Europeans looking to break Major drought

Like an old-fashioned gramophone record stuck on the same tune, Europe's leading players have had to answer the same question before every major championship over the last five years.

Why has no European won a major title since Britain's Paul Lawrie at the 1999 British Open?

Lawrie's playoff triumph in brutal conditions at Carnoustie was 26 majors ago, and must feel like an eternity for players such as Colin Montgomerie, Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia and Thomas Bjorn.

That quartet, along with many other Europeans, have certainly been good enough to claim one of golf's biggest titles but the holy grail has so far proved elusive.

There have been several close calls along the way, most recently Denmark's Bjorn falling one stroke short of forcing a playoff with Phil Mickelson for the U.S. PGA Championship at Baltusrol last August.

While such trends are often cyclical, it is undeniable that the cream of European golf competing at this week's U.S. Masters falls short of the class that dominated the game in the 1980s and early 1990s.

The heavyweight quintet of Seve Ballesteros, Sandy Lyle, Bernhard Langer, Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam claimed 16 majors between them, with Lyle the only one of the five never ranked as the game's leading player.

"We had a great, great record throughout the late '80s and mid '90s as Europeans," eight-times European number one Montgomerie told reporters at Augusta National.

"It just so happens that others have won it since. It's just coincidence, really, more than it is a lack of European talent."

Fellow Briton Luke Donald, the world number nine, attributes Europe's drought to a mixture of player strength, phases and coincidence.

"Well, I think there's a bit of everything in there," the 28-year-old Englishman said as he prepared for his second Masters tournament.

"But you would have to think it's a reflection on the players. It's hard to explain, really.

"We've had good enough players to win, that's for sure," added Donald, who tied for third at Augusta National last year. "We just haven't had the best players in the world in that time.

"The top 10 players in the world have either been American or you've got (South Africans) Ernie (Els) and Retief (Goosen). There haven't been too many Europeans. Hopefully that will change.

"There's so many good players playing well, and that's great for European golf. I think that can only lead to good things when it comes to winning PGA Tour events and, ultimately, winning majors."

The key to winning the Masters on the slick, contoured greens at Augusta is supreme putting and Montgomerie finds it difficult to look beyond defending champion and four-times winner Tiger Woods.

"You can't putt anything but spectacularly here to win, unfortunately," he said.

"We feel the best putter in the world right now is the best player in the world and that's why he's got four of these things already.

"To hole out from eight foot on a regular basis here is very, very difficult. It's very difficult to get the pace and the line exactly right. Tiger seems to do that better than anybody."

The Masters, the first of the year's four majors, starts on Thursday.