Who will master Augusta this year?

THE Masters, which will start this Thursday, will be watched by million of people in this country on television.

It is one of the few golf tournaments to attract viewers who normally don’t watch the sport.

In England it may be a cold and wet April, but you can almost guarantee Augusta will be bathed in glorious sunshine.

The course always looks immaculate on television, and you can tell the greenkeepers have been working from dawn to dusk to make sure the 18 holes are ready for the event, which is held there every year in the second week in August.

It seems the staff have been working magic, because of the manicured fairways.

Although to catch the closing stages of The Masters you have to stay up into the early hours.

My early memories of watching the tournament were of Nick Faldo winning the event in 1990 and Ian Woosnam picking up a green jacket in 1991.

Another year to stick in my memory was 1996 when Nick Faldo grabbed the lead from Greg Norman and Faldo then went on to win his third title.

It was painful to watch Norman capitulate under the pressure placed on him by Faldo, but also captivating at the same time.

Woods, as always, will start as the favourite. Only someone on the very top of his game will be able to catch him. It would be good to see a golfer from this side of the Atlantic do well and repeat the feats of the European golfers of the 1980s and 1990s.