[Photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images]
Something else came in the wake of Rory McIlroy’s second Masters victory, something that’s not nearly as positive as the Northern Irishman’s history-making performance at Augusta National Golf Club.
After Jason Day [pictured] retreated from a share of fifth place and just three shots behind after 54 holes into a tie for 12th courtesy of a birdie-less 75 to close, it extended Australia’s Masters drought into a 14th year.
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Granted, that’s nothing like the 70-odd years we waited for the first one to land, but in what has been an era of more Aussie contestants and contenders, it feels like a second green jacket is as distant as the first one was for so long.
Day gave us hope today, but that hope was extinguished by an ugly double-bogey on the seventh hole. Adam Scott was tidy but largely ineffective in sharing 24th place. Min Woo Lee joined Cameron Smith in having the weekend off.
That we had only four participants at the 90th Masters is startling enough; that our collective performance was again so mediocre only adds to the malaise.
Day is 38 – about 18 months older than McIlroy – and while he is healthy you figure his window of opportunity is not yet shut, but it’s closing with each passing year. Scott will be 46 by the time the Masters rolls around again, older than any other Masters winner, so he’d need to create history to win it again. Lee seems to lack the precision to tame Augusta, even if his power and general resourcefulness are great assets when properly harnessed.
Then there’s Smith, the man whose game seemed so perfect for the venue but who has now missed six cuts in a row at the majors. He has just one more year left of direct entry into the Masters courtesy of his 2022 Open Championship victory, making simply being at Augusta a challenge, let alone winning there.
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As for the absent Aussies, Marc Leishman is unlikely to see Augusta again unless something drastic changes in either his form or LIV Golf’s relationship with the qualification criteria. That dynamic is healthier than it was a year ago, but LIV golfers are still fighting uphill battles to simply get there. Lucas Herbert is in that same boat.
Cam Davis’ game feels like a good fit for Augusta, but his form is so awry that he was never even a consideration to be there this year. Karl Vilips is perhaps the next most likely Aussie debutant at the Masters, but if and when he qualifies he’s sure to require the usual learning period before contending. And the same can be said for Elvis Smylie, Travis Smyth or any other future participants from our shores.
The other hurdle in Australia’s path – highlighted by the winner and runner-up this year – is how recent Masters champions are winning without needing their best. If your name isn’t Rory or Scottie, you need to author the golf week of your life to win a major; these guys are contending and winning them with their B-minus games. Those are significant roadblocks.
It’s easy to feel a collective deflation after yet another missed opportunity at Augusta for Australia, especially in the immediate aftermath. But the cold, hard facts point to a lengthy wait to see one of our own in the green jacket again.
Thank God we still have 2013 to cling on to.
