US Masters Golf

If ever there was a tournament that you could throw the ‘horses for courses’ theory at, The US Masters would be it. For a competition that everyone looks forward to, it rather boringly regularly pairs the usual suspects together on the last day with the odd outsider thrown in for good measure – fortunately, for the prestige of the contest at least, four of the last five have produced ‘shock’ winners while the big names have faltered around Amen Corner and thereafter.

Four-time winner Tiger Woods may not have won it for eight years now, but he goes to Magnolia Lane in superb form, while Phil Mickelson has won it three times in the last nine and been top five on three other occasions – he won’t be far away. For the Brits, Rory McIlroy starts the season too slowly for this event, so Justin Rose and Lee Westwood are the best hopes for homegrown success.

The Masters is the true herald of summer – and the sound of the nation’s golf clubs being dusted off will be almost deafening come Monday morning. BBC2 joins the fun on Saturday, with live coverage from 7.30pm.