The LPGA rules man took a huge step in imposing a genuine penalty to punish the malaise that is the biggest blight on the game.

It came in Sunday's semi-final of the women's Sybase Matchplay Championship between American Morgan Pressel and eventual champion Azahara Munoz.

Brecht's intervention to award a hole to Munoz to punish her tardy opponent undoubtedly influenced the eventual outcome of the match, making it all the more significant.

Monty was giving the most outspoken criticism of the game's failure to deal with slow play on the same day Brecht made his move at the knockout tournament in Gladstone, New Jersey.

Spain's Azahara Munoz won the Sybase Matchplay Championship on Sunday. Photo: Getty

Pressel and Munoz had covered the front nine of their match at a typically pedestrian pace and were duly told they needed to speed up. Two holes later they were put on the clock.

Then Pressel won the 12th with a par to go three up. Brecht's stopwatch showed she had taken two minutes and nine seconds over the three strokes, which was 39 seconds too long.

Before they could tee off at the next he imposed the statutory penalty - loss of hole. There was no final warning and no fine, just a punishment that genuinely hurt.

Instead of being three holes ahead, the US player was only one up and her Spanish opponent was back in a match she went on to win.

Ironically Munoz had been playing the slower golf but Brecht should be congratulated and backed to the hilt for taking action that should serve as a precedent for the rest of the game.

"I would clamp down harder than we have been doing," Montgomerie told me. "There has got to be a deterrent. The only thing we can do is impose shot penalties. We have to stop talking about it and start to action the only proper deterrent.

"The game is getting slower every year. Five hours for a round is the norm and it is ridiculous. There is no excuse for a round of golf taking more than four hours as a three ball."

The 2010 Ryder Cup captain was speaking after being part of a relay team that set a new British record for completing the fastest 18 holes. The team of 10 players managed it in 10 minutes 53 seconds at the Golf Live event at the London Club in Kent.

It was an entertaining gimmick far removed from the competitive game, but there were enough quality shots to show what is possible when players are up against a stopwatch.

And this is relevant to the most revealing aspect of the Pressel controversy which came in Munoz's response. "She lost the hole because she was slow, I wasn't," said the Spanish Solheim Cup star. "I was slow before, but not when the clock was on."

This reveals the heart of the problem. Players have two paces of play, one that is snail-like and then a faster version for when they are being timed.

How about we just stick to the speedier mode?

For that to happen players have to be clocked from the start of their rounds, meaning referees would be required for every group. It would be a radical step but when it was put to Montgomerie he agreed that it needs to be taken.

"I would advocate that entirely. On the clock from the word go, so that we don't get to the stage where the last group is taking an hour longer than the first group," the veteran Scot said.

"Why wait until there is a problem and then put them on the clock?"

Whenever I have suggested such a move to Tour officials they have baulked at the cost of potentially employing more than 50 referees. This point was put to Montgomerie and he swiftly interrupted.

He added: "Can we afford to lose sponsors? Can we afford to lose television viewers? Can we afford to lose radio listeners? No we can't. A referee would be cheaper than losing a sponsor."

The eight-times Order of Merit winner even agreed that the extra officials should be funded effectively from a prize money levy by taking a slice off the winner's cheque to finance the scheme.

"Why not? It would encourage faster play. Any business, and this is a business, has to be proactive. If you are reactive you are too late," Montgomerie said.

This week's BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth is unique among full-field regular European Tour events because there is a one-tee start. All 156 competitors begin on the first hole which means those off last will be finishing at dusk. The same applies at the Open Championship.

Year on year those rounds seem to finish in darker conditions because they are taking longer and longer, damaging what should be fantastic spectacles.

Action needs to be taken. They daren't be as radical as Monty is suggesting, but at least Doug Brecht has had the courage to take a mighty step that, if supported by the game's bosses, will surely concentrate a few of the slower minds in the game.

But there is no doubt that the 62-year-old American likes what he sees from his country's most exciting young golfing talent, Rickie Fowler.

Just to be clear - it's this blog, not Watson, that is making no apology for pinning that hyperbolic tag on the wide peak of Fowler's trademark cap.

Veteran eight-time major champion Watson is too circumspect to go down that route, even after a fortnight that surely signalled the 23-year-old's coming of age on the PGA Tour.

Fowler has been tipped as one of the stars of the PGA Tour for many years to come. Photo: Getty     

Matt Kuchar may have claimed the flagship Players Championship in fine style but the past couple of weeks have belonged to Fowler. He followed up his maiden Tour victory at Quail Hollow with an inspired share of second place at Sawgrass.

They were performances to suggest he's firmly on course to satisfy huge levels of expectation that have been with him throughout his fledgling professional career.

"He has confirmed he can win and that is very important," Watson told me. "Once you have that first win it shows you that you can win again.

"They were starting to ask questions about him, but I saw at Royal St George's at the Open last year that Rickie is a real talent. He showed it there and he can win more tournaments."

Those questions were surfacing because it took Fowler 68 attempts to land his first PGA Tour victory. After all, he was the stellar amateur who could boast a 7-1 winning record from two Walker Cups. He then turned pro in 2009 and contested a play-off in only his second appearance on Tour.

Indeed, Fowler had three runners-up finishes to his name inside his first nine months as a touring pro. On that basis 68 tournaments to land your first victory is rather pedestrian and it's why there was growing concern Stateside that he might not be quite the real deal.

Anyone who, like Watson, saw the Californian at Sandwich would have been less worried. I count myself lucky to have walked all eighteen holes with Fowler in the worst of the Open's third round weather.

Rugged up in a brilliant white waterproof suit, his chin tucked beneath its collar for protection from the vile elements, the then 22-year-old completely outplayed Rory McIlroy with a stunning round of 68.

It remains one of the finest rounds of golf I have ever witnessed and it helped Fowler to a share of fifth place, his best finish in a major to date.

The quality of his shot-making and composure was something to behold and so it was not a huge surprise that he should pop up to beat McIlroy and DA Points in the Quail Hollow play-off just over a week ago.

"Ever since he was a 15-year-old, everyone said he acted more like a 25-year-old," said Fowler's father Rod.

Much of the golfing media has already heralded the start of a Fowler/McIlroy rivalry but like Watson we should be more circumspect than that at this stage.

Fowler, who beat McIlroy to win last year's Korean Open, certainly is not looking to fuel such talk. His observations show the maturity of which his dad was speaking. "I definitely think Rory and I have a friendly rivalry," he said.

"We've played against each other a few times starting at the Walker Cup. I respect his game and I feel like he respects mine. I know he wants to beat me just as bad as I want to beat him.

"But I think that both him and I would have to kind of run away and play really well for it to be just a rivalry between the two of us. There's a lot of really good young players right now."

According to Ian Poulter, who marked Fowler's card in a brilliant third-round 66 at a breezy Sawgrass, the American is not yet as good a player as McIlroy, but there is no doubting he is seriously good news for the US game.

