My what a lot of sport we've been having recently - so much in fact that the annual daft couple of quid on the Grand National never materialised and as such I did not pay much attention to the event. A reluctance to take a 16 month baby into a betting shop and not being arsed to set up an online account for all the various family wagers at least meant that I broke even as I would not have backed the winner. Instead the Masters provided more than enough entertainment by promising a first European win in 11 years, threatened a win for Tiger Woods who had a little charge on the last day after being written off beforehand and eventually saw the little heard of South African Charl Schwartzel claim the green jacket.
   The last couple of years have shown that European players have managed to shake off their major winning hoodoo but it is still a relatively new dawn for them and confidence is not yet fully formed. At the start of each major championship their Ryder Cup and tour performances are praised and they may place well but in this century out of 45 major tournaments only five have been won by Europeans and Padraig Harrington won three of them himself. When Graeme McDowell and Martin Kaymer won last year it felt like the flood gates may open but Rory McIlroy's capitulation means that they will have to wait a bit longer.
   There is a danger that as long as they are labelled a golden generation before earning that moniker like their football counterparts that the likes of Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and even Sergio Garcia may flatter to deceive. There is no doubt they are all quality players but the question of temperament will continue to be asked as long as their talents are not showcased on the largest individual stage. Lesser names from the United States, South Africa and elsewhere have shown themselves capable of holding their nerve on the big occasion and the Europeans will have to wait until at least June to prove that they are worthy to join this elite club and merit their high rankings.
  
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   Disappointing as McIlroy's fall from the leader board was he is young and talented enough to recover. The most disappointing thing that I've encountered this past sporting weekend (and depressing) is the over commercialisation of the IPL. I am aware that it's whole raison d'etre is as a commercial venture but you've really got to take a step back and wonder if you've gone too far when you start replacing perfectly ordinary words with company names. Batsmen no longer hit a six but a DLF as the Indian real estate company have paid for such a shot to be branded a "DLF Maximum" Will footballers now score a Coke (on the pitch) or perhaps Andy Murray will be serving to win a Barclays. Whatever the upshot it certainly restricts a commentator in his use of language which should be his major skill and instead finds him shouting out company names rather than commentating.