Augusta National is an otherworldly experience but would I get down in a press up position and give the grass a big slobbery kiss, tongue and all? No.
The man in question claimed he was doing it for a bet. If the forfeit was to look like the biggest gimp on the planet well then he was doing a pretty good job. You’d see better drunk shifts from the anyone or anything will do brigade approaching the last knockings in McGowan’s on a Saturday night. We all love a good shift, but come on now.
There was me feeling a bit sketchy about lying on the back of the ninth green picking at the grass, spitting or walking briskly…
The Americans are a funny bunch. Maybe it’s the Irish accent but they are very friendly although I am getting tired of fielding questions as to who Tom McKibbin is. Maybe he is an unfamiliar character this side of the Atlantic but if they give him time he’ll be a name they remember for years to come.
McKibbin played the last four holes at Augusta National with the newest career grand slam winner but he is looking to complete a slam of his own, albeit of a smaller scale, in making all four major cuts aged 23.
Tuesday at the Masters was a busy day in the strangely cold interview room where big name after big name came through including defending champion and Grand Slammer Rory McIlroy.
McIlroy cut a very relaxed, jovial figure in the interview room. If this golf thing never worked out, his personality alone would have clinched him a job anywhere in the world – quite the maestro at the one liners!
This is my first Masters but in many respects it is McIlroy’s too in that he now drives up Magnolia Lane with a renewed sense of belonging. He has been enjoying all of the perks that come with being the Masters champion that this week’s defence is almost secondary. Although, he intends to shift his focus to keeping his Green Jacket from Wednesday.
Talk of the recent Amazon Prime documentary was rife in the press conference. Even if the piece was about Rory, his parents Rosie and Gerry were the stars of the show. Usually keen to shy away from the media, I had always imagined that the last decade must have been so painful for them to see their son pour his heart out and just come up agonisingly short. They were full value for a BAFTA.
“I think you all know, especially the Irish guys, my mom and dad have always been very reluctant to say anything or go on camera, but I thought that the documentary wouldn’t be the same if — you know, because we did go back a little bit into the childhood and into the upbringing, it wouldn’t have felt complete if we didn’t hear from them.
“Again, knowing how they feel about it all, I would have been absolutely fine if they didn’t want to do it, but they were willing to participate. I thought they did an amazing job.
“I think in terms of what they instilled in me, I think work ethic is something that — my mom worked night shifts. My dad worked multiple jobs. I think most people in this room know that. That was normal for me. That was normal as an upbringing. I never spent a lot of time with my parents together. It was either with my dad or with my mom because always the other one was working.
“Because they knew their son had a dream to play golf, and golf is a less expensive sport to play in Ireland, but it’s still a pretty expensive game to have to drive your son to different golf clubs and play in tournaments and golf equipment and everything else. So they sacrificed a lot.
“I think that that work ethic, that’s the thing I feel like they instilled in me the most and the belief. I talk about my dad being an eternal optimist and being able to see a silver lining in the worst of days, and I feel like that’s what he’s given me as well.
“Obviously incredibly blessed to have amazing parents. Lucky that they’re here this week to see everything unfold like this, and hopefully they have a lot of Masters left in them. We’re excited for that as well.”
Family is central to McIlroy’s life and Harry Diamond is part of that clan as the brother from another mother.
“I think, as an only child, he was like the big brother I never had, and I think that’s what makes it so special. Harry’s got a little brother and a big sister, so he had that, but I always felt like Harry was my big brother. I think that’s why, when I talk about it or — it’s why it makes me emotional.”
Shane Lowry gave his pre-Masters gospel under the famous oak tree outside of the Augusta National Clubhouse and while he dreams of sipping champagne on some deckchairs with Rory as part of the Green Jacket club, he has to park those manifestations and focus on acceptance.
Winning would be a wonderful moment for both he and his caddie Darren Reynolds. The pair have not won together as a pair but shared an unbelievable moment at last September’s Ryder Cup.
Reynolds’ father passed away recently, Lowry could not attend the funeral in Bray but he did wear a black ribbon on the course in Texas last week. He acknowledges that the last few weeks have been brutally tough for his right hand man. Maybe they can both go out and ‘do it for dad’ this week.
And finally, if there are people that Rory would rather not be putting into a green jacket on Sunday night I reckon Patrick Reed and Bryson DeChambeau make the top-2.
Bryson said today that he wants to “beat the living you know what out of him.”
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