There is one Australian in Augusta trying to keep the elusive Masters green jacket out of Australian hands.
Steve Bann, the respected Australian coach of Korean star KJ Choi, makes no apologies when revealing where his strongest support would lie should Choi and a player from Down Under battle it out down the stretch on Sunday.
“There is no doubt my loyalty would be with KJ,” says Bann.
“But I would be happy either way.”
Bann, who along with Dale Lynch helped spearhead the golf division in the Victorian Institute of Sport and mentored the likes of Robert Allenby and Stuart Appleby, admits the game back home could badly use a breakthrough Masters victory.
“There is no doubt it would be a great thing for Australian golf because it really does need an injection of something,” Bann says. “It needs something to get young people wanting to play.
“I find it a bit sad when I’m back home as hardly any young people are playing the game.
“It needs something that puts golf on the front page and makes it cool again.”
But Bann’s focus this week is with Choi who has led the tournament at some stage on Sunday the past two years and was third back in 2004.
Bann sees a new confidence in his player’s eyes after Choi won the prestigious Players Championship last year a month after the Masters.
“I know it’s not a major but it’s like one so he knows he can win now and knows he can finish off well,” Bann says.
“And that’s all he hadn’t done in big events.”
The man affectionately known as Tank also has being a first-time winner on his mind. While there has been no Australian winner at Augusta National, there has also never been an Asian winner.
“He wants to be the guy,” Bann says.
“He sees himself as the guiding light or pioneer of golf in Korea and he has encouraged me to work with the young Korean players who he tries to mentor. He is the godfather.
“He knows he has a couple of years to notch up that major win otherwise these young guys are coming.”