AUGUSTA, United States // A year after Adam Scott forever ended any notion of an Australian jinx at the US Masters, a host of Aussie golfers have made a late charge to Augusta National.
Four Aussies have won US PGA events in the past two months, including Matt Jones taking a dramatic play-off win on Sunday at Houston to qualify for his first Masters at the last possible moment.
“There are a lot of good golfers everywhere in the world and just it’s been lucky enough to be Australia’s turn in the last six months or whatever,” Jones said on Monday.
“Since Adam won, Australia has been pretty abuzz with golf. What he did for the Australian golf community is pretty great. I think a lot of the Australian golfers fed off that. Hopefully there is more to come.”
Scott's play-off victory over Angel Cabrera last year was the first green jacket after a history of near-misses for Greg Norman and even a couple of oh-so-close efforts from Scott and Jason Day, whose World Golf Championships Match Play triumph in February kicked off the Aussie run of success.
“It’s surprising to see Australia kicking it up and it just shows that Australian golf is in a good spot now,” Day said.
“Going back last year after Scotty won, it was very inspiring for I think a lot of golfers on tour to kick their game up another level.”
Aussie Stephen Bowditch won the Texas Open just eight days ago to earn his way to Augusta National this week. And just two weeks earlier, countryman John Senden won at Tampa to book his trip to the Masters.
Scott’s success has opened floodgates of confidence in Aussies, who say if he can do it then so can they.
“A lot of the Australians are doing that exact same thing and having that exact same mental approach to the tournaments that they are playing recently,” Day said.
“It’s not surprising to see Steve play well in a windy kind of place. Everyone saw how good his short game was. And then Matt Jones, exactly the same thing, played great. I’m definitely excited to see how the guys go this week.”
Does that mean after no Australian winner in 76 Masters events, there might be two in a row?
“I think it sets up well for an Australian to play well,” Day said. “I know Scotty has said Augusta does set up well for an Australian. Those guys should have a good shot at competing this week.”
Jones was still buzzing, having taken a boost from Bowditch’s win to claim one of his own.
“This is amazing,” Jones said. “Waking up as kids and watching this, you’ve always dreamed of coming here. Watching Greg play, it was amazing.
“I saw Bowdo win and I thought, ‘Why couldn’t that be me the week of Houston?’ which luckily enough it was. It’s just good to see your countrymen do it and it gives you hope that you can do it.”
Jones, who will practise alongside Scott on the eve of the first round, recalled his joy at seeing Scott win a year ago on television from home.
“It was amazing,” Jones said. “And then the way he celebrated, I’m sure it gave all Australians goosebumps and gives them to me now just thinking about it.”
Scott, Day, Bowditch, Jones and Senden are joined by Marc Leishman and amateur Oliver Gross to form an Aussie pack seeking to keep the title Down Under.
“We are all hanging around each other which is good,” Day said. “It is the Masters. It’s the biggest tournament of the year, so we all kind of stick together and we’ll see each other in the locker room, on the range and we’ll say hello to each other.
“We have to go out there and compete against each other so I need to do the work to try and beat those guys and the rest of the field is tough to beat as well.
“It’s interesting. I think there will be, just like it has in the last few years, some Aussies up there. It’s exciting stuff for Australian golf.”
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Biography
Favourite drink: Must have karak chai and Chinese tea every day
Favourite non-Chinese food: Arabic sweets and Indian puri, small round bread of wheat flour
Favourite Chinese dish: Spicy boiled fish or anything cooked by her mother because of its flavour
Best vacation: Returning home to China
Music interests: Enjoys playing the zheng, a string musical instrument
Enjoys reading: Chinese novels, romantic comedies, reading up on business trends, government policy changes
Favourite book: Chairman Mao Zedong’s poems
In numbers
1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:
- 800 tonnes converted into alternative fuel
- 150 tonnes to landfill
- 50 tonnes sold as scrap metal
800 tonnes of RDF replaces 500 tonnes of coal
Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year
25 staff on site
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
What is hepatitis?
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, which can lead to fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis or liver cancer.
There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E.
Hepatitis C is mostly transmitted through exposure to infective blood. This can occur through blood transfusions, contaminated injections during medical procedures, and through injecting drugs. Sexual transmission is also possible, but is much less common.
People infected with hepatitis C experience few or no symptoms, meaning they can live with the virus for years without being diagnosed. This delay in treatment can increase the risk of significant liver damage.
There are an estimated 170 million carriers of Hepatitis C around the world.
The virus causes approximately 399,000 fatalities each year worldwide, according to WHO.
'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window'
Director:Michael Lehmann
Stars:Kristen Bell
Rating: 1/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
The biog
From: Upper Egypt
Age: 78
Family: a daughter in Egypt; a son in Dubai and his wife, Nabila
Favourite Abu Dhabi activity: walking near to Emirates Palace
Favourite building in Abu Dhabi: Emirates Palace
Match info
Uefa Champions League Group C
Liverpool v Napoli, midnight
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Votes
Total votes: 1.8 million
Ashraf Ghani: 923,592 votes
Abdullah Abdullah: 720,841 votes
ALL THE RESULTS
Bantamweight
Siyovush Gulmomdov (TJK) bt Rey Nacionales (PHI) by decision.
Lightweight
Alexandru Chitoran (ROU) bt Hussein Fakhir Abed (SYR) by submission.
Catch 74kg
Omar Hussein (JOR) bt Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) by decision.
Strawweight (Female)
Seo Ye-dam (KOR) bt Weronika Zygmunt (POL) by decision.
Featherweight
Kaan Ofli (TUR) bt Walid Laidi (ALG) by TKO.
Lightweight
Abdulla Al Bousheiri (KUW) bt Leandro Martins (BRA) by TKO.
Welterweight
Ahmad Labban (LEB) bt Sofiane Benchohra (ALG) by TKO.
Bantamweight
Jaures Dea (CAM) v Nawras Abzakh (JOR) no contest.
Lightweight
Mohammed Yahya (UAE) bt Glen Ranillo (PHI) by TKO round 1.
Lightweight
Alan Omer (GER) bt Aidan Aguilera (AUS) by TKO round 1.
Welterweight
Mounir Lazzez (TUN) bt Sasha Palatkinov (HKG) by TKO round 1.
Featherweight title bout
Romando Dy (PHI) v Lee Do-gyeom (KOR) by KO round 1.
Kat Wightman's tips on how to create zones in large spaces
- Area carpets or rugs are the easiest way to segregate spaces while also unifying them.
- Lighting can help define areas. Try pendant lighting over dining tables, and side and floor lamps in living areas.
- Keep the colour palette the same in a room, but combine different tones and textures in different zone. A common accent colour dotted throughout the space brings it together.
- Don’t be afraid to use furniture to break up the space. For example, if you have a sofa placed in the middle of the room, a console unit behind it will give good punctuation.
- Use a considered collection of prints and artworks that work together to form a cohesive journey.
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 290hp
Torque: 340Nm
Price: Dh155,800
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
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Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
The%20specs
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The Bio
Name: Lynn Davison
Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi
Children: She has one son, Casey, 28
Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite Author: CJ Sansom
Favourite holiday destination: Bali
Favourite food: A Sunday roast
