The US Masters gets underway in Augusta today, for the second time in five months and there is a real sense of excitement.
The coverage will be live on Sky Sports throughout the four days and we were joined earlier in the week by Paul McGinley who is on-site with the broadcaster and was as ever excellent in terms of his insight on what might happen.
“I’m a great believer in simplicity and clarity and there are two types of players, you have the technical types — the Justin Roses, the Bryson DeChambeaus, the real technicians of the game — and then you have the creative artists, the Freddie Couples, the Rory McIlroys.
“So the big thing with Pete, who has a great pedigree with the players that he’s coached, it’s to coach in a very simple and clear way.
“It’s not rocket science for Rory. If it becomes rocket science it becomes even more muddled in his head and he’s going to play worse, so the key is one or two little tweaks that are going to give him that sense of the clubhead back again and then, from there, it’s just the confidence, and we know Rory more than probably anybody in the game can get confident very quickly, and from there it’s about igniting.”
“So I’m hoping and trusting that Pete is going to give him something but there’s a word of warning as well. We’ve seen Jordan Spieth. He was told he had to change coach, and change swing and everything but he stuck to his team and now he’s coming here as the second favourite.”
“We all play our best when we have very little going on in our head and that’s what Rory needs more than anything, to clear his head and find a real directional path that’s based for him on inspiration more than anything else.”
“The set up we have firm and fast at the moment gives an advantage to big hitters who can control his irons coming into the greens. I’m very big on Bryson. He’s a big hitter but he’s also leading the stats in Par 3’s where it’s all about control on the approach shot.”
“I really think he can transcend the game and I expect to see hi winning a number of majors in the coming years.”
“Jon Rahm has played well this year but he has changed everything in his bag and there is still probably a sense of adjustment going on there.”
“Tyrell Hatton has the game but needs to stand up in the Majors. He missed all three cuts in majors last year so that’s a worry.”
Paul then shared with us some of the technical challenges that they will face in bringing us the coverage from Augusta.
It’s a fascinating peek behind the curtain of a TV spectacular.
Sport for Business Partners
