Peter Cowen column: Let’s hope all the golfers are fit and strong for Augusta

As I write this Masters preview, I am on my way to the US and Augusta for the first major of 2022.

It used to be the start of the season when I played on Tour, but now it is tournament number 10 of 44 on the 2021-2022 DP World Tour and tournament number 27 on the 2021-2022 PGA Tour. How times change!

The biggest conversation in the news and on social media has surely been all about five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods, ‘Will he, won’t he,’ play this week.

If it is confirmed he will not play when this Gulf News article is published, I apologise and it will be a huge disappointment to so many fans and the whole of golf around the world.

I am already looking forward to Thursday and for the first  to be struck in anger and it is still only Sunday midnight.

This week, the media will hopefully highlight on what is happening on the golf course, with players, birdies and bogeys rather than stuff off the golf course, that has been the talk of the game and encouraged a lot of noise more recently. But more on that another time, when we see what is going to happen or not happen, moving forward to the structure of world golf.

I have four players this week in the field: Brooks Koepka (US), the 2016 Masters champion Danny Willett, Padraig Harrington and Matt Fitzpatrick (who I coach along with my buddy Mike Walker).

Brooks looks ready for another big week. If he gets in the mood, he will be tough to beat.

Let’s for a moment, just give credit to Padraig on how and why he is here this week? He finished tied fourth in the 2021 US PGA Championship and will be competing at Augusta for the first time since 2015. Well done him, then aged 49 and, perhaps, he had one eye on his Ryder Cup Captaincy later in 2021 and another eye on an upcoming Senior Tour career on both the Champions Tour and the Legends Tour. Padraig is very strong mentally and can compartmentalise his thoughts and emotions relatively easily.

Now to the defending champion Hideki Matsuyama, the first Masters champion from his country in the history of the game. I only hope he is another player who is fit to tee it up this week after his withdrawal due to injury last week in Texas.

I first came into contact with him at The Open in 2013 at Muirfield in Scotland when Hideki was just 21 years old and Phil Mickleson took home the Claret Jug.

Over the years I have always taken an interest in his swing, with no contractual arrangements or the like. In my coaching business, we see and hear so much about golf and life on the range, week in - week out, all over the world.

A few months ago I received a package though the post at my Rotherham Driving Range from Japan. It was nicely wrapped in a green box and it was a Rolex watch, inscribed on the back with, ‘Thanks. Hideki.’

What a pleasant surprise and something I did not expect. Hideki and his caddie are two of the nice guys around.

Speak to you all at the end of the week and let’s hope everyone is fit, strong and ready for Thursday. Including me!

- Peter Cowen, now 71, is arguably the world’s No.1 golf coach, with Peter Cowen Academies at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club, Emirates Golf Club and Jumeirah Golf Estates and headquartered in Rotherham, Sheffield, England.