He has a fantastic rapport with an ever-growing army of fans and has shown considerable class dealing with them and fellow pros. Fowler hung around to support compatriot Bubba Watson in his play-off win at the Masters and waited in the recorders' area to congratulate Kuchar at the Players Championship.

Ryder Cup teams can be built around such generous spirit and Fowler has already shown his appetite for the biennial clash with Europe in his debut at Celtic Manor two years ago. There he came from three down with three to play to snatch a vital half against Edoardo Molinari.

"We have a lot of exciting young American talent in the game at the moment," added Watson, who will be returning to Turnberry for July's British Seniors Open.

"Rickie Fowler has shown it with his performances over the last fortnight and there are plenty of others, like Hunter Mahan as well. I really hope this can help us in this year's Ryder Cup match."

There must be every chance when we get to Medinah in September. Fowler has been the star turn in the last spell of tournaments but Kuchar's win along with those enjoyed in recent weeks by Jason Dufner, Ben Curtis, Mahan, Tiger Woods and Bubba Watson indicate the American game is in great health.

Even Tom Watson is prepared to say as much.

The Scot broke an American stranglehold on the PGA Tour's flagship event and that grip has completely disintegrated in recent years. Twelve months ago, Korea's KJ Choi became the event's fourth successive non-US winner.

In the past decade only Davis Love III, Phil Mickelson and Fred Funk have provided cause for the Stars and Stripes flag to be raised over the Tour's Sawgrass headquarters, where play in the 2012 tournament begins on Thursday.

Lyle's stunning victory in the tournament, which back in 1987 was still called the Tournament Players' Championship, carried huge significance as it offered proof that non-Americans could prosper in Uncle Sam's backyard.

And no-one was more surprised than the champion himself.

"I was amazed because I couldn't see how that layout could suit my game. It is just relentless and by that I mean relentless trouble, with water everywhere."

Sandy Lyle won the Open Championship in 1985 and Masters in 1988. Photo: Getty

Lyle won his title by beating Jeff Sluman at the third extra hole of a play-off.

After halving the par-five 16th, the diminutive American had a chance from five feet to secure victory on the famous island green 17th. But Sluman's concentration was broken as he settled over his putt when a drunken fan dived into the water and his chance disappeared amid the ensuing commotion.

The play-off moved on to the 18th where Lyle, the 1985 Open and 1988 Masters champion, endured one of the most nerve-wracking moments of his career.

"People always think that bunker shot at the 72nd hole at Augusta was my toughest moment," Lyle told me. "But the one that really gave me the heebie-jeebies was the third extra hole to win the Players.

"It was the 18th with all that water down the left and it was pitch dark. I could hardly see the green - it was hard enough to make out the ball at my feet and I had no depth perception.

"There was so much riding on it, with so much money at stake and a 10-year exemption on the PGA Tour."

Somehow his 190-yard five iron found the edge of the green and Lyle was able to make the par that allowed him to bank a $180,000 (£110,000) first prize and acquire playing privileges that allowed him to compete on both sides of the Atlantic.

That golfing dual nationality was then a rare opportunity and it was the exploits in those times of the likes of Lyle, Sir Nick Faldo, Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros that paved the way for today's plethora of US-based overseas stars.

And it was only right that Lyle's place at the heart of the generation that inspired this shift was recognised by his induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame on Monday.

"To have the standard of my golf when I was at my best recognised in this way is by far the most important thing," he said.

"I know that those who vote for the Hall of Fame are scattered all over the world so it's a big boost to your confidence. I'd been on the shortlist for a few years and, like the Ryder Cup captaincy that didn't happen, I thought I might have been overlooked.

"This recognition should help hugely with getting into Champions Tour events. I'll have a lot better chance of exemptions, it's a bit like when you get a gold credit card."

Lyle added: "I expect to play more US events, but I will be back in Britain for the Scottish Open, Open and Seniors Open in the summer."

In the meantime, he will be an interested spectator this week as Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy lead the charge to become the first UK golfers to emulate Lyle's 1987 Sawgrass triumph.

"It was my biggest win by a long way outside my majors - and I had a lot of good wins. I particularly remember beating Fred Couples in a play-off at the Phoenix Open when all the support was for him and he was up against little old me," Lyle recalled.

"Somehow I managed to pull it off."

In those days, UK wins on the PGA Tour were scarce but now thanks to Donald, McIlroy, Westwood and Justin Rose they are much more commonplace.

Of that quartet only McIlroy has a major victory and, were any of them to celebrate winning this week, they would have the next best thing to their name.

Some call The Players' "the fifth major" and Lyle has sympathy with the argument.

"When I was asked in my press conference after I won what was the difference between the Players' and the majors, I instantly said 125 years," he said.

"But there's no reason now why it shouldn't be thought of as a major. All the top players are there - it's getting its history and it's on the same tough golf course every year.

"Of course past champions like me or a Tom Kite would want to call it a major, but it's not for us to say," he added.

And that sums up Sandy Lyle. He may now be a Hall of Famer but he remains as self-effacing as ever.

His pioneering win of 25 years ago, though, should not be forgotten - particularly this week and especially if the run of overseas champions continues.

The reigning US Open champion tells us he plays his best golf when at his freshest and certainly there can be no excuse for golf fatigue as he heads into the meat of the 2012 season.

Those four rounds came at last month's Masters, where McIlroy's highly promising halfway position was squandered over a miserable weekend that left him tied for 40th place.

Just as he had done a year earlier, the Northern Ireland youngster had played sparingly before heading to Augusta. There was no competitive golf after the WGC event at Doral in early March.

McIlroy moved to the top of the world rankings after winning the Honda Classic in March. Photo: Getty

The fact that he wasn't ready to win a major then was nothing to do with the schedule he was following.

Perhaps, though, this year's version of McIlroy was undercooked heading into the first major of the year. Certainly there was something missing when he was looking to build on promising opening rounds of 71 and 69. He followed them with scores of 77 and 76.

On a course where a lack of precision is usually brutally exposed there is little room for rustiness and this may have been the root cause behind such a disappointing Masters challenge.

McIlroy's light early season schedule has been tailored to make sure there is plenty in the tank for a more hectic remainder of the year.

His results, though, suggest that he benefits from playing consecutive weeks. In early March when he won the Honda Classic, McIlroy had reached the final of the WGC Matchplay just seven days earlier.

And his victory at the Hong Kong Open at the end of last year came the week after playing for Ireland in the World Cup.

So this week it is perhaps prudent not to expect the kind of fireworks at Quail Hollow we witnessed two years ago when he fired a closing 62 to win by four strokes and land his maiden PGA Tour title.

His recent winning history suggests a sustained title challenge is more likely to materialise the following week at the prestigious Players' Championship.

By then any rust should have been shed in Charlotte - something which will be important when it comes to taking on the world's best on the demanding and unforgiving TPC Stadium course at Sawgrass.

McIlroy's sparse 2012 calendar so far has caused some to question his appetite for competitive golf. Reference was made in comments on this blog last week and others find it hard to fathom an apparent lack of desire to play more regularly.

