Wet spell puts dampener on Donald's hopes Perhaps it says much about the ever-growing fame of Rory McIlroy that last year he brought three friends from home as his Masters guests and this year he has invited Ant and Dec. When the Geordie television presenters make their first visit to Augusta they will discover a course which has been soaked by the rains. The word here yesterday as the pros began to descend was that the soft fairways will favour the big-hitters. That spells good news for McIlroy but bad news for Luke Donald. With more rain forecast over the next three days, the Augusta National might rival the Grand National for a gruelling slog by the time of Thursday's first round. McIlroy will not turn up in Georgia until this evening, meaning he will have conceded at least one day's reconnaisance to Tiger Woods. The former world No 1 played a practice round yesterday with Mark O'Meara. Apart from a long friendship, Woods and O'Meara share something else: they were both coached by Hank Haney, although it must be doubted whether his name came up yesterday. O'Meara actually introduced Woods to Haney, a meeting that was to help Woods to six of his 14 majors in the six years he spent under the Texan. That period is the subject matter of The Big Miss, Haney's controversial memoir. The Woods camp is fuming with Haney, not least because of the timing. The book was published last week and for the last few days, Haney has been trawling America's news channels. Yesterday, Haney became one of the first to express doubt about Woods's chances of a fifth green jacket this week. "He is driving the ball better," said Haney. But, as John Jacobs always taught me, it all comes down to distance control. And Tiger's isn't as good as it was under me. He is 170th on tour from 75-100 yards. He is 134th from 100-125 yards. So that's an issue. Then, of course, there is his putting. Right now, he is 130th in 'three-putt avoidance'. That doesn't mean he isn't capable of going to the Masters this coming week and not three-putting; he is. But you don't often win majors with four or five three-putts in 72 holes. What Woods, or indeed his new coach Sean Foley, makes of that remains to be seen. Certainly there appeared nothing wrong with either his distance control or his putting when winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational eight days ago. Woods holed 62 of 67 putts inside 10 feet, a remarkable stat. If we see that Tiger here, then the rest could be playing for second. Alas, for the first time since 1993, we won't be seeing Ernie Els at Augusta. The South African, who has slipped outside the world's top 50, needed to win at Houston last night to claim the last spot, but as the event reached its climax, he was too far back. Georgia will seem a poorer place without him. But at least the azaleas are up, much to the relief of the locals. Because of a recent warm spell, the flower has come and gone across the state early this year. Not at Augusta, however. Don't ask how the greenjackets have managed it. They just have. It may be wet, but the place, as ever, is spotless. Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen claimed his maiden European Tour title yesterday, holding off a strong late challenge from England's Chris Wood at the Sicilian Open. Wood equalled the course record with a brilliant eight-under-par 64 in perfect conditions to charge into contention, but overnight leader Olesen held his nerve to post a 69 and win by one shot on 15 under. It feels amazing. I had three seconds last year, so to finally get my first win is great," he said.