Adam Scott, the Masters champion, believes he and others have to make the most of their chance to win major championships while Tiger Woods goes through "a dry spell".
The world No.1 has not claimed one of golf's big-four titles since securing his 14th major triumph at the 2008 US Open. Scott, Justin Rose and Graeme McDowell are among those to have taken advantage by claiming maiden successes.
Asked if Woods was now less of a factor in the majors, Scott responded: "I don't think he's become less of a factor, he is still obviously a favourite in everyone's mind, including the players'. I just feel the way it has been shared around a little bit lately, my generation have raised the level of their game over the last couple of years and believe it's their time.
"They are not worried about Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson or a young guy like Rory McIlroy, they are into their own thing. I don't necessarily think Tiger is not a factor; he certainly is. He's the No.1 player in the world and he is always there or thereabouts. He is on a dry spell at the moment and that's what happens in a career.
"Jack Nicklaus had a run like that and he is still the greatest player of all time. It wouldn't surprise me if Tiger comes back and wins again this year but my generation are feeling like their time is now so they have to take advantage of it."
Speaking on a teleconference ahead of his Masters defence in April, Scott revealed his choice of menu for the traditional champions' dinner would have "an Australian theme", adding: "I want to serve something everyone will enjoy, but nothing too crazy. Whether that means they are eating kangaroo I'm not sure yet. We will see."
Missing from Augusta National this year will be the Eisenhower Tree on the 17th hole, which was removed at the weekend after suffering storm damage. President Dwight D Eisenhower famously lobbied to have the loblolly pine removed after tangling with it on many occasions.
Scott said: "It will be part of Augusta history forever but the course had evolved over the years with natural changes and man-made changes. It was a pretty tight hole, so from a golfing standpoint seeing a little bit more of the fairway will be a nice thing."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article