2008 Masters Preview

Welcome Back Friends,

It is hard to believe that it was a year ago that Mr. Johnson was sliding his arms into a new shiny green jacket. We are back again to provide you the fan with the most complete Masters preview on the web.

I like, many of you. used to rush home from middle school to watch the USA Network. Many years ago the USA Network had back to back Saved by the Bell episodes, followed up by back to back Saved by the Bell episodes on TBS. It was a great 2 hour block of tv, and my neighbors, sisters and I spent many a day learning lifes lessons from the halls of Bayside High. However, there was also one very special week a year on the USA Netowrk.
I became totally obsessed with the Masters in 1995. I can remember rushing home from school to see what had gone on that day (remember this was prior to the internet). I had also recently read both of Harvey Penick’s books and was touched by the emotional salute Gentle Ben was giving to his former teacher. Through the years I remember rushing home from school on many different occasions to see what had happened that day in Augusta, none more vividly than the day Tiger shot 40-30 in the 1997 Masters. When I jumped out of the mini-van that would later be named Fred, there was always one friendly face waiting for me live from the Butler Cabin. As I anxiously awaited to see the news, Bill Macatee was always there to bring me up to speed. Bill is the best Thursday/Friday golf coverage guy there is. He understands the casual fan would not be there until Sunday afternoon. Thursday and Friday is for the die hards. He lets us enjoy the action. He lets us hear the birds chirp, and the ball rattle in the cup. He keeps us informed, but does not speak more than necessary. He lets the Masters Music play as we scroll through the scores, and talks about Augusta with the reverence that a place of that stature deserves.
Therefore, it was with great shock and horror that on October 11, 2007 I received an email notifying me that ESPN was taking over coverage on the first two days of the Masters. Before I considered all the controversies that ESPN will try to stir up so the Around the Horn guys have something to talk about, I thought about Bill. Mike Tirico is replacing Bill in the Butler Cabin this year, and it is just not going to be the same. It is not so much that I think Mike does a bad job, and I know that ESPN will have 50 guys on the course and we are going to hear from all of them, but Bill was so great at his job. So I ask you golf fan worldwide (or my 10-20 person circle of friends) when you are sipping on your Bloomin’ Boom Boom Thursday and Friday raise a toast to a man whose job was taken from him at the height of his powers. I am not sure if we will ever see another Thursday/Friday guy like him. To Bill.

Now onto the Golfers- As mentioned above we have detailed all 94 players in the field this year, grouping them is relatively easy to follow categories. A special thanks to Kenny Riddell for his contributions this year. He provided the write-ups on both Camilo and Steely Stenson, the two best of the bunch.

The Heroes

One of the greatest things about the Masters is the fact that all the former Champions come back. There is the “Champions Dinner” and then a lot of these guys tee it up Thursday and Friday.

Gary Player- Gary is probably the most underrated player in history. The history has been shaped by the golf media, the fifties are defined by Hogan and the sixties by Jack and Arnie. Hogan and Jack were both the best players of their era, and Palmer was a great player, but Gary won more majors than Arnie and won more internationally than anyone in history. He will pass Arnie this year for most starts the same time Boom Boom breaks his record for cuts made at the Masters. I might wear all black on Friday in honor of Gary.

Ben Crenshaw- Ben won the first Masters when I really got into the Masters. Not only did he honor a great man with his victory he provided one of the greatest victory flops of all time. I think the top 3 victory flops of all time are 1) Roger (Federer) after winning a Grand Slam with the fall to the knees back bend 2) Glass Joe after a Little Mac knock out (not technically a victory flop) 3) Ben

Additionally, a couple years ago Ben wore all Augusta National apparel. A good rule of thumb is if you are not sponsored you do not have a chance to win.

Raymond Floyd- I would have loved to see Raymond in action in his prime. It just seems when he was going good, no one could beat him.

Sandy Lyle- I would like to publicly apologize to Sandy for not knowing the greatness of his career. I had always lumped him in with Larry Mize as a bit of a one hit wonder, who got lucky and made a shot from off the green to win the Masters. However, he was a top 10 worlwide player from the late seventies until the early nineties, and won two majors. Then his prime was over in his mid-thirties. I think a good comparison is a poor man’s Seve.

Larry Mize- In 1987, Larry Mize’s chip in might have changed the course of golf history. Had The Shark won that playoff, maybe he gets over the proverbial “hump.” The Shark could have won 8-10 majors and probably would have won the 1996 Masters and been defending champ when a young Tiger came along. Maybe they have a Jack and Arnie type rivalry, maybe Faldo keeps practicing because he is so mad that The Shark beat him. I don’t know. Great shot Larry, have fun this weekend, and see you again next year.

Craig Stadler- Interesting fact I learned about The Walrus: He has a brother who records new age music, and had an album called Fairyheart Magic and is an expert at lightshows. This doesn’t have any relevance to his chances of winning, but he won 26 years ago. Nicklaus has the largest spread of victories of 25 years ago and The Walrus is not the Golden Bear.

Ian Woosnam- I wonder if that caddie that cost Woosy the British a couple years ago is still alive. Good to see he is still teeing it up.

Fuzzy Zoeller- If you told an 18 year old today, that 11 years ago Fuzzy was one of the 10 most popular players in the world and the media’s favorite player is there any chance they would believe you? Alan Jackson could have added a verse about doing press conferences at Augusta after a bunch cocktails to his timeless classic, “That’s another good reason not to drink.”

Tom Watson- When I look at the guys between 20-28 on tour right now I don’t see anyone like Tom. He came along a few years after Jack had become the best player in the world and played with him and beat him. There is not one guy I see that is capable of doing the same. The only young guy that doesn’t fall apart when Tiger is near him on the leaderboard is Geoff Ogilvy and he does not appear to have the fight like Tom did. Someday it would be nice to see someone other than Bob May and Brad Bryant make Tiger work hard to win. Think how many more awesome celebrations Tiger could come up with after he has mastered the hat throw. Look at the great celebrations Jack came up with, the putter throw (British Open) and the putter raise (’86 Masters). Verne would also be up there with Al Michaels for signature calls. All we need is another Watson.

Mark O’Meara- Ten years ago three men battled down the stretch of Augusta for the coveted green jacket. Those men were Freddie “Boom Boom” Couples, David Duval and Mark O’Meara. At the time Duval was 26 and was the best player in the world, Freddie was super talented but had back problems and Mark was a little past his prime of winning the Crosby Clambake every year (Book recommendation: The Match). If you could guess which two would still be good golfers would it have been Mark and Freddie? Apparently Mark came with Tiger last weekend so he has gotten plenty of practicing in this week.

Jose Maria Olazabal & Bernard Langer- I am doing to same thing that here by bunching them together, but do you realize these two have a total of four green jackets in their closets (two each). These guys are both awesome golfers. However, what might be the best thing about them is they have been rocking the LaCoste their entire careers. From the eighties when it was cool through the lean years in the nineties all the way back to now, where we have our very own LaCoste store at the mall.

I should also point out that Bernard has won twice this year on the Senior Tour and I think he will make the cut, especially if the weather is bad as they are expecting.

Unknowns
Every year there are a few guys I have not heard of when I first read the field.

Liang Wen Chong- Apparently Liang is from China and dominates the Asian tour. I think the biggest concern at this point is a protest breaking out in his group.

Drew Weaver- Drew might be the most unlikely guy in the field. He won the British Amateur last summer. Prior to winning that tournament he was the second best player on his college team, and had never played a links course. Magically he won and now he is in the Masters.

Prayad Marksaeng- I have no idea how this guy got invited to play in the Masters. He is 42 and won enough events in Asia and somehow get in the top 100. This guy should be sending Jumbo Ozaki a thank you note and a shirt for somehow convincing the world fifteen years ago that the golf tournaments in Asia were real.

Richard Sterne- This guy might become a legitimate player. He has climbed inside the top 30 in the world rankings, won a few times in Europe and made the cut in both PGA tour events he has played this year. Maybe this guy is really well known and I am just behind the curve.

Michael Thompson- This guy is a really good young player who was the runner-up in the U.S. amateur this year. He is also an Eagle Scout so he should be able to handle the elements as well as anyone in case the weather is bad.

The Hansen brothers- Carson Daly called it when “MMMbop” was big. I believe in the July 23, 1997 taping of TRL he predicted that these guys would play in the Masters. I guess it is time to move this prediction from pending to correct.

Note: Anders and Soren are not actually brothers.

Martin Kaymer- This guy is 23, has won a European tour event, and is now in the top 50 in the world. He is also German. I am thinking the next Bernard Langer.

Saturday Trip Home
I hope these guys enjoyed their week because I don’t see them playing on the weekend

Johnson Wagner- First, let me apologize to the Hokies out there for being critical of both your players so close together. However, Johnson won last week to get in and probably has not slept since. I don’t know how you could. All that said, my biggest issue with Johnson is his sponsor. I am a big fan of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett, but after the Dream Machine was found dead on the side of the road last year and the driver of the 1991 Lexus was insured by Geico I have not been a big fan. Next year when Johnson comes back with a General Re or Mutual of Omaha sponsor I could see him in my personal top 10.

Ben Curtis- I am a big fan of Ben Curtis. He is from the finest state in the union, played golf at a MAC school and is sponsored by the NFL. There really is nothing not to like. However, Ben is not playing very well this year. His best finish this year was at the glorified Nationwide event in Puerto Rico, played the same week as Doral. I predict Ben will be on tour for 23 years, and win about 10 times. A Jay Haas type.

Vaughn Taylor- Having played for Augusta State, Vaughn was a media darling last year. I think the Tiger hype has caused the media to go wild this year and they cant do any other stories. This is very similar to how ESPN handles baseball focusing all their time on two teams. Those of us with the internet are able to follow Vaughn and see things are not going that well this year, and he is not a big hitter. Since they are calling for rain and cold that is not going to help. Hopefully Vaughn can hit up the local fraternity parties this weekend and make the most of his visit.

Shaun Micheel- This is it for Shaun. The PGA champion gets a five year exemption to the Masters, and he won five years ago. After starting out the year like the next Hogan by missing 7 of 8 cuts, things have turned around and he has finished 21st and 26th his last two events. As an Indiana alum, I suspect he got a little caught up in the Kelvin Sampson debacle this winter.

Win a Date (Todd Hamilton)- I actually received an email from Win a Date this week, see below:

Dear Stan,

Am I alive?

I had to do some research to get back to him, but I found out that yes Todd is alive. He played in 28 tournaments last year and made the cut eight times with his best finish being 37th. Todd’s exemption to the Masters ends next year so I hope he enjoys the next two years.

Chuck Howell- I was beginning to worry about Chuck, until last weekend. I was watching the golf tournament Sunday afternoon discussing with my roommate what happened to Chuck Howell when all of a sudden I saw hope for the young man. Let me start by saying that apparently Chuck now endorses Bridgestone. He was in a commercial for Bridgestone that came on. In the commercial he is at a drag race with Boom Boom and Brandt Snedeker. Boom tees off and his ball races a drag car, and Chuck is there cheering him on. Finally the ball beats the car and Chuck is pumped. I think spending some time with Boom Boom might help Chuck to loosen up a little. However, Chuck hasn’t played good since early 2007.

Camilo Villegas – I famously overreacted during Camilo’s breakthrough tournament in Doral several years back by telling Jared Henry and Duffey Phelps that we would be “bouncing our grandchildren on our knees and telling stories about how we had the pleasure of watching young Camilo Villegas play the game of golf’. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that prediction will end up being slightly off. In my defense, what I saw that day was a guy who is huge off the tee, imaginative around the greens, popular with the female galleries, and has the strangest green reading technique in the history of the PGA Tour. What I see now is a gimmick. I see a guy who would rather be a male model than a professional golfer. I see a guy who needs to go back to his roots of being the next Severiano Ballesteros and forget about the fashion show he seems intent on putting on every time he tees it up. I see a guy who is almost singlehandedly responsible for World Anti-Doping chairman Dick Pound’s interest in steroids in golf. I see a writer desperately searching for an excuse to include the name Dick Pound into his guest column in the Masters Preview. My apologies. As for the strangest green reading technique in the history of the PGA Tour, does he do this for any reason other than to threaten Fred Couples’s 25-year reign over the “Worst Back on Tour” list? Camilo, we all know you are just trying to show off your body to the female section. It’d be a lot safer if you just played all of your rounds with your shirt off. Please don’t tell Fat Phil Mickelson about that strategy though. Where does all of this lead us? An MC for Camilo.

The Mechanic (Miguel Angel Jimenez)- The Mechanic is a very solid player and he has played solid/average this year so far. However, he hits it short and wildly. This course really does not suit his game.

Jerry Kelly- I cant remember a tournament other than the Greater Milwaukee Open where Jerry played well. But somehow he is always in about 14th in Ryder cup points and in every major. According to wikipedia his nickname is “the Cylinder” because he makes so many clutch putts. He has only won twice so I don’t see how that is possible. I like the nickname though.

Brian Bateman- Brian won a tournament last July. Since then he has missed more than half the cuts in tournaments he has played and his best finish is 44th, if you don’t count the Mercedes where he finished 23rd out of 31 players. Needless to say this does not inspire a lot of confidence in him.

Richard Green- I am not sure where to find this kind of information but with Green, Queer, Fatty, and O’Hern this has to be the most left handers ever to play in the Masters in one year. Bob Charles must be beaming wherever he is.

John Rollins- As a VCU alum, John was inspired by the victory over Duke last year in the NCAA to have his best year on tour. This pushed him to a 20th place finish at Augusta. With VCU missing the tournament this year, I am not expecting a lot from John.

Brandt Snedeker- I am a big fan of Brandt. If everyone played golf like he did the world would be a better place, or at least it would take less time to play golf. Augusta is so hard and precision is so important I have a feeling the walk up and hit strategy Brandt employs could cause some trouble and lead to big numbers. I hope I am wrong.

David Toms- I think David is in borderline retirement. Who really can blame him either? Lets review his life. His wife is incredibly good looking. He has probably made $15-$20 million over the last five years. He won a major, so that monkey is off his back. Finally, he is not as talented as Tiger and Phil so he has to work really hard to compete. Two years ago he put it on cruise control and he has the greatest life ever. He can just play 20 weeks a year and then hang out in his mansion the rest of the time.

Heath Slocum- Heath qualified for the Masters by playing pretty good and playing almost every week. There is really nothing else to say. He is a homeless mans Vijay.

Nick Watney- One of the most curious things about golf is why companies sponsor the players they do. My guess is a lot of people have never heard of this guy, but he stars in a Lexus commercial. In the commercial he just drives a Lexus up to a golf course and gets out. Why would Lexus pay him six figures for this? Why not just get a model to do it? The greatest example of this of course continues to be your 1988 PGA Champion Jeff “Paychex” Sluman..

Tripp Kuehne- Most of us first heard of Tripp in 1994 when the legend of Tiger truly began at the 1994 U.S. Amateur. For those of you who don’t remember Tripp had Tiger 5 down with 12 to play and got beat. Two additional facts, Tiger was wearing a straw cap and made a putt on 17 which caused the birth of the fist pump. As a result of his runner-up finish Tripp played in the 1995 Masters. Since then both of his siblings won U.S. amateurs, and his brother Hank started dated Venus Williams. I recently read an article in Golf Magazine that talked about how Tripp became obsessed with winning a U.S.G.A. event. He finally did it this year with the mid-am and got invited back to Augusta. However, Tripp has announced his “retirement” from serious amateur golf after The Masters. It has been an odd 14 years for Tripp.

Jeev Milkha Singh- I know it is America’s dream as well as the members of Augusta National to have a Singh and Singh final pairing on Sunday, but I just don’t see it happening this year.

Toru Taniguchi- I think we need to revise the world rankings if guys who play in Asia all the time are in the top 50 in the world. He has played in 17 majors before this Masters and has made 3 cuts. How is that top 50 in the world?

Shingo- This is really ridiculous how many guys that play exclusively in Asia qualified based on the world rankings. Not to be hating on the Japanese Cowboy but he qualified for the Masters because he was ranked in the top 50 of the world as of 12/31/07. His world ranking was based on 55 events, 6 of the tournaments were not in Asia.


Going to miss church Sunday
These guys will be around for the weekend, but they will be starting early Sunday.

Justin Leonard- Justin doesn’t hit it far enough to contend at Augusta, but he seems to have gotten his game back together. He won a major when he was 25, and almost won one the next year. It would have been the opposite Mark O’Meara. Not to go crazy about advertising but why does Nike sponsor anyone besides Tiger?

Scott Verplank- For a longtime I was a hater on Verplank. However, after he pulled out the victory in honor of Byron Nelson I respect him. I will still be opposed to anymore captains picks for teams though.

Steve Lowery- I thought Lowery paid Vijay off to blow it at Pebble. There was no other explanation for Vijay playing so bad on Sunday. Then I watched Bay Hill and saw the same thing happen on Saturday for Vijay. Good to have an old vet around. He is the kind of guy that if he gets hot he could challenge, but things will have to go perfectly.

Luke Donald- Luke finished 3rd at Augusta in 2005 and 10th last year, and he has almost everything you really want at Augusta, but he just doesn’t hit it far enough. It is also supposed to rain Saturday. This will make the course too long for most players, including Luke.

Robert Karlsson and Niclas Fasth- Sweden is the hot bed of non-descript golfers. Even Annika doesn’t really have a personality. Jesper must have been the wildest guy over there.

Justin Rose- Justin has had one of the most interesting careers of anyone in the field. After turning pro at 17 Justin was terrible for two years as he figured out how to play. Then he got hot around 2002 and starting winning in Europe. He started playing in both Europe and the US as he figured out what he was doing. He kept that pace for a while, and then last year he started playing good in the majors. He finished very close to the top 10 in all four majors last year including a fifth at the Masters. I would look for another solid performance in the majors this year and expect him to challenge starting next year.

Boo Weekley- As John Daly drinks himself out of the game, I am glad Boo emerged as someone his fans can see. After I read Daly’s book I compared the entire book to reading only the dialogue portion of Huck Finn. Listening to Boo talk is kind of like if after the raft trip Huck had gotten into pro golf.

Tim Clark- Tim always seems to be sneaking around on Sunday and backdooring a top 10 in a major. If you have him on your fantasy team and you can play him Sunday I strongly suggest it.

Brett Wetterich- Brett had a meteoric rise from no name journey man to Ryder Cup and top 20 player in the world. Brett’s game is a little unorthodox but he has some of the tools you need at Augusta. He hits it long, but you have to be worried about that swing holding up on the back nine on Sunday.

Peter Lonard- I have worn the same contact lenses for a couple months now. I just read that Lonard developed conjunctivitis from doing this as well. This is not good news for me, but maybe an indirect result of getting conjunctivitis is playing in the Masters.

Robert Allenby and Stuart Appleby- With the exception of Stu’s extremely long hair going everywhere I still cant tell the difference here. Both top 50 guys who rarely win or contend.

Daniel Chopra- Jeev gets all the glory for being an Indian golfer but Chopra is also from India, but his mother is Swedish. Anybody who was allowed by the Chinese government to hit a ball off the Great Wall of China has to be taken seriously.

Ian Poulter- Every major it seems like Ian makes an appearance on the leaderboard. He looks goofy most of the time, but I think his style suits him. Depending on what is going on at the time (i.e. the quest for the Grand Slam), I think Ian could be a great pick to win the British.

D.J. Trahan- D.J. is a good young player. However, the most interesting thing I have ever heard about him is the fact that his Dad had 13 hole in ones. If my Dad had 13 hole in ones I don’t even know what might happen.

Michael Campbell- Michael seems to go up and down. Six years ago he was on fire. Then he went cold for a couple years. Suddenly he is hot again and won the U.S. Open by holding off Tiger. It seems he is cold again now though.

Nick O’Hern- Nick is a very streaky player day to day. If you review his results he often goes 66-75 or vice versa. If he ever held it together for four full days he would be really hard to beat.

Nick Dougherty- Nick, who happens to be 7 days older than me, is a player. He was a superstar amateur and was on the European tour at the age of 19. Unfortunately, he got sick and missed two years. Now he is back, and I think he could be the next really good player out of Europe. Faldo is his idol so hopefully he will be nails like Nick was. Call me a fan.

Aaron Oberholser- Aaron is the biggest dork on tour. Every comment he makes is a complaint or an insult. He is also really good and personality flaws don’t show up on the scorecard.

Steve Flesch- This is a sentence from Wikipedia about Steve, “His first win on the PGA Tour was the 2003 HP Classic of New Orleans, but he is probably best known for his come-from-behind victory at the 2004 Bank of America Colonial.” Yea what a tournament that Colonial was.

Steven Ames- Stephen did not endear himself to the golfing public when he sort of took a shot at Tiger a few years ago. I don’t really care about that. My biggest problem with Mr. Ames is his incredible resemblance to Mr. Ed.

Example:

























John Senden- John is having a pretty good year so far. He says if he wasn’t on tour he would be a sheep farmer in Australia. Outside of the fact that they are both outdoors, I don’t think there are two professions more different.

Jonathan Byrd- It is good to see Jon getting his game together.

Woody Austin- I think it is hard to say who had a better PGA last year between Tiger and woody. Tiger won so he gets a point there but Woody emerged as a renegade goofball who wasn’t afraid to go after Tiger, even if his points made no sense. His high finish catapulted him to the President’s Cup where he became America’s hero by falling into a lake. Woody is now a borderline superstar. He is very much like a goofy 2000 Hal Sutton. Tiger’s life continued as normal. You tell me who the winner was.

Calc (Mark Calcavechia)- Calc is just dominating life right now. His golf game is good, he is married to a woman 20 years younger than him. However, I don’t think he has the putter needed to win at Augusta.

Badds (Aaron Baddelly)- Ever since the MacGregor commercial went off the air, Badds has improved significantly. Is it possible he was as embarrassed as he should have been? Badds contended at Oakmont when the fairways and course were dried out and the ball rolled. But I don’t think he hits it far enough off the tee to be a factor at Augusta if it plays like they are saying it will.

Paul Casey- I respect Casey for choosing to live and play golf in his native country rather than coming to the U.S. I would much rather live where I knew what was going on than in a foreign country. However, you would also think he might want to win a major and compete to be the best player in the world. Since 3 of the 4 majors are played in the U.S. every year it would suit him to play over here more I would think.

Goose (Retief Goosen)- Remember when there was the big five of Tiger, Phil, Vijay, Ernie and Goose? Apparently all the driving ranges in South Africa closed. What a shame because Ernie and Goose had some talent.

Lee Westwood- Every year the media falls in love with Westwood and Darren Clarke. Here are Lee’s results the last eight years in majors. Color me not sold.

Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
The Masters
CUT DNP 44 DNP DNP CUT CUT T30
U.S. Open
T5 CUT DNP DNP T36 T33 DNP T36
The Open Championship
T64 T47 CUT CUT 4 CUT T31 T35
PGA Championship
T15 T44 CUT CUT CUT T17 T29 T32


Zach Johnson- One year ago Zach became the proud owner of a new green jacket. I have to admit I did not see it coming. However, I never expected the ramifications of his win to stretch across sports to NCAA basketball. When Zach won, Drake was just little college is Iowa. Inspired by the greatness of Zach the basketball team went wild and was ranked in the top 25 most of the year. Unfortunately they were beat on what was probably single best play of the NCAA tournament.

My queer (Mike Weir) – Was there really a playoff at the Masters in the middle of Tiger and Phils prime that involved Mike Weir and Len Mattiace? How did that happen?

Jim Furyk- Is there anything to say about Jim that has not already been said? He has a funny swing, he is strikingly bald when the cap comes off, he is the worst dresser on tour, his dad is his teacher, he is a good putter, a top five player in the world and the most annoying player to watch on tour.

Andres Romero- As I mature at a very slow pace I am still able to make my schedule around sporting events. However, once in awhile I have to miss something. When that happens I stay updated on the action via text message from co-author Kenny Riddell. Last year during the British Open Kenny had to attend a wedding. As that was also the weekend my beloved automobile met its fate so I enjoyed a nice pancake breakfast at a restaurant within walking distance and returned to my apartment for 10 hours of golf. Anyways, I was watching the dual between Paddy and Sergio when all of a sudden some Argentinian I had never heard of had a two shot lead. In my texts to Kenny I simply referred to him as “some guy from Argentina” because that was all he was then. Predictably, especially at Carnoustie, Andres made a double and fell one shot short of the playoff. However, he won the next week and won at the Zurich a couple weeks ago. There are not too many 26 year olds with two worldwide wins. Keep your eye on Andres.