But it is more that he hates to feel stale and jaded on the course. Furthermore the youngster, who turns 23 on Friday, has already reached a stage where he has the financial independence and clout to be independently selective of his events.

McIlroy's schedule building up to his US Open defence in June looks spot on. After the Players' he has a week's break before the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Another week off is followed by Jack Nicklaus's Memorial event and then a clear week to hone his game for the second major of the year.

But he will only play the Irish Open between the US Open and the Open Championship which starts on 19 July. This gives McIlroy a full fortnight off before teeing it up at Royal Lytham. It is a risky strategy that potentially leaves him short of competitive edge ahead of the grandest major of all.

The PGA Championship is the only one of the big four competitions where he will play the week before, but this applies to all the leading contenders because the "warm-up" tournament is the World Golf Championships Invitational in Akron.

Different players have varying approaches to scheduling. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are very much in the selective McIlroy mould.

So is Luke Donald, who like the man he has just displaced as world number one, has the added pressure of fulfilling the minimum tournament requirements of the PGA and European Tours.

In his pomp, Padraig Harrington was convinced he played his best golf in the third week of a run of three tournaments while Colin Montgomerie simply wanted to play himself into form by competing week in, week out.

It is all about finding what works best and McIlroy is pretty close to the correct formula. His results suggest as much, but I wonder if he may end up considering fewer lengthy pre-major breaks in the seasons to come.

Along with the inevitable riches that have accompanied his recent victory at the Masters, the major title holder tag also brings prestige, respect and scrutiny.

Watson has already tasted heightened attention by completing an exhaustive post-Augusta tour of the US chat show circuit. He wowed the audiences with homely explanations of "Bubba Golf" and its inherent hallmarks of fun and creativity.

It is time now for his unique game to come under the public gaze like never before and the fascinating thing about Watson is he will shoulder that burden all on his own.

Bubba Watson's unorthodox style could inspire a generation of golfers. Photo: Getty

This is not a case of swapping time with Letterman for Leadbetter for the unorthodox left-hander from Florida.

Indeed, Watson looked more comfortable in the television environs than he ever would on a range taking tutelage from the likes of top coaches David Leadbetter, Butch Harmon or Sean Foley.

Famously Watson claims never to have had a golf lesson in his life, yet now he is a major champion.

How is this possible? All we are ever told is that we must, at the very least, be taught the fundamentals of the game to have any hope of any level of competence.

One leading coach is not at all surprised by Watson's success and the way it has been achieved. "Bubba is king," smiles Kendal McWade, the free-thinking Scot who is England Golf's head man in the North.

"He is living proof that human beings are capable of astonishing levels of learning and problem solving without coaching," McWade told BBC Sport.

"All Bubba has done is apply that innate ability to the game of golf."

McWade believes the fundamentals of golf are not to be found in the conventional wisdom of orthodox grip, alignment and stance. Rather it comes down to the simple physics of what the club head can do to the ball at impact.

"Watson has taken the game back to its very essence and the basic rules of how you apply the golf club. He has explored this and looked at the outcomes. If he swings it one way the ball will go that way, if he swings it another it will fly in a different way," McWade explained.

Through a life of golfing self discovery Watson has found he is able to move the ball sideways and on different trajectories at will.

It was this strength that ultimately won him his green jacket with his outrageous hook from the trees at the second play-off hole against Louis Oosthuizen.

You would struggle to find that shot in any coaching manual; it was achieved through learning by experiment on the range. "I bet he moves the ball even more dramatically in practice when he wants to," McWade said.

"He is so in tune with the club and that's the essence of the game of golf. To the absolute limit he has explored every club in the bag.

"There is an incredible freedom created by not trying to do it right by the text book. And there's definitely a freedom in moving the ball a long way.

"It takes the pressure off massively compared with the accepted desire to hit soft fades, soft draws or even the holy grail of the dead straight shot."

Long before Watson was modeling a green jacket McWade was challenging England's top juniors in the North to take on "the Bubba shot" in their practice sessions. The idea is to prompt these talented youngsters to explore the limits of a golf club's capabilities.

"Bubba is everything I would like to see in a player. He is independent, not coach dependent. After a bad game Lionel Messi wouldn't go and seek a kicking coach to sort him out, he works it out for himself," said McWade.

"Most golfers seek out a coach to tell them where they are going wrong. Bubba is proving the guy with the answers is himself."

Watson's approach is certainly thought provoking, especially when we saw a player of Tiger Woods's immense golfing ability apparently so bogged down in technical issues struggling so badly in the Masters.

Interestingly, Woods's former coach Harmon has suggested a course of action not far removed from the Watson/McWade philosophy. "I'd tell him to go out on the range without anybody," Harmon said.

"Start hitting some golf shots. Hit some high draws, some low draws, high fades, low fades, move the ball up and down, move it around; don't worry about how you do it and go back to feeling it again.

"Quit playing golf-swing and just hit shots," Harmon went on. "He's Tiger Woods for God's sake. He doesn't know how to hit a shot?"

It is a fair point and Watson provides ample evidence to validate this line of thinking.

As he embarks on the start of the rest of his career, we are left to wonder what will be the impact of "Bubba Golf" on the way the rest of us approach the game.

The winner departed the Augusta National with no need to break into his prize money to pay a coach because, famously, Bubba Watson claims never to have received a golf lesson.

"My caddie has always called it Bubba golf," Watson explained. "I just play the game, the game that I love."And truthfully, it's like the game that Seve played. He hit shots that were unbelievable. Phil Mickelson hits the shot, he goes for it.

"He goes for broke and that's why he wins so many times," Watson added explaining the philosophy that enabled him to hook a wedge 40 yards right from the trees to win the second sudden death hole against Louis Oosthuizen.

The American left hander's philosophy goes against the more scientific approach so many of the leading professionals follow.

Bubba Watson is awarded the green jacket by Charl Schwartzel after his one-stroke play-off victory. Photo: Getty

Each to their own, of course, but when you think world number one Luke Donald has a coach in Dave Alred who specialises in teaching his pupils how to practice - never mind play - and you can see the other end of the spectrum.

Donald was part of a disappointing UK brigade that failed to live up to the pre-tournament hype their early season form had warranted. He, along with the number two in the rankings Rory McIlroy, had a Masters to forget.

The Englishman will wonder what more he has to do to ensure he peaks for the majors because he has yet to find a way to make "Donald Golf" capable of challenging for the game's biggest prizes.

McIllroy's policy of taking three weeks off beforehand also looks questionable. Yes it worked last year because he made a flying start to the Masters but he looked rusty when he tried it again for the 2011 Open.

The 22-year-old was firmly in contention at the halfway stage at Augusta but his third round capitulation suggested something was lacking in his preparation and that may have been too little competitive golf in the run-up to the year's first major.

But the home player who intrigues more than any other is Lee Westwood. Yet another top three major finish shows that he can compete as well as anyone but he left the Masters probably more frustrated than any other player taking part.

