Not that the top brass at Augusta National Golf Club would even allow it, but how about a Masters meme this week?
Yes, Tiger Woods is not there, a herniated disk in his spine snapping a sequence stretching back to 1995, but it is not quite the golfing apocalypse that some would have us believe.
Granted, the withdrawal of the world No 1 last week prompted a dip in ticket sales and television ratings will undoubtedly diminish, yet the Masters will handle the hit.
Look at the field: 31 major champions, bolstered by perhaps the most exciting crop of young talent the game has seen at any one time.
This is the most open Masters in memory.
Then the course: its iconic greens and vibrant pinks, Amen Corner and the roar of the crowds reverberating around the pines.
Admittedly, the Masters enjoys its position as the season’s opening major championship – it is 233 days since the USPGA Championship concluded the 2013 rota – but there is something inherently special about it. The history and the prestige, the memories and the context.
Woods’s absence undeniably casts a large shadow this week but – whisper it – he is far from the player who hoarded four green jackets from 1997 to 2005. He will be missed, but to borrow from those ubiquitous T-shirts and placards, the Masters message is loud and clear: “Keep Calm and Carry On”.
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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