America holds out for a hero

US Masters: Foreign raiders again threaten home rule as the quest for the green jacket resumes this week Peter Corrigan, golf correspondent, assesses the field for the year's first major

THEY assemble like the cast of a film called "Defenders of the Lost Ark" - a line-up of all-American boys charged with protecting the US Masters trophy, one of the most precious and certainly the most vulnerable of all their homeland's sporting treasures.

Hollywood would love the scenario but, unfortunately, there are a few snags. For a start, Nick Faldo looks more like Harrison Ford than any of them. Then there is the acutely embarrassing fact that an American has won the Masters only once in seven years and that the foreign challenge this year appears to be stronger than it has ever been.

In addition to the reappearance of those responsible for winning six of the past seven Masters - Sandy Lyle (1988), Faldo ('89 and '90), Ian Woosnam ('91), Bernhard Langer ('93) and Jose Maria Olazabal ('94) - we have Seve Ballesteros ('80 and '83) and Colin Montgomerie, who complete the bulk of the small but threatening European commando, plus Greg Norman, Nick Price, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh, who carry the not inconsiderable menace of the rest of the world.

Unless they have supreme control of their facial muscles, the Augusta National elders who control the Masters do not appear to be patriotically concerned about the origin of the winner. As long as they feel they are placing their fabled green jacket on worthy shoulders, they appear content to have fulfilled their obligations which they sum up thus: "The first consideration is to provide a first-class golf course in as beautiful and nearly perfect condition as effort and money can make it . . . The club's chief objective is to stage a golf show that is enjoyable to all . . . We would also like, if we can, to contribute something to the advancement of the game."

The kicking of foreign ass would be equally high on the list of priorities of many of the 35,000 exclusive patrons of the event who display what I consider to be quite healthy, if noisy, support for their own. This was apparent when Fred Couples interrupted the alien run to much hooting and hollering three years ago. He distanced himself from the noisy chauvinism and maintained he did it for himself and not for America. But Fred is a charming man and much given to an appealing approach to all matters of golf and life.

What he has to realise is that these things matter to the fans and that this is Ryder Cup year. My money would be solidly behind his ability once more to draw from the throats of his countrymen those extra- ordinary noises that once drove cattle on interminable journeys across the plains.

Unfortunately, the brilliant start Couples made to this year, when he invaded the European Tour on its opening weeks and won in Dubai and the Philippines, has not been prolonged because of a recurrence of the back injury that forced him to miss last year's Masters. He has the odd distinction of a massive lead in the European Order of Merit while languishing at 67th in the American. The injury has meant a cut in practice, and he has not been at his best. This doesn't mean that with the Georgian sun on his back he won't rise above such inconveniences but we might have to look elsewhere for stout defenders.

The battle Tom Lehman gave Olazabal last year is still fresh enough in the memory to suggest that the big Minnesotan could challenge even more forcibly this year. In a tournament notoriously unwelcoming to newcomers, his first two outings have astoundingly yielded third and second places and if he can tighten up on the putting that let him down last year he could be a rewarding bet.

Although Olazabal took away the title last year, he was chased home by a posse of Americans. After Lehman came Larry Mize, the local boy who is well capable of winning it for the second time, Tom Kite, Jay Haas, Jim McGovern and Loren Roberts. The last named, second in the US Open last year, has made the most progress since, but any of them could be challenging.

To them must be added the name of Corey Pavin, who shares with Colin Montgomerie the galling title of best player yet to win a major, and has finished in the top dozen in the past three Masters. Last week's Tournament Players' champion Lee Janzen has also found form at the right time. Having won the 1993 US Open, Janzen has a taste for the big titles but his record at Augusta - 30th and 39th in the past two years - is not encouraging. Perhaps more can be said in favour of Payne Stewart, who missed the cut last year and informed the Augusta locker room that he was going to give the game up for a while. He is back now with a freshness that could find an edge this week.

Since Jack Nicklaus won in 1986 at the age of 46, the oldies are not lightly discounted. Nicklaus missed the cut last year but Tom Watson finished 13th and a return to a surer putting stroke would make him a contender. And you can depend on Ray Floyd figuring on the leader board at some time.

Whether this year's hero will be home-bred is a question that quivers in the sight of the foreign legion. Faldo's decision to spend a year on the US Tour has deposited a confident and well- prepared superstar on their doorstep. Of his European colleagues, Langer has moved ominiously close to his best, Olazabal is the better for a foot operation, and Woosnam is hitting up and taking notice again.

With two seconds, a third and a fourth place in his 13 Masters, Greg Norman is well overdue for a green jacket but his form is a touch fragile and it seems that after his failed attempt to set up a World Tour he is putting up some emotional overweight. Nick Price's brilliant performance in winning the last two majors of 1994, The Open and the USPGA, has left open the intriguing question that, if he wins the first two of 1995, will this count as a Grand Slam or should all four be won in the same year?

The Masters, however, has not brought the best out of him. He holds the course record of 63 but that was set in 1986 when he was not in contention and, although he was joint sixth in 1992, he missed the cut in 1993 and tied for 35th place last year.

Compared with the rest, Ernie Els has a fleeting experience of Augusta. He made his debut there last year and finished eighth. But the place suits his game and he has the nature not to be overawed. Els is a member of the four I expect to see in the final charge on the Masters' finishing line. The others are Faldo, Langer and Lehman. That makes the Americans outnumbered, but, judging by the Oscars, unlikely heroes are in vogue in the States these days.