It has been 45 years since a golfer has won the Masters in their first attempt at Augusta National but it would not to be a massive shock if that were to change this week.
Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 was the last man to drive down Magnolia Lane for the first time and promptly leave wearing the green jacket on a Sunday evening.
Year after year, debutants have arrived full of hope and leave with little more than lessons learned about the famous course.
But the bookmakers’ top-10 contenders for this year’s green jacket include two players with real chances of ending that long wait.
American Wyndham Clark and Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg are not the typical rookies facing the daunting task of taking on the world’s best at one of the sport’s most challenging courses.
The 30-year-old Clark has already won one major — he is the defending US Open champion — and ranked fourth in the world.
Not surprisingly with a resume like that, Clark, the highest-ranked Masters debutant, isn’t overawed by the challenge of ending the 45-year wait for an Augusta first-timer to win.
“Stats like that are meant to be broken. So I know it’s a tall task,” he said. “It’s a challenging golf course. There’s a bunch of good golfers. With that said, you still have to still bring your game. So it’s not like you can just flip a switch and win it.
“But that would be an amazing accomplishment. And I like my chances. I really like myself on this golf course. I feel good on a lot of tee shots and approaches, and there’s so much creativity. So I feel good coming into the week.”
As much as Clark, who won at Pebble Beach this year on the PGA Tour, wants to treat the Masters as one more tournament, he visited the course twice to get a feel for the unique elements.
“I wanted to try to get the awe of Augusta National kind of out of the way so that, when I showed up this week, it’s all business and I can just focus on the golf at hand,” he said.
“I’ve done that well in this last year. And so I know I’m going to have the first-tee jitters when I step up on 1 and put the ball on the peg and have to hit it. But I’m really hoping that, when we get to Hole 2 or 3 or 4, I’m pretty relaxed and I just get about my business and do my job.”
Unaware
Aberg, 24, is the world number nine, has already been part of the winning Europe team at last year’s Ryder Cup, playing a key role in that triumph in Italy, and in his short professional career has already won on the PGA and DP World tours.
He said he was unaware of the long gap to the last first-time winner.
“I actually didn’t know that stat up until just now. I think that speaks to the difficulty of the golf course and the difficulty of some of the things that you might get thrown at you in the tournament. But I can’t really do a whole lot about that,” said the Swede, who played Augusta during college competition.
“It’s a tricky balance because obviously I’m feeling all the first-time feelings that everyone’s feeling, but I’m also trying to be OK with all those things coming at me at the same time. Because I think once you start fighting it, once you start trying to push it away, I think that’s when it becomes tricky.
“I guess all I’m trying to do is just embrace all the nerves and all the excitement that I feel and at the same time know my capabilities and know my qualities and know that’s probably going to be good enough to compete.
“I can’t make any promises, but I’ll definitely make sure that, coming Thursday, I’ll be as prepared as I can.”
As well as Zoeller, only two other players have won in their first appearance at the Masters are Horton Smith, who won inaugural tournament in 1934, and Gene Sarazen, who won the following year.