If he could have putted even reasonably well he would have won the tournament by a street. He finished tied third only two strokes out of the play-off yet there were only three other players who took more putts than the Englishman over the full 72 holes.

"The story of the week is you have got to putt well to win the Masters and I haven't putted well," Westwood said after coming home in 32 for a closing round of 68.

Of course he is correct, but only to an extent. The danger Westwood faces going forward is the fear that only excellent putting can win you a major, thereby loading yet more pressure on the most fallible part of his game.

If he goes down that path, it could finish his chances of ever lifting a major and there is no need for him to think in that way.

Different players have different strengths and his lies in his golf from tee to green. That's where he beats the field and it means that actually pretty ordinary putting can suffice.

At the 2012 Masters he had four three-putts. During the third round he missed from 14 inches on the ninth green and in the final round he missed from two feet at the third.

Eliminating those two errors would have put him in the play-off. That's not turning yourself into the boss of the moss, it's not acquiring a Donald-like touch that is beyond your talent level, it is doing something that is certainly within Westwood's compass.

He hit 58 out of 72 greens in regulation - only Matt Kuchar matched the European Ryder Cup star in this regard. So Westwood has to play to his strengths and accept that a fair proportion of the birdie chances he creates will miss.

Instead of letting himself think that his opponents are all sinking such chances (they aren't) and allowing his confidence to be undermined, he needs to take a different approach.

He has to believe that his strengths are good enough. I suspect that if he can do that, the silly misses that killed him at Augusta would be eliminated.

Certainly his assets are best suited to the US Open and Jay Townsend tipped him on BBC Radio Five live for success at the next major at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

I agree because, even though the Englishman was the most disappointed figure leaving the Masters, he has to believe that "Westwood Golf" is good enough to win a major. If he does, he can end his wait at the 57th attempt.

Don't bank on it, though. Predicting major winners in recent times has been a hazardous business. The players commanding the shortest odds have invariably been eclipsed by rank outsiders.

It is almost as though the weight of expectation has become an unbearable burden for those attracting favouritism.

Put it this way: if you had an accumulator with the names of Keegan Bradley, Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy and Charl Schwartzel as the winners of the four most recent majors, the drinks would be on you for quite some time.

All four were surprise winners last year, McIlroy included when you consider his US Open win came in his first major after capitulating in the final round at Augusta.

In fact, you have to go back to the Masters of two years ago for a major in which one of the genuinely fancied contenders went on to take the spoils. That was when Phil Mickelson won the right to don the green jacket for a third time.

World number one Luke Donald is still waiting to win his first major. Photo: Getty

Of course, this volatile period has coincided with the Tiger Woods wilderness years. It is testament to the former world number one that so many of his major victories have been achieved when he has been expected to win.

Just ask the likes of Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott how difficult it is to win one of the big ones, especially when the headlines suggest it is your turn.

Pressure comes in various guises. Media chatter can fuel expectation but the bigger burden surely comes from within. Donald and Westwood know that majors should be within their compass when they have risen to world number one status.

To have reached the pinnacle of the rankings they have, by definition, hit the shots to deliver top results more consistently than anyone else.

This magnifies the sense that their careers will be incomplete if they can't triumph in at least one of the four most important weeks of the year. It does not make their task any easier.

So now we have arrived at the first of those big weeks in 2012. Donald won in his last outing (at the Transitions tournament just over a fortnight ago), so did McIlroy (at the Honda Classic) and, of course, Woods has headed to Augusta off the back his victory at Bay Hill.

That is why it is such a mouthwatering Masters. Throw into the mix Mickelson's fine form, Justin Rose reaching a new level with his WGC victory at Doral and McDowell returning to somewhere near his best at Bay Hill, and this week at Augusta becomes even more enticing.

Woods and McIlroy are justifiable favourites. Woods because he is Tiger Woods, because he has just won and because this is the Masters; McIlroy because he has amply demonstrated he can score round Augusta and is now a proven major winner.

Naturally the headlines and the hype will be dominated by the prospect of a shoot-out between these two. But this means the other big names can live below the radar, and for that they won't be complaining.

Which prompts the question: is it possible for world number one to cause an upset by winning a major? The answer is no because it shouldn't be a surprise to see Donald having a green jacket slipped onto his shoulders this Sunday.

Ever since the Englishman dumped his ball in the water on the 12th in his final round here at Augusta last year, he has barely put a foot wrong.

That error, on that most treacherous of par threes, effectively did for his chances in the 2011 Masters.

Since then, he has beaten Westwood in a play-off at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth to go to the top of the rankings, won at Disney to claim the US money list and won again a fortnight ago to reclaim top spot from McIlroy.

All were wins completed under major-like pressure. His approach play has pinpoint accuracy, he is peerless out of bunkers, a magnificent wedge player and the best putter on the planet. These are crucial attributes at Augusta.

Defending champion Schwartzel has an interesting take on what's needed to win a Masters. "You really need to think your way around and play conservatively," says the South African.

"Don't force it too much or it will catch you."

Donald was guilty of impatience at last year's US Open and at the Open at Sandwich, where he missed the cut. It's hard to believe he has not learned important lessons from those failures.

To some it might come as a shock if Donald claims his first major this week, but I'm in the camp who won't be surprised if the world number one shoulders his own burden of expectation to end golf's current era of unpredictability.

After his first PGA Tour victory in 30 months, Tiger Woods is once again golf's big hit. His five-shot win at Bay Hill was his first proper Tour win since his career was turned upside down by revelations about his private life.

This victory came at the start of a week in which the book written by his former coach Hank Haney is published. "The Big Miss" is the most revealing account yet of Woods' life.

But the former world number one has spiked its guns with his dramatic return to winning ways. America loves a story of redemption and Woods has ensured that now the talk will be of his golf more than the revelations contained in Haney's book.

Of course there are no guarantees. In 2009, as he unwittingly headed towards the car crash that prompted his private life being laid bare, Woods won in each of his last appearances before majors and on all four occasions failed to go on to add to his tally of grand slam titles.

Tiger Woods held off Graeme McDowell to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Photo: Getty

But walking the fairways with the newly installed world number six was a rare privilege last week. To see and hear the quality of his ball striking was to witness something very special.

From the tee he was imperious, relentlessly finding fairways and not sacrificing length in the process. From being one of the most erratic drivers on tour he has become one of the most reliable.

Woods's approach play was less spectacular. He found greens rather than pins, and it will need to be more precise at Augusta, but his putting grew progressively more reliable as the tournament went on.

Admittedly the top five players in the world skipped the Arnold Palmer Invitational but this was still a full-field event and the win is way more significant than his victory at his own limited-field event at the end of last year.

Woods will relish the fact that it is his golf rather than Haney's book that is the talking point heading towards the first major of the year.

He is entitled to feel that way because confidences were betrayed by his former coach in making so much of Woods's life public property. Haney admits that he knew Woods would be the last tour player he would teach and, by writing this book, he has ensured that will be the case.

