If all those satellites have mapped it right, the 87th Masters could well be a repeat of last year.
Of course, Scottie Scheffler was sublime in cantering to a three-shot win. On a hot run after winning three tournaments in five starts before reaching Augusta National, the unassuming American started his campaign with rounds of 69 and 67, but the highlight for him a one-under 71 on Saturday.
That was the day when the mercury and scores plummeted. Four degrees felt sub-zero because of rain and wind and frosty morning conditions. The best round that day was a 70 by Tommy Fleetwood, but the most important was a battling 71 by Scheffler.
It helped him open a five-shot lead and even though Rory McIlroy mounted a massive late charge with a course record-equalling 64, the 26-year-old American had enough breathing space to win by three in the end.
Meteorologists are predicting another weather front moving into Augusta this weekend, with Saturday looking particularly dark, windy, wet and cold.
In such a scenario, it helps that the world No 1 comes into the tournament in sizzling hot form. In a near repeat of last year, Scheffler has won the twice – the Players Championship and the Phoenix Open – in his last five starts.
If there ever was a contender to join the rare club of Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods as back-to-back winner of the Masters, it is Scheffler.
“Any time you can get mentioned in the same breath as a Tiger and a Jack and a Nick Faldo, it is really special,” Scheffler said.
“However, it’s not a motivating factor for me to come out here and play. It’s so special and cool when it happens, but it doesn’t motivate me out here. I’m just trying to come out here and do my best and play good golf and have fun. Outside of that, I’m just hoping to have a good attitude. Wherever that ends up in my career, I will be happy with.”
Not much has changed for Scheffler, he insists, since that momentous second Sunday of April last year. And that includes the fact that he is still ranked the world No 1. But Scheffler is not paying much attention to that stat.
“I wouldn’t say it gives me any sort of special confidence. I mean, it’s just a math algorithm. For me, to sit here and tell you guys I’m the best player in the world, that is not my style,” said Scheffler.
“I think I learn a lot from all the people out here. I’ve learned a lot from all the guys that kind of came before me. I'm a student of the game and I’ve learned a lot from playing with guys like Jordan [Spieth] growing up.
"I like to continue to learn and improve. That’s what is fun for me and what I love about this game; that you can never perfect it, and hopefully I’ll keep getting closer. However, being No 1 is better than being No 2 in that algorithm.”
Meanwhile, world No 3 Jon Rahm said the key to Augusta National Golf Club is how players negotiate the peculiarities on and around the greens.
“Historically, it’s not a golf course where people, when they go on to win, they hit a ton of fairways or a ton of greens. Somebody told me the average green hit percentage was 60-some per cent here,” said Rahm, the 2022 DP World Tour champion who has won three titles on the PGA Tour already this year.
“But what every Masters champion has in common is what’s happening around the greens. If you can limit those mistakes and turn those into pars, sometimes birdies, that’s modern major championships.
“If you go back and see Scottie’s round last year, how many times did he miss a green, make up-and-down and make a par and keep the round going and make a few birdies and distanced himself from the entire field.
“I think like that’s a key aspect of the game. I have talked to Phil [Mickelson] many times about this, and he’s told me the reason he’s comfortable here is because with his short game, he feels like he can be more aggressive than anyone and still get pars and birdies out of it. Same about Jordan Spieth’s short game, right?”
Scheffler is paired with Max Homa and amateur Sam Bennett the first two rounds. He tees-off on Thursday at 1.36pm local time (9.36pm UAE). Rahm will start his campaign with Justin Thomas and Cameron Young at 10.42am local time (6.42pm UAE).
Profile Periscope Media
Founder: Smeetha Ghosh, one co-founder (anonymous)
Launch year: 2020
Employees: four – plans to add another 10 by July 2021
Financing stage: $250,000 bootstrap funding, approaching VC firms this year
Investors: Co-founders
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MATCH INFO
Hoffenheim v Liverpool
Uefa Champions League play-off, first leg
Location: Rhein-Neckar-Arena, Sinsheim
Kick-off: Tuesday, 10.45pm (UAE)
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
Key findings
- Over a period of seven years, a team of scientists analysed dietary data from 50,000 North American adults.
- Eating one or two meals a day was associated with a relative decrease in BMI, compared with three meals. Snacks count as a meal. Likewise, participants who ate more than three meals a day experienced an increase in BMI: the more meals a day, the greater the increase.
- People who ate breakfast experienced a relative decrease in their BMI compared with “breakfast-skippers”.
- Those who turned the eating day on its head to make breakfast the biggest meal of the day, did even better.
- But scrapping dinner altogether gave the best results. The study found that the BMI of subjects who had a long overnight fast (of 18 hours or more) decreased when compared even with those who had a medium overnight fast, of between 12 and 17 hours.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Marathon results
Men:
1. Titus Ekiru(KEN) 2:06:13
2. Alphonce Simbu(TAN) 2:07:50
3. Reuben Kipyego(KEN) 2:08:25
4. Abel Kirui(KEN) 2:08:46
5. Felix Kemutai(KEN) 2:10:48
Women:
1. Judith Korir(KEN) 2:22:30
2. Eunice Chumba(BHR) 2:26:01
3. Immaculate Chemutai(UGA) 2:28:30
4. Abebech Bekele(ETH) 2:29:43
5. Aleksandra Morozova(RUS) 2:33:01
