Rory McIlroy and formidable field head to Hawaii for 2019 curtain-raiser
The golf season begins in Maui with the game still coming to terms with a rules rejig and the eye-watering sums of money in the offing on the US side of the Atlantic
Should Rory McIlroy’s occasionally agonising wait for Masters glory end in April much of the focus will be on his long journey from the outskirts of Belfast to Augusta triumph.
In the here and now the 29-year-old has made the hardly inconsequential jaunt to Hawaii to begin a season he hopes will be notable for the donning of a Green Jacket. Few would grudge McIlroy that moment.