Happy Masters Day. Philip Reid is our man at Augusta National and he sets the scene for us, reckoning that it’s “doubtful that two Irish players have ever started with greater hope of what might be”. Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry are, he writes, “both serious contenders, both entitled to believe”.
As Lowry says, though, “golf’s a funny game . . . you never know what’s around the corner”, and so “devilish” are some of the holes on the course - Philip picks out three of the trickiest - a wayward shot or two can see any contender’s hopes sink without a trace.
You don’t need to tell Max Homa about golf’s vagaries. As Philip mentions in his Augusta Diary, the American was ranked ninth in the world after a tied-third finish at Augusta last year. Now? He’s 81st. Free fall.
The Irish women’s rugby team suffered a bit of a free fall themselves in recent times, but they’ve steadied the ship the past year. Their next challenge, though, is as formidable as it gets - in Cork on Saturday they face an England side that is seeking a seventh successive Six Nations title. Johnny Watterson talks to Irish coach Scott Bemand ahead of the game, and he also hears from Jordie Barrett in the build-up to Leinster’s Champions Cup quarter-final against Glasgow tomorrow evening.
In Gaelic games, Ciarán Murphy looks at the boom in ticket sales for championship games, while Ian O’Riordan talks to Armagh goalkeeper Ethan Rafferty ahead of his county opening the defence of their All Ireland title against Antrim on Saturday. And Gordon Manning hears from Westmeath captain Ronan Wallace in advance of a “season defining” Leinster quarter-final against Kildare.
Joey Carbery, Munster and Ireland - where did it all go wrong?
In soccer, Gavin Cummiskey reports on FAI Academy manager Will Clarke warning about the long-term effects of Brexit on the senior men’s team, with “the player pool shrinking year-on-year”. Before Brexit, there were around 100 Irish players, aged 16 to 18, in full-time professional environments in England or Scotland. Now? That number has dropped to twenty.
Does the name Joe DePugh ring a bell? Probably not, although if you’re a Bruce Springsteen fan you might know that DePugh, a brilliant baseball pitcher in his high school days, was the man immortalised by The Boss in his song Glory Days. Dave Hannigan tells us his story, Springsteen paying tribute to his old friend after his death last week at the age of 75. “‘He could throw that speedball by you, make you look like a fool’,” he wrote. “Glory Days my friend.”
TV Watch: You have just the 10 hours of Masters coverage to watch today, Sky Sports Golf bringing the first round from Augusta (from 2.0pm). In football, there are a bunch of European quarter-finals - in the Conference League, Chelsea are away to Legia Warsaw at 5.45, and at 8.0 Lyon host Manchester United (Premier Sports 1 and TNT Sports 1), a pre-match hug between Nemanja Matic and André Onana unlikely. And in the Europa League, Tottenham play Eintracht Frankfurt (Premier Sports 2 and TNT Sports 3) and Rangers meet Athletic Bilbao (TNT Sports 2), both kicking off at 8.0.
