"THIS ΟΝΕ IS FOR SEVE"

Bill Elliott reflects on a dramatic 87th Masters and an impressive victory for Spaniard Jon Rahm on what would have been his idol's 66th birthday

- Bill Elliott

Georgia on My Mind, Other arms reach out to me, Other eyes smile tenderly, Still in peaceful dreams I see, The road leads back to you... 

Well, the road back to Augusta, Georgia, will figure hugely in the dreams of Jon Rahm Rodriguez between now and the next Masters as he contemplates returning to the scene of his great triumph and the comforting wrap of a Green Jacket.

Not so much, however, for Rory McIlroy or Tiger Woods. When it comes to the spring ritual of The Masters, golf’s overly made-up glamour puss and a course that manages to reinvent subtle, significant slices of its challenge while looking the same as always, McIlroy and Woods have retreated from this latest rumble appearing an odd couple of yesterday’s men in a sports world that tries very hard to live in tomorrow.

Different reasons, of course. Woods has tried more than anyone else, surely, ever would to rebuild his body for the umpteenth time in a life that has touched the highest plateaus of achievement as well as scraping the deepest, darkest corners of scandal and physical despair. Standing still, he can continue hitting shots of more subtlety and beauty than anyone else around. Walking, however, is something else.

His retreat from the chaos and brutality of that disjointed third round surprised no-one who had watched the pain scarring his face as he tried to cover all those hard, hilly yards that underpin the old technicolour dreamscape’s battleground. Was this his last Masters? You are more of an optimist than me if you think it isn’t.