Build-up to Augusta

These are amazing times for European golf with four of our players at the top of the world rankings. It appears that the achievements of Graeme McDowell and Martin Kaymer in 2010 have motivated some of the other players. If they can do it, there's no reason why Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy or any of the rest can't.

The other factor is that Tiger Woods's previously impregnable position at the top of the rankings doesn't exist any more. In the past there was a natural barrier for anyone dreaming of becoming world number one, but while his powers are on the wane the rest can fill their boots. Westwood has enjoyed a spell at number one and now Kaymer is in that position, so the others will fancy it as well.

But you're going to have to play some fine golf to get past the young German. He simply doesn't have any flaws in his game. He's a fully-rounded player, with a great attitude and that's a devastating combination for somebody who's only 26 years old. In many ways he's a Bernhard Langer plus. Langer was a fantastic thinker, who epitomised the phrase 'giving 100 per cent' and he never knowingly wasted anything.

I think Kaymer is the same type of animal, but with more natural talent, and in my mind there is no doubt he's going to be at the top for some time.

This week at the WGC Cadillac Championship held in Miami we will start to gain some indication of who will be on form at Augusta. Reports from America have said that Woods is working hard with his coach Sean Foley ahead of the challenges confronting the world's best this week at Doral, the Blue Monster being yet another course on which he has enjoyed impressive success down the years.

We only saw Tiger for one round in Tucson and once again, he was far from the Woods we have known over the past decade and a half. Changing a swing while competing is tough as Tiger is finding out, but what would worry me would not be the wild shots off the tee but the fact that his pitching, as it was in Dubai, is below the level he expects of himself. The previous swing changes he has gone through did not affect his mercurial ability to get up and down from the most awkward of places. Right now, he still has the vision of what's required but it would seem, not the feel.

He will know more than anyone how important the short game is at Augusta, and I'm fairly sure much of the work he has done in the last week will have been centered on that area of his game.

As the European Tour takes a short breather, all eyes are on the PGA Tour events and this Florida Swing represents the perfect preparation for Augusta with the softer, slower greens of the west coast being replaced by the firmer, quicker surfaces of the east.

Erine Els, personally one of my favourite players since I began playing golf, enjoyed resurgence last year and defends this week whilst still struggling to find top gear consistently, maybe the Europeans can make it five from six in World Golf Championship events.

Rory Sabbatini won impressively last week at the Honda Classic signalling a long-awaited return to form. Following the Cadillac at Doral is the Transitions at Innisbrook, then Bay Hill with Houston the final event before the Masters.

Some players like to play the week before a major, others like Woods prefer not to and that does ensure that the quality of the fields in these next four events will be top class.

The golf season is in full swing now and the tournaments are coming thick and fast, this week included, but for many the golf season really still begins with the Masters. It's still a few weeks away, but excitement is starting to grow already because there is something magical about Augusta, the course that Bobby Jones built.