Nicklaus, Watson Masters favourites

Press, 7 April 1978, Page 24

Nicklaus, Watson Masters favourites

By

DAVID FINCH,

NZPA correspondent

Augusta, Georgia | Jack Nicklaus, as usual, is I rated the man to beat, but otherwise change is in the blossom-scented air of the venerated United States Masters golf tournament. I Nicklaus is in his accustomed role of favourite even (though he has played in onlyfive tournaments so far this year. But he won two of those and came second in two more, prompting a fellow professional to remark that he had become a "legend in his spare time.”

But the 38-year-old “Golden Bear” faces stiff competition as he bids to win his sixth green jacket, the treasured symbol of the champion over the hallowed Augusta national course. The event begins this morning (N.Z. time). Top of the pack is Tom Watson, the freckle-faced pretender who edged out Nicklaus in two face-to-face confrontations last vear in the Masters and the British Open. Indeed, Watson was considered favourite until a month ago on the strength of his early-season victories in the Tucson open and the Bing Crosby tournament at Pebble Beach. But Watson missed the cut in two of the last three events he played, while Nicklaus went on to win one of them, the Tournament Players’ championship. Hubert Green, the current U.S. Open champion, is also highly regarded after winning two events this year to take over second spot in the money-winners’ list behind Nicklaus and ahead of Watson.

Hale Irwin, who won the 1974 U.S. Open, is also in with a real chance. He has played consistently well this year and is in fourth spot in the 1978 earnings list. Ben Crenshaw has also been in fine form, as has Tom Weiskopf, who has never won the Masters, but has been runner-up four times.

The players aside, the year’s Masters sees the start of a new era. For the first time, neither of the men who founded the event will be Present, except in spirit. For on September 29 last year, Cliff Roberts, the organisational driving force behind the event, ended his life with a self-inflicted gunshot blast. He joined in death the other co-founder. the immortal golfing great Bobby Jones, who died after a long illness in 1971.

This year’s tournament marks not just the end of an old era, but also the start of a new one in the shape of the rise of Spain as a golfing power. Of the 11 foreign players invited, three are from Spain, which has won the World Cup two years in a rOw. There is the immensely talented Severiano Ballesteros, who is not yet 21, but who is already a veteran on the international scene. He has played on both of Spain’s World Cup winning teams, and was run-ner-up in the 1976 British Open, and last year at 19 became the youngest professional to appe..r in the Masters.

This year he celebrates his twenty-first birthday on the final day of the Masters and is most people's choice as the outsider most likely to succeed. He finished his preparation in the best way possible, winning the Greater Greensboro open, the final event before the Masters, on only his third appearance in the United States.

The other two • Spaniards are Antonio Garrido and Manuel Pinero, who parnered Ballesteros in the World Cup teams. The domination of Japan on the Far East circuit is also recognised with three players. There is Isao Aoki, who has played in three

Masters. Tsuneyuki Nakajima, one of the talented voting Japanese players, and Masashi “Jumbo” Ozaki, a veteran of five Masters. I Australia, for so long a (golfing power, is represented by only one player, David I Graham, but he has the credentials to win and has been (plaving well enough this year to be in the top 13 in the money-winners list. The foreign contingent is rounded out by two players each from Britain and South Africa. From Britain is the improved Peter Oosterhuis, who earned a very creditable share of tenth place in last year’s United States Open, and who is also in the top 30 money-winners this year. Oosterhuis is joined by Peter McEvoy, who earned his invitation by winning the 1977 British amateur title. Representing South Africa is Bobby Cole, by virtue of winning the 1977 Buick open, and — last but certainly not least — Gary Player, whose victories in 1961 and 1974 still stand as the onlv foreign successes in the Masters. This year’s overseas challenge is unquestionably potent. But it is still considered virtually certain that an American will emerge as winner on Monday (N.Z. time) and the odds are it will be either Nicklaus or Watson.