From idiot abroad to Masters champion - Bubba Watson has come a long way in the last 10 months.

Louis Oosthuizen is a major champion with a regained sense of his own possibilities

America's courtship of Rory McIlroy, which began with a hug after his Sunday 80 last year, is now a full-on love affair. The 22-year-old from Holywood signed for a second-round 69, three under par, that took him to four under for the tournament, and had the galleries cheering his name as he climbed the hill to the clubhouse.

We should enjoy the beauty of the course and the quality of the action that is expected

Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood fill the top three spots on the world rankings going into The Masters - and any one of them could be number one at the end of the week.

Tiger Woods enjoyed himself in the Florida sunshine yesterday. With a three-under-par 69, the former world No 1 was three off the clubhouse lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

Today

England's world No 1 Luke Donald got his PGA Tour season off to a sub-par start with a first-round 70 in blustery conditions in the Northern Trust Open in California.

Sergio Garcia has decided to rest rather than go looking for a third successive victory at this week's world championship in Shanghai.

Poor Luke Donald. He's golf's Invisible Man. The world No 1 should expect to be swamped by huge crowds at the final major of the season – and he was. But the sad thing for the Englishman is they were following the world No 30 in the group behind and the world No 6 in the group in front. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were the fan favourites of the morning threeballs here. Donald was the forgotten man in the middle.

When Rory McIlroy set out on his life-changing season in January, he did not see his best chance coming at Congressional, the scene of his stunning US Open triumph. Back then, when he was a mere future superstar, he dreamed of the USPGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club.

A dream week in the life of Tom Lewis ended last night with the 20-year-old collecting the Silver Medal as the leading amateur at the 140th Open Championship. But after all the hype and speculation about turning professional, this week it will be back to business as usual, which in amateur golf means a training session at Royal Aberdeen to prepare for the Walker Cup in September.