It does not take away from the fact that the coach has composed a compelling read about a character who has never failed to fascinate the sporting public. For golf fans there are extraordinary insights into how Haney went about teaching the greatest golfing talent the game has ever known.

There are also anecdotes aplenty that portray a figure beset by social inadequacy. They are largely told within context which is something that was lost when advanced extracts of the book were published in various outlets.

Haney describes Woods's obsession with the military, his love of war-based video games and the tumultuous period in early 2010 when the 14-time major champion went into rehab for treatment for sex addiction.

But essentially it is a golf book and I suspect Woods will be more upset at the revealing of his trade secrets than anything else.

For me one of the most interesting revelations was when Haney detailed Woods reaction after winning for the first time under his tutelage. Haney notes that his player's then wife Elin said to her husband: "We have to celebrate. What should we do?"

Elin told Woods that in her time working as Jesper Parnevik's nanny there would always be a party to celebrate a victory for the Swede. Haney writes: 'Tiger slows down and looks at his wife. Gently but firmly he says, "E, that's not what we do. I'm not Jesper. We're supposed to win."'

I wonder whether Woods feels the same about his seventh Bay Hill victory? After all that has happened it was anything but a routine triumph and surely worthy of celebration somewhere in his still extraordinary private life.

Haney says that breaking Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 major victories is "now a tall order." He also says for it to happen Woods must win at least one major in 2012.

Having successfully shrugged off his latest Achilles tendon injury with eight rounds of golf in eight days, and capping that period with such an emphatic victory, Woods is entitled to feel winning more majors is firmly within his compass.

When he arrives at Augusta next week the 36-year-old knows the primary candidates he will have to beat. US Open champion Rory McIlroy and world number one Luke Donald head the list of those who have to be conquered.

All are in magnificent form which suggests the 2012 Masters will prove a vintage tournament. It has the potential to deliver a script more interesting than the one arriving on the bookshelves this week.

The opening day of the Tavistock Cup at Lake Nona, an event exclusive to golf's Floridian gated communities, marked the start of a gruelling week for Tiger Woods.

It was only eight days since he had hobbled out of the WGC Championship, when overhead cameras dramatically charted his drive away from Doral.

Now it is time to prove the diagnosis of a 'mild' left Achilles strain was accurate and that Woods has fully recovered in time to make sure he is in perfect shape for the Masters.

Ernie Els needs a top-two finish at Bay Hill to extend his run of Masters appearances to 19. Photo: Getty

He came through his initial 18 holes at the Tavistock Cup unscathed. It was the first round of an exhaustive fitness test because by Sunday night he will hope to have completed 126 holes of golf.

Once the lucrative exercise of making the super-rich even more wealthy is completed at Lake Nona, Woods will head to Bay Hill for the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The fourteen times major champion will play the Wednesday pro-am and then hope to complete all four rounds in his last competitive action before the first major of the year. Assuming he makes the cut he will play seven rounds in seven days.

Certainly the signs are encouraging so far and Woods seems to have reaped the rewards of a prudent withdrawal after 11 holes of his final round at Doral.

"I've done it before and played through not just pain, but injury and set myself back quite a bit," he admitted.

"That's what I did last year and missed two major championships because of it. I want to be ready for Augusta."

If there is any enduring concern it is that Woods' latest injury setback occurred doing nothing more than playing golf.

This was also the case a year ago when he hurt his left knee at the Masters, rushed back for the Players' Championship and ended up missing the US Open and Open.

That's what makes this extended week of competitive golf so valuable for the former world number one. If he comes through it unscathed he will be ideally placed for a week honing his skills ahead of Augusta.

And at least he can prepare in the certainty of his Masters eligibility. As a former champion it is there for life but the same privilege doesn't exist for a two-times runner-up like Ernie Els.

The famous Green Jacket has never sat on the broad shoulders of the South African and now he is in acute danger of not even making the journey to the first major of the year.

Currently ranked 62nd in the world, the three times major winner is likely to need a top two finish here at Bay Hill this week to make it into the world's top 50 in time to clinch Masters eligibility.

Els has played 18 consecutive Augusta tournaments and there have been calls for him to receive a special invitation to compete.

Traditionally the Augusta National has extended invitations to overseas players but that was a process that began before the official world rankings offered a barometer of a golfer's standing.

Greg Norman was invited for the 2002 event but his standing as the ultimate Augusta nearly man was far greater than Els, even though he was runner up in 2000 and 2004 in a period when he never finished outside the top six.

As a fully active American-based PGA Tour player Els is not short of routes into the Masters field. The fact that he has been unable to find one so far tells its own story.

The South African's errant putting down the stretch at last week's Transitions Championship cost him the chance of the win that would have had him Augusta-bound.

A stroke clear with two to play, Els didn't make the play-off won by Luke Donald in the Englishman's last competitive outing before the Masters.

Donald, who has gone back to the top of the world rankings, can complete his Masters preparations full of confidence and so can the man he deposed as world number one, Rory McIlroy.

The WGC event in Miami earlier this month was the Northern Ireland youngster's final outing before the Masters and he likes plenty of downtime before competing for a major title.

There is no such luxury for Woods, who hopes he will feel in similar mood come the end of this exhausting week.

Requiring rather more optimism, so does Els. If he can bounce back and earn the required finish at Bay Hill, the one they call the Big Easy will be well worth his place in the Augusta field.

In contrast, Tiger Woods is left fretting and fearing after yet another injury setback.

The difference in fortunes heading towards the Masters could not be greater.

Rose can go into the year's first major with sky-high confidence after his first World Golf Championships victory in Miami on Sunday. Woods, meanwhile, is hobbling, his promising start to the year well and truly undermined by his latest Achilles injury.

Fitness is such a key component. The world's top three, Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood have reaped the benefits of punishing gym regimes. And add to that list the winner at Doral.

His talent has never been in doubt but, too often, periods of fine form have been hampered by his longstanding back condition. Those days now appear to be behind the 31-year-old Englishman.

A final round two-under 70 was enough for Rose to win his fourth USPGA Tour win in Florida by a shot from Bubba Watson. Photo: Getty

"His confidence has been really high for quite some time," Rose's manager Marcus Day told BBC Sport. "It's a combination of hard work, putting better and a change to his set-up which has helped to eliminate his back problems."

This injury-preventing alteration has been supervised by coach Sean Foley who, ironically, seems to have been unable to do something similar for Woods, another of his pupils, who limped out of Doral with that problem in his left Achilles.

"Justin's set-up at the ball is very different," added Day, who also praised the work Rose has done with his Weybridge-based strengthening and conditioning coach Justin Buckthorp.

"He's had to work at it and put in the hours at the gym and he does an awful lot of stretching too," said Day.

Winning a WGC is a massive breakthrough for Rose, who in majors has still to better his fourth place finish at the 1998 Open when he was a 17-year-old amateur.

