MASTERS 2015: Rory's Grand quest & other notes from Augusta

BY STEVE KEIPERT AT AUGUSTA NATIONAL GC

It is common knowledge among ardent golf fans that five men have won all four modern majors - the career Grand Slam. Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tiger Woods form that most elite of quintets. Rory McIlroy is poised to join them should he ever win the Masters, just as Phil Mickelson can with a US Open title.

Less known, however, is that eight other men fell just one major short of joining Sarazen, Hogan, Nicklaus, Player and Woods. Walter Hagen (11 career majors), Jim Barnes (four) and Lee Trevino (six) lacked only a green jacket among their major hauls; Sam Snead (seven majors) joins Mickelson in missing only the US Open from the set; Byron Nelson (five majors) and Ray Floyd (four) never won an Open Championship; just as Tom Watson (eight majors) and Arnold Palmer (seven) failed to win the US PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy walks with his caddie J.P. Fitzgerald during a Tuesday practice round. PHOTO: Getty Images.

First at bat is McIlroy, who captured the US Open in 2011, the PGA in 2012 and again last year as well as the Open last July. At 25, he can become the second-youngest (Woods was 24 when he completed the set at the 2000 Open Championship) to claim the career Grand Slam with a victory at the Masters this week. Should he do so, the Northern Irishman will head to the US Open near Seattle in June with the chance to emulate Woods' feat in 2000/2001 of holding all four majors at one time.

The circus surrounding Tiger's return to tournament play has removed much of the spotlight from McIlroy, which suits him just fine. In his mind, this week is far more about winning the Masters as a single entity rather than the larger historical significance that would come with a green jacket.

"My mind wanders to winning this tournament and thinking what it would mean. It hasn't really wandered beyond that," McIlroy said. "It's been the same every time I've won a major. It has not wandered beyond the next one, and I've just really tried to key in on focusing on the next one."

With an awareness to match his rise to the summit of the sport, McIlroy is acutely mindful of his record to date at Augusta National and where he's fallen short. Surprisingly, given his power, the par-5s – long the most vulnerable holes here – are where he's given up ground to the field.

"If you look at the previous winners here, they've all played the par-5s well," he said. "Bubba last year played them at eight-under-par; I played them at even-par and he beat me by eight shots. If I can just play the par-5s a little better, hopefully that will help me do better and obviously have a chance to win."

It's a course that historically takes a few playings to understand and to fully decipher the nuances, McIlroy included.

McIlroy hits a putt in the rain during his practice round. PHOTO: Getty Images

"The one thing I took away from the first couple of years I played was that as much as this golf course is, I feel, a second-shot golf course, it made me a little tentative over iron shots the first couple of years. I had to learn to try to be a little more aggressive to my spots here instead of looking at a pin and thinking of the places not to miss it. Because there's places here where you can miss it and you can give yourself a straightforward up-and-down, and there's places where you can't miss it. I felt the first couple years, I was thinking more about where not to hit it instead of where to hit it.

"You come here to Augusta National, it's such an intimidating place the first time that you get here, and I felt like I may have shown it a little bit too much respect at times instead of playing my normal game and playing the way I usually do. That's the biggest thing I've learned, just try to get it out of your head where you are and what it means and just try to execute your shots like you normally do."

He's wiser and more comfortable. Just don't expect the plucky young man from Holywood to be nerveless come 10:41am on Thursday.

"The first tee shot [at the Masters] is probably the only first tee shot of a tournament these days that I still get nervous at; the one that you get butterflies and your heart races a little bit faster than it does usually."

TODAY AT AUGUSTA:

* Most of the Australians have late first-round starting times and early second-day times:

Young Aussie amateur Antonio Murdaca faces the world media at the Masters. PHOTO: Getty Images.

ROUND ONE - 9:35am (11:35pm AEST) Adam Scott, Dustin Johnson, Antonio Murdaca (a); Round two - 12:53pm (2:53am AEST)

ROUND ONE - 11:03am (1:03am AEST) Ian Woosnam, Erik Compton, Marc Leishman; Round two - 7:45am (9:45pm AEST).

ROUND ONE - 11:47am (1:47am AEST) Bernhard Langer, Bernd Wiesberger, Geoff Ogilvy; Round two - 8:29am (10:29pm AEST).

ROUND ONE - 1:37pm (3:37am AEST) Luke Donald, Victor Dubuisson, John Senden; Round two - 10:19am (12:19am AEST)

ROUND ONE - 1:59pm (3:59am AEST) Jason Day, Sergio Garcia, Rickie Fowler; Round two - 10:41am (12:41am AEST)

* Henrik Stenson is suffering from 'flu but that didn't stop the Swede from displaying his dry sense of humour. The World No.2 proudly announced to the media that he knew his stats were pretty good so far in 2015 but also that he'd never broken 70 at Augusta National. When a member of the media told him he had shot 69 here once, Stenson said, "So much for me being the stats guy ... So obviously breaking 70 has not been an issue for me around here."

* Stenson also revealed he was on-site for a practice round at the 1999 Masters. The 39-year-old's wife Emma attended university in nearby South Carolina and Henrik acquired a practice round ticket for the Tuesday that week. He retold a story about watching how expertly Jose Maria Olazabal pitched and chipped balls around the practice green that day. "I said to someone, 'I think he's going to have a good week,' and he ended up winning."

* Exactly who is going to caddie for which players during the Wednesday afternoon Par-3 Contest garners as much attention in the early part of Masters week as many more telling elements of the tournament. Rory McIlroy revealed that Niall Horan from pop boy band One Direction will carry his clubs, while Tiger Woods grinned widely when he announced his two children, Sam and Charlie, will serve as his caddies.

* Speaking of caddies, one wonders what Steve Williams is doing this week. The former leading bagman is in the first year of his retirement and will be absent from the Masters for the first time since the 1980s.

Miguel Angel Jimenez takes a photo with his phone as he walks during a practice round. PHOTO: Getty Images

* Miguel Angel Jimenez, who returns to Augusta after a fourth-place finish at the Masters at age 50 last year, owns a warm-up routine that venerable American golf writer Dan Jenkins once said "would get a stripper arrested". While warming up on the practice range today, the evergreen Spaniard obliged the urgings of the patrons in the grandstand by performing his peculiar, gyrating routine, which prompted several enthusiastic but respectful cheers.