The beginning of April each year is when the U.S. Masters golf tournament is played at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, which traditionally heralds in the start of a new golf season, and which is the first of the four recognized "Major" golf championships to be contested.

The ultimate dream of every golf professional (or even top amateur come to that) is to win what is called in golf circles the "Grand Slam". That is, to win the four Major Championships in the one year; the U.S. Masters, U.S. Open, The British Open, and the U.S.P.G.A. Championship. To achieve that dream the first step is to win the Masters at Augusta.

It's perhaps appropriate that the only golfer to actually win a Grand Slam (thus far) was Robert Trent Jones (Bobby), the gifted US amateur, who was the mastermind behind the building of Augusta National back in the early 1930's and who later was the inspiration behind beginning the Masters tournament. Back when Bobby Jones won his Grand Slam the U.S. Masters and U.S.P.G.A. weren't recognized as Majors (the Masters hadn't even started) and so his Grand Slam consisted of the US Amateur, the US Open, the British Amateur, and the British Open. It is unlikely that feat will ever be emulated, and so far as the modern day Grand Slam is concerned perhaps the only present day golfer who has a realistic chance of ever achieving it is Tiger Woods, who has already won the Masters four times since his first win back in 1999.

Why then, given that the US Masters is the first Major to be played every year, have I called it the "second Major" in the title of my review? The reason is that no matter how prestigious a title the Masters is, and no matter how much its organizers would wish it, it can never hope to surpass the British Open (more correctly called simply The Open) in terms of prestige and historical significance. To be truly called one of the greats in the world of golf a player must win a British Open at some point of their career otherwise their curriculum vitae will forever be incomplete.

Bobby Jones retired from competitive golf after his Grand Slam achievement in 1930 at only 28-years of age, as he considered he had already achieved all that he could achieve in golf, and that anything further would be something of an anti-climax! He came from a wealthy, privileged background, and was nobody's fool, earning himself no less than three degrees in different disciplines. (He practiced law when he retired from golf) He had long nurtured

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