Rahm, in a practice round at Augusta. ERIK S. LESSER | EFE
The world number 1, with insulting reliability on the PGA Tour, looks like a favorite for the Masters over the defending champion, now on LIV
10 abr 2024 . Updated at 05:00 a.m.
Scottie Scheffler is the current number one in the golf ranking, current winner of The Players and the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and In the 2022-2023 season, it consecutively linked 18 tournaments in the top-12 (something never seen since Tiger Woods did it in the 2000-2001 campaign). For such a course, he monopolized the individual awards on the PGA Tour. Besides, he already knows what it’s like to win in the devilish ones greenes of Augusta, as in 2022. That is why all the forecasts, and the betting houses indicate it as main favorite for the first grand slam of the year (Movistar Golf, Thursday and Friday, at 3:30 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, at 6:00 p.m.; and Movistar Golf 2, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, at 9:00 p.m., and Sunday, at 8:00 p.m.). It has, tenth up, tenth down, twice as many possibilities as Jon Rahm, the defending champion, to lift the trophy. Because the Spanish also has many cards in his hand, for example, the global scoreboard: Since he debuted in the tournament in 2017, no one has had a better accumulated result; but now he adds the dark clouds of doubts about his performance, because he only participates in the events of the LIFE Golf, the calendar of the Saudi capital, with tournaments of only three days and less competitiveness: few players, fewer stars, more veteran rivals, less pressure in tournaments without history. “He’s been playing in shorts on soccer fields.” resorts During the last months (…). Hasn’t really been challenged. He is an incredible player, but he is going to have to work harder and go up a notch to acquire the right intensity,” the acidic Nick Faldo, winner of six majors, said on Monday on Sky Sports.
At 27 years old, Scheffler walks through the countryside these days with the nonchalance of the legends who visit Augusta just to take a few photos and greet old friends, and competes with his heart rate as low as if he were a marathon runner. Maybe because he knows that the game accompanies him: Until the Friday of his last tournament, in Houston, he had 28 consecutive rounds under par on the PGA Tour, the best streak of all time.
«It’s a little early to predict an explosive victory, but look… If Scheffler kicks well, I could see him winning by eight or ten strokes», snapped Brandel Chamblee, one of Golf Channel’s most prestigious analysts.
Rahm has five tournaments in the LIV, and his 2024 seems insufficient. No title, one third place, two fifth places and a minor follow-up. In the first week of the season, in which tournaments from the two main circuits coincided at the same time, the audience devoted themselves to the PGA Tour: Almost two million people saw the outcome in Pebble Beach, of the classic circuit, and just 432,000 witnessed the closing in Mayakoba, of the rebel calendar. Overwhelming.
«Make six. Go ahead and take it. What a disgusting fucking day», he bellowed in perfect Spanish on Sunday after a bogey, about to conclude his last round, aware that the fourth place he was about to tie for in Miami is frustrating. He lacks individual titles, although in interviews he praises the team format of the calendar for which he worksin which, yes, they already have two victories this year, and second place overall.
Rahm also measures himself against history. Only three players have revalidated the title since the creation of the Masters in 1934: Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.
McIlroy, the third man
Rory McIlroy emerges as the third in contention, according to the majority of analysts. Accumulate reasons in his favor: his state of form, his regularity, his four titles grand slams, his knowledge of the field… But he never won the Masters. And, in reality, although he has accumulated seven top-10s in the first major of the year, some statistics highlight a paradox and a deficiency. It was always said that at Augusta he wins by scratching shots on the four par 5s on the course, some of which are quite affordable, but actually the greenes Augusta crystal bury title candidates in any hole. For this reason, throughout his career McIlroy has had an enormous balance on par 5s, in which he has accumulated a result of -94, while leaving a worrying balance of +67 on pars 3 and 4.
Archivado en: Jon Rahm Golf Tiger Woods
2024-04-10 03:00:00
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