Golf s Masters is understated pretty historic and cool

Augusta, UNITED STATES - Cool, said the Singaporean the other day in Georgia. Cool experience, he explained. One of the coolest places on earth, he insisted. Pretty cool to be doing a press conference in this land of giants, he declared. To be precise, during his interview, he used a variation of the word “cool” only 10 times.

So, yes, we get it, Hiroshi Tai is enamoured by the Masters.

It’s OK, he’s in fine company. In his press conference, Bryson DeChambeau, a two-time Major champion no less (not here, though) refers to Bobby Jones, the co-founder of the Masters as Mr Jones. He even uses the formal “patrons” for fans. DeChambeau is a content-creating, free spirit, who hits balls over his house, but in this castle he treads carefully.

Tai spent Sunday playing the front nine with the gifted Will Zalatoris and played the back nine with the same player on Tuesday. Funny stories were told and a golf course explored. This is the site, said the Singaporean, of everyone’s dreams as kids, yet he said “I’m trying not to get too caught up into the aura”. Focus is his prayer.

On Monday night, he and three other amateurs – all in contention for the silver cup given to the Low Amateur – spent the night in the Crow’s Nest at the clubhouse. It is a place of great ghosts and grand legends, with pictures of Jones and Tiger Woods on the walls, but the amateurs did what young athletes do. They watched sport. To be precise, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball event.

Tai finds himself in this nondescript corner of the American south, which every April becomes the centre of the planet’s sporting attention. Think of it as a word the Masters would approve of: