AUGUSTA, Ga. — The photos of past Masters champions are on a wall just inside the clubhouse entrance at Augusta National, and at this stage, you have to do some searching to find the last European champion.
It is José María Olazábal, the strong-minded Basque from Spain who won the second of his two Masters in 1999.
In the last 17 years, European golfers have continued to dominate the United States in the Ryder Cup and have won the other three major tournaments repeatedly.
But the Masters has remained elusive, and though the leader of Europe’s new generation, Rory McIlroy, was best placed to challenge on Saturday, the European in best position to end the drought when the blustery third round was over was a man eight years older than Olazábal: the 58-year-old Bernhard Langer.