Exciting Masters Lifts Anticipation for U.S. Open 1
Can Charl Schwartzel regain his magic at the U.S. Open?
All golf players define each season by their performance in the four majors. This means that thoughts will soon turn from the Masters to June’s U.S. Open, played this year at the Congressional Country Club in Maryland. But as preparations start for the second major of the year, who were the winners and losers at Augusta?
These groups are seemingly led by Charl Schwartzel and Rory McIlroy, but there are plenty of other plays who can plan for Bethseda with positives and negatives from the past week. Schwartzel’s stunning calmness under pressure in the closing stages at Augusta, with four birdies to finish, has lifted him to number 11 in the rankings and an accompanying leap in expectations for the U.S. Open.
Adam Scott, Jason Day and Geoff Ogilvy came close to making a mockery of the Australian Augusta curse but actually re-enforced it, especially as Scott seemed set for victory when he hit the front at the 16th hole in the final round. His pleasure at his performance is tinged with regret. Read the rest of this entry →
