last year.
In 1986 at age 46, Nicklaus donned his sixth Green Jacket. And in 1997, Tiger Woods exploded onto the scene, smashing the scoring record that had stood for 32 years. At the 2001 Masters, Woods won his fourth consecutive professional major, and in 2002 became only the third player to win consecutive Masters titles. In 2005 he became the third person to win at least four tournaments.
The roll of honour at Augusta reads like a who's who of golfing greats. Down the years the back nine on Sunday afternoon has left us with unforgettable memories of some titanic battles; Norman & Faldo, Woods & Dimarco to name but two. The tradition surrounding the event is huge. The demand for tickets to the event is so big that they have been sold out since 1972 and it is now virtually impossible to get in, unless you know the right people!
In the 50 years since the 11th, 12th and 13th holes at Augusta National Golf Club were named Amen Corner by sportswriter Herbert Warren Wind, the balance of the Masters tournament has almost always been determined in that peaceful valley on the lowest ground on the property.
The trend continued last year. Trevor Immelman won the Masters, in large measure, when he avoided disaster at holes 11 and 12 and made a clutch birdie at the 13th. His closest contenders, in the meantime, made one mistake after another at those holes, ranging from shots sprayed into water hazards and trees to important putts missed both short and long.
So who will triumph this time around? Well it could be anyone from a long list of contenders. Tiger is back and already winning again. Phil Mickelson is in sublime form. The young guns - McIlroy, Villegas and Kim - will be highly fancied and Harrington is going for a hat-trick of majors.
One thing is for sure - whoever leaves Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday evening wearing a Green Jacket and having taken their place amongst the Augusta greats, they will have taken part in another piece of major history and given us all some new lasting memories of Masters.
