It's crept up much faster than usual after the delayed 2020 running in November but Masters week is now very much upon us as the best golfers in the world gather at Augusta National. Given that it's the first traditional spring Masters since 2019 the anticipation is building around the famous course but Shane Lowry is keeping himself very calm and confident after getting his prep work done a few weeks ago. That means that the 2019 British Open champion will play just nine holes on each of the practice days, saving himself for Thursday morning when it all gets underway. After his win at the Valero Texas Open on Sunday Jordan Spieth comes back to Augusta in search of back-to-back wins and, for all you need to know ahead of the year's first men's Major championship as well as an assessment of the favourites, you can read our guide.
Moving on to rugby and Gerry Thornley writes in his column this morning that once again being second-best in Ireland while also crashing out of Europe means this year's pain is becoming a familiar feeling for Munster. "A trophy-less decade feels all the worse when your main rivals have hoovered up nine major trophies - six Pro 14s, two Champions Cups and a Challenge Cup over the same 10 years," he writes. Leinster now hold Irish hopes in the Champions Cup but they face as stiff a task as they possibly could when they meet Exeter in the quarter-finals on Saturday with Felipe Contepomi saying that the test of playing a team like Toulon just a week beforehand would have stood to Leinster if the match was not postponed. Speaking yesterday the backs coach also said he would not be reading too much into the poor performances of Pro14 sides in Europe over the weekend. Meanwhile, in his column this week, Owen Doyle praises the performance of referee Wayne Barnes during Munster's loss to Toulouse.
In soccer the Champions League quarter-finals get underway this evening with Liverpool taking on 13-times champions Real Madrid in Spain. With their season now riding on the European competition the pressure is on Liverpool but Jürgen Klopp says his side are prepared to do it the hard way. Elsewhere, Manchester City meet Borussia Dortmund in their first leg with Pep Guardiola full of praise yesterday for Erling Haaland who has been linked with a move to Manchester.
On to racing and it was quite a day at Fairyhouse yesterday as Freewheelin Dylan stormed home to win the Grand National at the huge price of 150-1. It was a winner for local trainer Dermot McLaughlin and would surely have brought the house down if spectators had been there to witness it.
Finally to the Olympics and North Korea announced overnight that they would not be taking a team to this year's Games in Tokyo, saying that they want to protect their athletes from Covid-19.