"There was a spell where I felt that I was competing nicely in the majors," said Rose. "In 2007, I had four Top 12 finishes and I had a good run at the Masters. I was one back on the 71st hole."

He finished fifth on that occasion but now he feels genuinely ready to challenge for the game's biggest prizes.

"I like the tougher tests, to be honest with you," said the Florida-based Englishman. "Hopefully I can back up that thought process this year.

"I'm getting old," smiled Rose. "I'm 31 now. I've learned the hard way a little bit.

" I've certainly had my chances in the past, as well. It's kind of nice to get a little bit of momentum and confidence going.

"I think it's probably a confidence thing. When I do get into contention now, I believe I can go ahead and close it out."

Like McIlroy and Donald, Rose seems to have learned the art of winning. This was his fourth victory in the last 20 months and, in showing a growing maturity when in contention for titles, he will travel to Augusta as a genuine Masters contender.

"Maybe you desensitise a little bit to the pressure," says Rose. "To the cameras, to the crowd and you get more comfortable.

"I think that's why guys like Tiger and Phil Mickelson are so good down the stretch and under pressure because they have done it so often."

But Woods is still struggling to recapture that killer instinct, having not won a counting Tour event since 2009.

Furthermore, once again, his concerns now are again more physical than mental.

Limping away from Miami was a huge blow to the former world number one. It shows that frailty in his left leg persists and it threatens the encouraging swing work he has been doing with Foley.

Woods missed the Open and US Open after injuring his left knee at last year's Masters and now another all too brief period of apparent full fitness has ended.

Woods was the inspiration behind the gym regimes of so many top players. Today professional golfers have never been stronger and the example set by the 14-times major champion is one of the primary reasons.

It is an extreme irony and desperately sad that a lack of fitness has so undermined Woods' career in recent years and continues so to do.

Rose, meanwhile, is the latest to offer proof that, when the body is strong, there is a much improved chance that the mind will be as well.

Very few players make it to the top of the rankings. McIlroy is only the 16th in the 24 years that golfing status has been officially measured.

In the short term there may be occasions when he will be toppled from top spot because of the congested nature of the rankings, but aged just 22 he seems destined to spend many weeks as golf's top man.

The youngster from Northern Ireland fulfilled his childhood dream just seven days after missing his first chance of hitting golf's summit. That tells you all you need to know about his star quality and competitive instincts.

Woods proved he wants to reclaim his number one status with his inspired 62. To do that, though, he will need to win majors for the first time since 2008 and show a McIlroy-like level of consistency.

McIlroy is the third player from the UK to reach number one in the last 18 months. Photo: Getty

Victory in the Honda Classic has capped an astonishing run. The European Ryder Cup star has played 11 tournaments since finishing 64th, when plagued by a self-inflicted wrist injury, at last August's PGA Championship.

In that time McIlroy has won twice, finished second four times, third twice and only once finished outside the top five. That was when he was eleventh at the Dubai World Championship while suffering from Dengue Fever.

He must now be regarded as a short-odds favourite for next month's Masters, an event he led by four strokes heading into last year's tumultuous final round. The US Open Champion is a completely different player to the one who blew it on the back nine at Augusta 11 months ago.

Indeed, McIlroy has impressed at every stage of his career. "He's going to win a lot of majors," Jack Nicklaus told us last week. "What a nice player."

Commentating on NBC, Johnny Miller told American golf fans: "The freedom of his swing is what is so impressive. He's like a young Seve in the way that he plays."

At the other end of the experience spectrum, Tour newcomer Harris English offered an insight into how McIlroy is regarded by his peers. "I've watched him play the last couple of years. He's got a great game," the American youngster said.

"I think he's the best player in the world right now, hands down. He's very impressive."

Just as striking as the quality of McIlroy's golf is the way he has accelerated through a dramatic learning curve to develop into a player mature beyond his years.

"It's not just the golf you have to deal with," said the player, who turns 23 on 4 May. "It's everything that goes on the outside of that. It's something I feel I'm a lot more comfortable with."

Those off-course demands are going to multiply given his new status as the world's best player. More television cameras and microphones will chase his every move, sponsors will be wanting a piece of him too and will offer big bucks for the privilege.

It represents a huge challenge for his new Dublin-based management company. They have the experience of impressively handling Graeme McDowell's shock 2010 US Open win - but this scenario is a much bigger deal.

Succeeding McDowell as US Open Champion in such spectacular style last June changed McIlroy's life forever. No longer could the hometown boy with the local girlfriend regularly visit Belfast's nightspots with his mates.

Initially he struggled to handle the new pressures and was dogged by controversy throughout last summer.

He brusquely suggested he wouldn't change his game to try to win an Open after disappointing in the wind and rain of Sandwich.

He rowed on Twitter with Jay Townsend in defence of his caddie and took on a ridiculously dangerous shot early in his first round of the PGA that led to the injury that undermined his challenge in the final major of 2011.

McIlroy split with his longtime girlfriend Holly Sweeney and started dating top tennis star Caroline Wozniacki. Then came the split from the Chubby Chandler ISM agency that had nurtured his career since turning pro in 2007.

As Greg Norman acknowledged last week, linking up with Wozniacki has hugely benefitted McIlroy's career.

It has helped reinforce a desire to be as tough a competitor as possible and boost fitness levels to make him a genuine athlete. From being somewhat loose-limbed and chubby faced, McIlroy's look and build is now more akin to an international scrum-half.

A few weeks ago he admitted that he has become addicted to his gym work, which is in stark contrast to his teenage years when he saw no need to go anywhere near a dumbbell.

His punishing fitness regime has undoubtedly helped make him a better and more resilient golfer. He is now taking his first steps in fulfilling a youthful promise that suggested he could become golf's next dominant force and his Honda Classic win can only embolden him.

Now he has acquired a game that can triumph whatever the weather. He had to contend with tricky winds throughout the weekend in West Palm Beach.

Just as impressive, he has learned the art of winning even when the swing is out of synch.

In the final round at PGA National, he holed pressure putt after pressure putt in the knowledge that the world number one ranking was on the line. It was also done amid the hullaballoo of Woods firing a 62 to snatch the clubhouse lead.

Responding as he did was the hallmark of a player worthy of topping the world rankings. McIlroy is the third player in a row from the United Kingdom to stand at the summit of the game.

For Lee Westwood and then Luke Donald, making it to number one is a thoroughly deserved and a colossal achievement. Despite what some critics contend, these standings are an accurate reflection of the world.

But McIlroy's accession feels different. Four and a half years ago he was 876 in the world, fourteen months later he was into the top fifty. By 2009 he had made it to the top ten and now ruthlessly he has snatched top spot.

Only 14-time major champion Woods did it at a younger age and that precipitated a prolonged period of utter domination.

It would be foolhardy in the extreme to predict McIlroy matching Tiger's feats, but it certainly feels as though we are now into a potentially lengthy era of Rory glory.

