SCHWARTZEL IS THE MASTER

Sadly for golfing enthusiasts in the UK, Rory McIlroy failed in his bid to lead the Masters championship from start to finish; he did, though, manage to lead it for 63 of the 72 holes and it was only a catastrophic last nine that undid him. At 21, he was hoping to become the second youngest winner of the tournament, after Tiger Woods, but it wasn't to be. Nonetheless, this young man has an enormous talent and will surely improve for the disappointment of Sunday; winning a golfing 'Major', or even several, must be very likely.

With McIlroy falling away, the door was left open for others and it was a relatively obscure South African, Charl Schwartzel, who eventually triumphed in fairly spectacular style, with birdies at each of the last four holes leaving his challengers floundering. For a time, it had looked as though Tiger Woods might put in a dramatic challenge but he was unable to improve his score from the 8th hole and finished 4 behind the winner. In typical Woods fashion, his responses to the immediate post-round interview were terse, bordering on the rude; this man may be a great golfer but he still has a lot to learn about manners and accepting defeat with good grace. He could do worse than read a little Kipling or, if that's too much for him, visit the Centre Court at Wimbledon for a lesson :

"If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat these two imposters just the same"

While McIlroy finished at 4 under par, still a good score, the UK had 4 other players who finished high on the leader board in Luke Donald, Justin Rose, Lee Westwood and Ross Fisher. As McIlroy faded, Donald came into genuine contention but was unable to keep up with the pace and eventually tied for 4th with Woods and Geoff Ogilvy; Rose and Westwood both finished on 5 under and are assured of their invitations to compete again next year, as are Fisher and McIlroy who tied in 15th place.

One 'Major' down and 3 more to go. Perhaps McIlroy or one of the others will have better luck in Bethesda in June, at Royal St George's in July or John's Creek in August. Those of us on this sdie of the Atlantic can only keep our fingers crossed !