Sean O’Hair- Sean is money. He is good and he has won a few times.

Trevor Immelman- The I-Man has not raised his game to the next level like I was expecting. I figured we would be discussing him with the likes of Scott, Sergio and Ogilvy as the next level behind Phil and Tiger. He is not to that level yet though.

Adam Scott- Last week Adam Scott shot 63 in the first round. I told my roommate I expect him to win by 5 last week and then shoot 79 in the first round of the Masters. Scott then got sick and now cant practice this week. He could shoot between 15 under and 20 over and I would not be surprised.

John Holmes (J.B.)- The man who is singularly responsible for making my hand famous and short hand modeling career, before George Costanza beat me out. John came out on fire this year. In his short career he has proven to an exceptional west coast player, especially Phoenix which does not really make any sense because he is from Kentucky. John is an exciting player to watch, but just not a good enough putter to win at Augusta right now. Finally, John is sponsored by YUM! Brands. I wonder if he worked it out in his contract that he gets free all you can eat KFC buffets all over the U.S. and China? I imagine in his rookie deal he might not have had this savvy but in the next deal I think both parties know it is coming.


See you again next year
As we know the top 16 and ties are invited back to the Masters every year.

16) Paddy (Padraig Harrington)- Padraig won a major. I am still not really sure of that but I guess it happened. I saw he keeps the Claret Jug in the middle of his kitchen table. Good spot for it.

15) Angel Cabrera- For years Angel was the ultimate lurker at Augusta. He would show up on random days and make some noise and then fade down the stretch. Then all of the sudden he shows up on Sunday at what might be world’s hardest course (with all due respect to Winged Foot and Carnoustie) and wins the U.S. Open by beating the world’s best player. It was stunning to be honest, highlighted by the pack of smokes Angel ingested on 17 and 18.

14) Last year I grouped Henrik and Niclas Fasth. Of course unbeknownst to me at the time Henrik had become one of Kenny’s favorite golfers and Henrik also took an early first round lead. So this year I asked Kenny to write for Henrik (and Camilo) and was honored to have him accept.

Henrik Stenson - Ever since Stan and I witnessed the peak of David Duval’s career meltdown at the 2003 Memorial, I’ve been patiently waiting for a player of similar talent to come along. As much as I’m a believer in the ability of Hunter Mahan, Henrik “Steely” Stenson just might be the best prospect to have a Duval-esque career in a long time. First of all, he gets obvious extra points for being the second “Steely” since “Steely Dan”. Throw in the fact that he’s got Nick Faldo’s former caddy, Fanny, on the bag, and he sports the same wrap-around shades look as Double D did during his run in the late 90s and early 2000s, and I think we’ve got ourselves the next big foreign superstar. I honestly don’t think it’s unrealistic to expect two green jackets sitting in his champion’s locker someday. Let’s also not forget that before Tiger, Phil and “Hair Plugs” Johnson were donning green jackets, The Masters was OWNED by foreign golfers. Seve Ballesteros, Ian Woosnam, Bernhard Langer, and Jose Maria-Olazabal all handled Amen Corner in their day. Toss in Henrik’s wins at the WGC-Accenture Match Play and Dubai in 2007 and I would not be surprised to see Steely sneak in a top 5 at Augusta this year. Interesting sidebar question here: Would you rather buy stock in the careers of Geoff Ogilvy or Henrik Stenson? I’d be a buyer of Stenson’s all day long and I’ll be extremely disappointed if he only turns out to be the next Retief Goosen. He’s that good, folks. As for this week, I don’t think he’s ready to introduce himself to the world so let’s let Steely keep building on his reputation as a “Global Player” and earmark $50 to bet on him to win this year’s British Open.


13) Steve Stricker- The race for number 3 in the world is on and Steve is right in the middle of it. I really cant believe how fast Steve has climbed after he was basically off tour three years ago. One thing you will hear all week is that Steve is a great putter, and he is most of the time. The only time the flat stick lets him down is Sunday when he is near the lead. He missed about 4 3-5 footers to completely give away his chances at the British. He just seems to have a slight decel and leaves everything a little right.