Of the many abiding images he stirred during his run to the final of the WGC Match Play, perhaps the most powerful was the chanting of his name during the final which he lost to Hunter Mahan.

McIlroy was treated as the home town boy despite the fact that the 22-year-old from Northern Ireland was facing an American Ryder Cup player in the Arizona desert.

They love a star in the United States and although McIlroy failed to claim his first WGC title on Sunday evening he remains the one that shines most brightly in the game right now. As far as the Tucson crowds are concerned he has already earned his stripes.

Nevertheless, McIlroy's celebrity grows with every tournament he plays. He exudes a charisma that matches his golfing X Factor.

So when he admits that it is "almost inevitable" that he will go to number one in the world sooner rather than later, he is able to do it without appearing in any way conceited.

McIlroy's swing has been criticised by some, but supported by others. Photo: AP

More and more he is becoming the centre of attention in the golfing world; he is starting to close in on the territory that has been the almost exclusive domain of Tiger Woods for the last decade and a half.

McIlroy's every move is gaining more and more analysis - especially his swing. Critics try to highlight the odd fault and it was interesting to hear a range of opinions in Tucson last week.

Sir Nick Faldo raised concerns that McIlroy's right knee moves too much and another former pro told me the Holywood youngster is too steep on the way back. Then again former US Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger tweeted that McIlroy's is the most pure action in the game right now.

This is exactly the sort of treatment that Woods has endured throughout his career. The former number one tends to bridle when those less worthy pipe up with their views, although he admits it doesn't annoy him as much as it used to.

McIlroy is a somewhat different character and already seems a much more mature figure than when he reacted so angrily to Jay Townsend's Twitter attack on his caddie JP Fitzgerald last summer.

He can look at a results sheet that shows it has become a rarity when he finishes outside the top three of any tournament he plays. There is instant justification for how he goes about playing the game.

McIIroy's course management can still be called into question but that is an inevitable biproduct when you play with such verve and confidence. It is less likely you will recognise a downside to your intentions when you absolutely believe you can execute an ambitious shot.

Although he lost the final to Mahan, his victory in the semis over England's Lee Westwood will serve him extremely well in the future.

It was a match that both men desperately wanted to win and it is more probable than possible that they will be eyeing each other in a major final round before long.

Westwood's desire to avenge this defeat will know no bounds but his key objective is sustaining current form. His short game is growing more secure and relieving the pressure on his traditional strengths of driving and long iron play.

He is fit and confident and will be looking to continue in this vein at West Palm Beach this week. Sensibly Luke Donald is not playing the Honda Classic and instead is taking the chance to put his game back in order after falling to Ernie Els in the first round of his Matchplay defence.

They are now entering into the spell where all players are hoping to hone their games for the year's first major, The Masters, in April.

Some have further to travel than others. Donald is some way off while Westwood is firmly on course - and so too, of course, is McIlroy despite his final failure in Tucson.

It won't be long before his name is being chanted again and with great delight by fans wherever they reside on the golfing globe.

First round day at the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship is always the most captivating opener to any tournament as the world's top players go head to head, knowing that defeat means their week is done.

Indeed, given the Wednesday start, it can be finished before a normal tournament week would have even begun.

On the other hand, if you are able to string a run of wins together there is every chance of laying foundations for the rest of the season.

World number one Luke Donald will kick off his defence of the WGC Match Play title against Ernie Els on Wednesday in Arizona. Photo: Getty

With huge world ranking points on offer, making it to the weekend can often be enough to cement a player's position in the world's top 50 and ensure he will play the game's biggest tournaments throughout the year.

For American and European golfers, there is the added incentive of making big strides in the Ryder Cup qualification process.

There is so much at stake in these matches but often the tournament seems to diminish in excitement the longer it goes on, because television struggles to cope with the ever decreasing number of players taking part.

This malaise has been even greater for the American market in recent years because Europe has dominated the event.

Ian Poulter defeated Paul Casey in the 2010 final and Luke Donald beat Martin Kaymer to kick-start his stellar season last year.

It doesn't help that the tournament is played at such a remote location as Dove Mountain in the Arizona desert.

It is a beautiful setting but in the middle of nowhere, and attracting big crowds to give a suitable atmosphere to the matches has proved nigh on impossible.

The weather can also deter fans. Last year's final was freakishly delayed because of snow lying on the fairways.

Tournaments of this stature deserve better. The old World Matchplay title which was contested amid falling leaves at Wentworth attracted huge crowds, and there was no sense of anti-climax as those autumnal weeks progressed.

Where is the imagination to make sure that this potentially magical matchplay tournament fulfills its potential?

Take it to golfing heartlands around the world where golf fans in their hordes will turn up and appreciate the opportunity to watch the game's biggest names go up against each other.

Or perhaps be even more radical and combine the week with the women's tour because simultaneously they are playing the limited field HSBC Champions event in Singapore.

With a total of only 127 players competing in the two events, they could potentially share the same venue, media coverage and television exposure.

Suddenly all those gaps in the final and semi-finals would be filled with action from the women's tournament.

Logistically this is the one week where the world's top male and female players could play separate events alongside each other in the way that occurs in sports like tennis.

It would certainly help women's golf grab a share of the limelight and would do the men's game no harm, but it is hard to envisage the game's competing governing bodies ever entertaining the idea.

Instead we are left with two excellent tournaments on either side of the world that probably will not gain the recognition either deserves.

Nevertheless Wednesday in Arizona will be well worth watching with Donald taking on Ernie Els in the first match of his title defence.

It is the standout contest and arguably the best opening round match-up since Tiger Woods played Nick Faldo in the inaugural WGC Match Play in 1999.

Woods is the 19th seed this year and he starts his bid for a fourth Match Play title against Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez Castano.

Justin Rose's clash with Scotland's Paul Lawrie guarantees a British presence in the second round while Matteo Manassero's contest with Webb Simpson is another cracking match-up.

The in-form Phil Mickelson and the injured Casey are the only members of the world's top 64 not competing.

Mickelson has a family holiday planned for this week but if this tournament were able to attain the kudos it deserves, one suspects Lefty's domestic timetable might have been altered to accommodate it.

While Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods are likely to be this year's dominant personalities it is also worth noting the less heralded figures, like Grace, who prove that professional golf is the ultimate sporting meritocracy.

The South African was rightly voted the European Tour's Golfer of the Month for January after his back-to-back victories in the Johannesburg Open and the Volvo Champions event on the Links at Fancourt.

Those wins now have the 23-year-old rubbing shoulders with McIlroy and co and after completing his first spell of golf in the Middle East, Grace is now preparing to head to America to explore yet more uncharted golfing territory.

South African-born Branden Grace, who took part in the Dubai Classic at the weekend, has had a brilliant start to 2012 by winning back-to-back titles: Photo: Getty

When we met to discuss his extraordinary start to the new season it quickly became apparent that Grace is no misnomer.

Polite, engaging and bubbling with enthusiasm, he positively relishes the attention he has generated for himself.

