the times | Friday April 8 2022 2GM 69Sport
Not Augusta National because
anyone who has ever swung a
club would give the world to
play this tournament.
What is it that drives Lyle to
keep his game at such a
good level. He is 64
and had to adapt his
swing. The
backswing is slower
now and relatively
short but the ball-
striking remains
pure. When Lyle was
good, he was
outstanding. In a
four-year stretchfrom 1985 to 1988 he won the
Open, the Players Championship
and the Masters.
He turned up at the Masters a few
years ago wearing braces to secure
his golf trousers. Americans call
them suspenders and whatever the
name, they create a somewhat
arresting look when draped over a
polo shirt.
When explaining his conversion to
braces, Lyle was at pains to point out
they weren’t a fashion statement.
Working at home, he’d grown tired of
a hammer and wrench weighing
down his work trousers and that
caused him to trade belt for braces.
The switch worked well, so he
brought it to his golf attire.
Watching him on the range, it was
clear why he keeps coming back.
After each shot, he stood and gazed at
the trajectory, searching for clues,
before repeating the process. He has
been doing this day after day, year
after year because he’s never lost his
love for the act of hitting golf shots.
Of course, Augusta National is now
too long for him, especially after two
days of rain.
But that’s the thing about the
Masters, unexpected people earn
invitations. Rory McIlroy bumped
into his fellow Irishman Padraig
Harrington early in the week and had
to stop himself asking: “What are you
doing here?” Harrington was last seen
at the Masters in 2015 and McIlroy
had forgotten about his tied fourth-
place finish at last year’s PGA
Championship. That was the result
that earned the invitation.
Harrington is 50 now and for a
magical hour or so early in the day, he
led the tournament at two under par.
When he was winning majors, there
were shots he played better than
anyone in the game, especially
pitches on to the green. On the 3rd
hole here, a relatively short par four,
he hit an exquisite pitch to
three feet and that was the
first of his birdies. Like old
times. On the fourth, the
eternally murderous par-
three, he hit his ball to
two feet.
Suddenly he seemed the
great Harrington again
but four holes is just the
beginning of the
beginning in a 72-hole
tournament and he
would eventually sign
for a 74. Respectable, if
not earth shattering.
But still, like Lyle and
Hagestad, his presence
was welcome.do.” Down through the years
reporters would ask whether he was
going to turn pro but before they
could finish the sentence, he’d say,
“Nope. Nope.”
He knows his game, and his
place in the game. “I love competitive
golf for sure. But I didn’t turn pro
for a reason.”
Hagestad, unlike the vast majority
of amateur golfers, has played in two
Masters. Not quite at Sandy Lyle’s
level of immersion but impressive all
the same. Lyle is playing the
tournament for the 41st time and as
he hits balls on the range you wonder
what it is that takes him to this place.Lyle, wearing braces, has not lost his love of hitting golf shots even if Augusta is
too long for him now; Harrington, right, was another player rolling back the yearsF
rom the practice ground at
Augusta National it’s about a
200-metre walk to the first
tee. In between there is the
clubhouse and the towering
oak tree that could have been
uprooted from the plantation in Gone
With The Wind and replanted in this
corner of the old south. And when
Tiger Woods walked on to that tee,
the applause carried over the tree and
the house was heard on the bleachers
behind the practice area.
And as we watched Justin Thomas,
Tony Finau, Scottie Scheffler, Lucas
Glover, Erik van Rooyen, Cameron
Davis, Adam Scott, Stewart Hagestad
and Sandy Lyle on the range, there
was a reminder of some of what
it is that makes this tournament
different. Seeing Lyle brought to mind
that seven-iron from the fairway
bunker on the 72nd hole of the 1988
Masters. One shot that clinched a
Green Jacket.
The Masters is, of course, an
invitational tournament with a
restricted field of 91 players, reduced
to 90 after injury compelled Paul
Casey to withdraw shortly before he
was due on the first tee.
There is some bias in the selection
criteria. Past champions are invited
but only expected to play if
reasonably competitive. SixThe Masters Sport
Still striving in
his suspenders,
Lyle adds value
to the occasion
invitations are reserved for amateurs
which is, in part, a nod to the memory
of the Augusta National and Masters
founder Bobby Jones, a gifted player
in the 1920s who never turned
professional.
So here on the range the 30-year-
old amateur Hagestad is stationed
between Finau and Thomas,
hitting balls on what must be one of
the most impressive practice areas in
the game. Hagestad works in finance
while currently doing an MBA and
devotes about four months of
his year to golf. He has played in
three Walker Cups and earned his
place in this year’s Masters by
winning the US Mid-Amateur
Championship.
He’s been here before, having
previously won the Mid-Amateur title
in 2016 and qualifying for the 2017
Masters. That was the year of Sergio
García’s enthralling duel with Justin
Rose. You won’t have noticed
Hagestad’s performance and yet it
was notable for the fact that he
became the first qualifier from the
Mid-Amateur to play the weekend at
the Masters.
In finishing tied 36th he earned
$52,938 (about £40,500) but as an
amateur, he had to pass on that.
What he remembers from that
tournament is his annoyance after a
well-meaning spectator offered some
patronising encouragement. “Enjoy
the ride,” said the fan.
“That kind of ticked me off a little
bit,’’ he said. “I’m like, shoot, man, I
feel like I’m generally a pretty decent
ball-striker, like it’s not that hard, it’s
just a golf course, come on, go out
there and show them what you canDavid Walsh
Augustash
ERIK S. LESSER/EPA