There was for the briefest time here yesterday a feeling that Tiger Woods might do something more valuable than he had ever done before on or around a golf course.

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Cast your minds back 12 months. Golf was in a lather at the achievements of Rory McIlroy and wondering if Tom Watson might reprise the wonders of Turnberry when he pitched up at Royal St George's. McIlroy did not feature at all in the Open drama. Watson did by virtue of playing alongside an amateur by the name of Tom Lewis.

More than anything, it was like a funeral. There were more sighs than conversation and when the convention of the first tee dictated applause, it was subdued enough to be over almost as soon as it began.

The cat is well and truly out of the bag, the cool cat even. So much for Luke Donald cast in the role of the staid, quiet Englishman with all the humour of John Major during a sponsored silence. The dude, as the say over here, is a blast.

Greg Norman and Sir Nick Faldo, first and second in the record-breaking 1993 Open at Sandwich, will not be involved in this year's championship at the Kent course.

Hundreds of mourners applauded as Seve Ballesteros's ashes were carried into his local church by his three children for the funeral service in honour of the five-times major winner yesterday.

Nick Faldo still believes in Rory McIlroy after watching every shot of a Masters nightmare that inevitably turned his own mind back 15 years.

No Australian has ever won the Masters. The names of the six runners-up are a painful reminder of 75 years of Aussie hurt among the Augusta pines. Please bow your heads and shed a tear for: Jim Ferrier (1950), Bruce Crampton (1972), Jack Newton (1980) and poor old Greg Norman (1986, '87 and '96).

There are many anniversaries to celebrate this year, not least the 15th since Sir Nick Faldo won his third Masters. That week will always be remembered for Greg Norman's capitulation.

Britain and Europe awake today atop of the golfing world for the first time in 16 years as Lee Westwood officially displaces Tiger Woods from the No 1 position he has held for 281 weeks.