Most avid golfers will be aware that the second week in April always signals The US Masters.

So the burning question on the tip of everyone’s tongue is 'Will Tiger Woods Win the US Masters and stop the Paddy Slam?'

Prior to watching The Bay Hill Invitational last week people were unsure, but Wood’s performance on Sunday afternoon may have tipped the balance when he came from 5 shots behind overnight leader Sean O’Hair with a truly fantastic display of putting over the closing holes.

Perhaps one of the main questions we should be asking is whether playing the very hilly Augusta National Golf Course on consecutive days is going to be too demanding on his knee, we all remember that he had an operation on his knee shortly after his amazing victory last June at the US Open Championship at Torrey Pines, California.

Clearly the Augusta course suits his game as he has already won there on 4 occasions. 

So far in his limited appearances in 2009 his golf game has not really achieved its full potential, but he is getting close.  His timing may yet again be perfect!

There will be loads of attention in the media surrounding Padraig Harrington as he strives to win his third consecutive Major, this is likely to inspire woods even more than normal. 

Brief summary of golf results so far in 2009

The European Tour has already played 16 events in the inaugural Race to Dubai and there have been 15 different winners, only Richard Sterne has managed to win twice and they were back to back wins in his native South Africa .

This week’s event is the Open de Estoril at Oitavos Dunes in Cascais which is not far from Lisbon where the defending champion is Gregory Bourdy from France.

The US PGA Tour has already played 14 events in the 2009 in the third Fedex Cup and there have already been 12 winners, only World Golf Championship winners Phil Mickelson and Geoff Ogilvy have managed to record two victories.

This week’s event is the Shell Houston Open at Redstone in Humble, Texas where the defending champion is Texas born Virginia Tech graduate Johnson Wagner who was actually born in Amarillo.

The LPGA Tour has so far played only 5 events in 2009.

This week’s event is the season’s first major championship The Kraft Nabisco Championship where the defending champion at Mission Hills Country Club in California is Lorena Ochoa from Mexico.

The Ladies European Tour has so far played only 2 events in 2009

There is no event this week on the LET.

The 2009 Europro Tour began this week with the initial tour school stages taking place at four venues around England (listed below), before they head to Frilford Heath in Oxfordshire for the Final Stage of Q-School.

Mentmore Golf & Country Club, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire

Cumberwell Park, Bath, Wiltshire

Forest Pines, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire

Stoke by Nayland, Colchester, Essex

The amateur circuit has been gradually picking up momentum and StrokeAverage.com would like to congratulate the English Golf Union Squad players on a number of successes around the world before the season really gets started in the United Kingdom.

Dale Whitnell beat England international colleague Jamie Abbott in a sudden death playoff for the Portuguese Amateur Championship at Troia to collect his first title of 2009.

England completed their 12th victory in 13 internationals with Spain going back to 1985 when they came out on top in the biennial match at La Reserva in Sotogrande.

England’s young golfers completed a clean sweep in Spain, winning the European Nations Cup while Sam Hutsby took the individual title, earlier this year Hutsby had narrowly missed out on winning his second Spanish Amateur when he lost the 36 hole final in Seville by 2 and 1 to former British Amateur Champion Reinier Saxton from The Netherlands.

Sam Hutsby now ranks fifth on the R&A Amateur World Rankings which is currently headed by New Zealand’s Danny Lee, Lee is already ranked 149^th amongst the professionals.

But more importantly, we would like to wish former Masters Champion Seve Ballesteros a happy 52^nd birthday on the 9th April.  We all wish him well on his continued road to recovery following a number of brain tumour operations in 2008.