Attack ... Australia's golfers need to take more risks round Augusta. Source:AP
One of Australia's leading coaches says Augusta National has trapped our golfers in a web of unnecessary respect.
Dale Lynch, who has coached five Aussies to US PGA Tour wins, says our stars have fallen victim to playing too defensively around the Masters layout.
The Victorian says the obvious links between the Alister MacKenzie masterpiece and the courses he designed around Melbourne's sandbelt had led many Australian pros to try to play them in the same manner.
"And that's a big mistake," Lynch said as Adam Scott, Jason Day, John Senden and Marc Leishman try to break one of Australian sport's most baffling and painful droughts.
"A lot of our guys grow up playing tournaments around the sandbelt and they learn to play them with a lot of respect because there's almost a set way to play them.
"But Augusta, even though it's a MacKenzie course and you can see the same brilliance in design, is a place where you have to push to make birdies whenever you get the chance.
"You're going to make your share of bogeys around here because there are some seriously tough holes - but that just means you have to cash in when you can."
Lynch, whose charges include Australia's most recent major champion Geoff Ogilvy, said the 2006 US Open winner, who narrowly missed his eighth consecutive Masters start this week, was the perfect example of the philosophy.
"It's a real pity Geoff didn't make it because I think he's really figured out how to contest at Augusta," Lynch said of the Melburnian, who has never finished lower than 39th at the Masters and tied for fourth in 2011.
"He could play to finish in the top 40 and do that every year, no problem. But to win, you've got to be prepared to take the chances that will make you a lot more birdies."
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