‘It’ll Get Better’ : Lyle Prepares to Defend His Masters Title

AUGUSTA, Ga. —  Sandy Lyle of Scotland is rested and loose as he prepares to defend his Masters golf championship. But he does have one concern.

“I just don’t want to make a fool of myself shooting 84 the first day,” Lyle said.

Lyle spent the last two weeks in London honing his game under the guidance of his father, Alex.

“I’m playing fairly well,” he said. “It’ll get better as the weeks go along. At the moment I’m hitting a lot of good shots on the range but not on the golf course. I’ve still got a couple of days to work.”

Lyle will try to become only the second player to repeat as champion when the 53rd Masters gets under way Thursday with an international field of 86 players. Jack Nicklaus included successive titles in 1965 and 1966 among his record six Masters championships.

“It just means you’ve got everything to do again,” Lyle said of his role as the defending champion.

No one has established himself as a clear-cut favorite to claim the green coat that goes to the player who carves out the best score for 72 holes on the storied Augusta National Golf Club course, a 6,905-yard, par-72 layout.

British odds makers have made Seve Ballesteros of Spain, a two-time champion, and Greg Norman of Australia, one of the top players in the world who hasn’t won at Augusta, 8-1 favorites.

U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange, the first player to win $1 million in a season on the PGA Tour, doing it last year, was 12-1, and Lyle and Mark Calcavecchia, last year’s runner-up, were 14-1.

Ballesteros finished third at Houston last week, only his fourth event in the United States this season.