"Positive" is a recurring word in our conversation. So is "awesome", but there is no sign that he is awestruck at the prospect of mixing it with the game's big boys.

Grace feels now is the time for him to step up, especially with two Tour victories behind him.

Not bad for the man who claimed the 11th card available at Qualifying School at the end of last year. It was the second time he had made it through.

In 2008, he wasn't ready and finished a lowly 149th in the Order of Merit.

"If you told me at Q School that this is what would have happened so quickly I would have given you a smack and told you to wake up," Grace said.

"It's been awesome and still hasn't sunk in. There are no words to describe it."

The last time he was eligible to play on Tour he lacked the discipline and maturity to make the most of the opportunity.

"I've grown as a person and as a player a lot," he admitted. "Mentally and physically I'm a lot stronger."

Now there is a strategy in place. There are new routines on the course and repeated messages scribbled in his yardage books.

"They are there to keep myself refreshed and keep me motivated and going," he added.

The ploy certainly worked in Johannesburg where the 2006 South African Amateur Strokeplay Champion edged out Jamie Elson by a single stroke to claim his maiden Tour title.

"The win opened that door for Volvo," Grace said of the competition the following week which is essentially a tournament exclusive to European Tour champions.

"I was lucky enough it was at home and I felt really confident and positive going into the week."

Grace is a graduate of the Ernie Els Fancourt Foundation. How appropriate that it was at the same venue that he should come up against the organisation's founder in a play-off that included another home great in Retief Goosen.

"Ernie and Retief were South African golf when I was growing up," Grace acknowledged, but he also points to the heritage stretching further back.

"Gary Player's been a big inspiration. I read his book, Don't Choke, and that was really helpful. He sent me a tweet to say congratulations after my wins and that was awesome."

But it's the current crop of South African elite talent that most inspires Grace at the moment.

He is firm friends with 2010 Open winner Louis Oosthuizen and reigning Masters champion Charl Schwartzel.

"Louis is a good mate and we spend a lot of time together," he continued. 

"Knowing he has done it gives you a positive vibe and the feeling that you can do it. Now I have the feeling that I can be on the same level as they are.

"I can win and I can win on the big stage, which is a nice feeling to have."

Those two January victories have paved the way for him to play the WGC event at Doral next month and he will seek more PGA Tour starts. "I'm really excited to be playing in the States," he smiled.

But more importantly the exemptions earned with his victories enable Grace to plot his own course.

"I've never had a proper schedule, not even on the Challenge Tour," he said.

"It's nice to know the immediate future is settled and the pressure is off. Not that I want to ease off.

"It's been a great start to 2012, as good as anyone - a Luke or a Rory - could have asked for and I hope it doesn't stop there."

And with that, Grace thanked me for taking the time to talk to him. Usually it's the other way round with pro golfers.

Another fine first impression from a player we may hear of a lot more in the coming months and years.

When hopes and dreams have been shattered, sometimes by calamitous self destruction, often all that is left is the belief that wrongs can be righted seven days hence.

It is usually said in hope rather than expectation and in recognition of the need to swiftly climb aboard the horse again to allow mental scars to heal rather than fester.

Kyle Stanley provided no finer example with his PGA Tour victory in Scottsdale on Sunday and, to a slightly lesser extent, Paul Lawrie gave another a few hours earlier with his popular win in Qatar.

Lawrie won his in Qatar after missing out in Abu Dhabi. Photo: Getty

The previous week Stanley had blown a three-shot lead by taking eight at the 72nd hole before losing a play-off to Brandt Snedeker at Torrey Pines. Lawrie also let slip a potentially winning position in Abu Dhabi.

"I think the biggest challenge was seeing if I could put last week behind me," Stanley said after his closing 65 gave him a one-stroke victory. "I think I did."

The 24-year-old American had been the talk of golf in the US after his failure to win in California and was carrying substantial baggage when he teed it up in Arizona. It was some response, especially in a country that loves a healthy dose of redemption.

Lawrie didn't shoulder the same external burden, but inside he would have been thirsting for the victory his recent form had suggested was just around the corner.

In the final round in Abu Dhabi most attention was on eventual champion Robert Rock and the men he beat down the stretch, namely Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. But I tweeted at the time that an inward half of 34 might be enough to put Lawrie firmly in contention.

Covering the back nine in two under should have been well within his compass (it would have put him in a play-off with Rock as it turned out) yet he took 38 blows and Lawrie slipped down to a share of eighth place.

It must have been bitterly disappointing because at the end of last season he had come desperately close to landing the Dubai World Championship where a level par back nine left him two strokes behind champion Alvaro Quiros.

The frustration of those two near misses is now firmly behind the Scot, who turned 43 on New Year's Day. "You kind of want it a wee bit when you get a little bit older and you kind of lose a little bit of focus, but I actually feel the opposite," Lawrie said.

The most impressive thing about Lawrie is his enduring appetite for the game. He has been around the golfing block year in and year out; his ambition undimmed despite having claimed the game's greatest prize - the Open Championship back in 1999.

Throughout he has stayed loyal to his Aberdonian roots rather than setting up home in a more convenient location for the endless international travel that defines the career of a touring pro.

"I probably work harder now than I have ever done," Lawrie told BBC Sport during the Abu Dhabi tournament.

He is inspired by his two sons, Craig, 16, and Michael, 13, who are making marks on the Scottish junior scene. "I was never lazy, but I'm probably out there practicing more than ever, especially with the boys coming up.

"They are coming through and I'm playing more golf at home than I ever did, which I think is helping me."

Lawrie's victory in last year's Open de Andalucia ended a nine-year drought and this win has taken him back into the world's top 50.

His Open triumph gave him a five-year exemption to play the Masters and it expired after his last appearance at Augusta in 2004.

Now the world number 47 has Georgia back on his mind because if he can stay in the top 50 between now and the beginning of April, he will be eligible for the year's first major.

"I feel I'm getting better. I feel my ball striking has improved immensely since I turned 40. And I'm hitting it a lot further than I probably ever hit it going by the stats," he said.

Already he can look forward to the WGC events in Tucson and Doral and will relish the opportunities those events provide for boosting his Ryder Cup qualification hopes.

Lawrie was not found wanting in his one appearance for Europe back in 1999, but sensibly refuses to be carried away with the thought of earning a place in Jose Maria Olazabal's team.

"I keep saying to you guys that the Ryder Cup is a long way off, and there's a lot of golf to be played from now until then. I'm not getting ahead of myself. I'm obviously playing very well, but who knows what's going to happen?"

It is a voice of reason that takes account of golf's extraordinary unpredictability. Lawrie's current renaissance was hard to foresee through much of last year when there were no top-10 finishes between June and December.

And Stateside there is Stanley's redemptive story, made all the more remarkable by the fact that Spencer Levin had led by six strokes heading into the final round.

"My family still loves me; my friends are still my friends; I'm still going to eat dinner tonight," Levin observed as he sought solace at his own capitulation. He will also do well to remember that next week will come soon enough as well.