Geoff Ogilvy knows the history and understands the question. But he still has a hard time believing the record books.
In the 73-year history of the Masters Tournament, no player from the golf-rich and golf-mad country of Australia has ever captured a Green Jacket.
“That has to be a fluke, right,” Ogilvy said Tuesday. “We’ve had good players and good chances, but it’s just never happened.”
While dozens of Australian players have thrilled Masters Patrons down through the decades, through near misses and large margins, no one has ever captured a Masters victory.
Greg Norman has been the closest, losing in a 1987 playoff, but many feel this is the year for a breakthrough.
“I think Geoff by far has the best chance,” said countryman Stuart Appleby. “His form has been spectacular and he’s playing the best now.”
Adam Scott, another highly-ranked Aussie, said he can’t believe there hasn’t been an Australian week, but would be happy to have the first one.
“It’s pretty amazing if you ask me,” Scott said. “There has to be a first. We all watched Greg play growing up and thought he would do it. We were all crushed when he fell short. We’ve got plenty of player’s; it’s just a matter of time.”
Among the other Aussies at Augusta National Golf Club are Aaron Baddeley, Matthew Goggin and Robert Allenby.
While Ogilvy feels the law of averages has to catch up his countryman, he even feels Australians should have an advantage when he comes to playing Augusta National.
“It’s the small kind of soil as we have back home in the sand belt and the same kind of topography,” he said.
“Royal Melbourne looks very similar to this and we’ve won there many times.”
The architect of Royal Melbourne is Dr. Alister Mackenzie, the acclaimed course designer who worked with co-founders Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts to route Augusta National.
“It’s strange really, when you look at it,” said Ogilvy. “We had the best player of a generation (Norman), who never won it and now we have a lot of guys who could win. It has to happen, hopefully this year.”
While Norman is participating in his 23rd Masters, his first since 2002, he is far from the favorite at age 54.
Of the current Australians who have participated regularly over the last decade, only Scott and Appleby have top 10 finishes. Appleby has added five additional top 25 finishes in 12 total appearances.
“I think it’s just a matter of form,” Appleby explained. “We’re playing in warm conditions, which are often the case here, and we have a lot of experience playing sand-based courses. We should be successful; we just need to do it.”
Ogilvy comes to Augusta, having the most success in 2009. He captured the World Golf Championship World Match Play earlier in the year and also won the first PGA Tour event of the year, the Mercedes Championship in Hawaii.
“I feel good, but you just have to do it out there and play and see what happens,” said the former U.S. Open champion. “We have a lot of good players and I’d be happy if any of them won.”
Each of the current Australian players said watching Norman play in the 1980s and ‘90s, when he had six top-three finishes, is their motivation to achieve a victory.
Norman said he now feels the same way about the players who once rooted so avidly for him to win.
“We’re still a relatively small nation, so everybody naturally cheers for each other,” said Norman, “It doesn’t matter the sport, we all want each other to do well.”
The 2009 Masters Tournament is another chance for a hoped-for case of Aussie Rules at Augusta National.
“We’ve had the best players in the past. We got some of the best players again. We just have to see what happens,” Appleby said.
Then and only then, said Appleby, will the questions go away.