12) The Lion (Vijay Singh)- Last year at this time the enthusiasm for the Lion was at an all time high. He had gone back to the belly putter won twice and was starting to look like the man that was actually better than Tiger a few years ago. What a difference a year makes. Vijay has given away two tournaments (Pebble and Bay Hill for those of you scoring at home), has changed putters and grips a few times, hasn’t made a 12 footer all year, and in the strangest move of all changed his swing and his clubs lie angle very dramatically. I hate to say it but the Lions days of winning the Masters are over. It just puts too much pressure on your ball striking to only be able to make birdies by two putting par fives and hitting it within 3 feet.

On a sidenote, there is a person on the floor where I work that is almost a dead ringer for Vijay. Hopefully she doesn’t read this but it is one of the highlights of my day to see her doing the Vijay walk.


11) Bubba Watson- I highly doubt Bubba will get it together long enough to make a run at the Masters, but if he does you will hear two things from the announcers. One, Bubba moves the ball a lot. Meaning he hits big slices and hooks on each shot. Second, he plays most of his practice rounds with Tiger. I have a theory for why Tiger has becomes friends with Bubba of all people. I call this my Charles Barkely theory. As has been well chronicled Michael Jordan and Charles are and were and are very good friends. Aside from being a person Michael liked, he also knew that Charles would never work hard enough to beat him. Michael hated Isaiah (Mickelson) seemed okay with the Legend (Vijay) and did not really think about many other guys of the time like Ewing, Reggie Miller, Clyde the Glide etc. Tiger knows that Bubba would fall apart if it was ever close between them so he has allowed him into the circle.


10) El Nino (Sergio Garcia)- One of my many theories about putting and life is that people don’t change a lot if they are happy with the way things are going. Well this year Sergio has changed putters and grips every week I have seen him. He also played one round with two putters in his bag. To his credit he only used one of the putters as he explained he only brought both in case something went wrong with the first one. Sounds like a confident man on the greens. Luckily for him, the greens at Augusta National are pretty easy to putt so having no confidence in the flat stick should not be a problem.

9) Hunter Mahan- My good friend, editor and contributing writer made a great call comparing Hunter Mahan to a pre-meltdown David Duval. Hunter was the #1 ranked junior coming out of high school, an all-american in college, and combined with Sean O’Hair one of the few young players playing well on a consistent basis.

8) Fatty (Phil Mickelson)- Following the Enron/Worldcom/Sarbanes Oxley blowup in the early part of this decade, three of the big four accounting firms spun off their consulting practices. Phil went from wearing the KPMG Consulting visor to Bearing Point. However, as the 2008 campaign begun Phil reemerged with a KPMG visor. I am not really sure why KPMG felt the need to advertise with Phil, but they did. This raised a very interesting question for me, if I worked at KPMG would I be able to handle having Phil as the face of the company? I think not. I would be looking for a new job right now.

7) K.J. Choi- Remember the 2003 U.S. Open? Don’t worry golf fans, it was won by the most boring major winner of all time, Jim Furyk. I point this out because very soon we are going to be dealing with a more forgettable major and a more boring champion. Someday soon K.J. is going to win a major. K.J. has quietly worked his way up to 6th in the world, won Tiger’s tournament and consistently can be found on the top of the leaderboard at majors. Tiger might do us all a favor and keep this from happening this year, but it is coming. I think we can all rest easy it did not happen when Hootie was in charge because the thick southern accent and Korean interpreter might have had a tough time.

6) Stewart Cink- After the debacle at Southern Hills in 2004 Stewie’s game fell apart for a little while. He has seemed to reemerge though recently with a string of top 5 finishes this winter/spring. He looks like a lock for the Ryder Cup. However, he has only won 4 times and almost always falls apart under pressure.

5) Rory Sabatini- Rory is a jerk, but I would like to thank him for providing us with one of the greatest moments in golf this year. Tiger invited Rory to play in his charity event in December called the Target World Challenge. Last year at Wachovia, Tiger and Rory had a bit of a tiff but Tiger invites the top twelve on the money list to his 16 player tournament. Rory decided to quit with one round to play, and Tiger was not happy. However, if Tiger would have blasted him in the media we would still be hearing about it on “Around the Horn.” That is when Captain America (Boom Boom) came swooping in to defend Tiger, and create two great things. One, an alliance between the worlds coolest man and the worlds greatest golfer, and a guarantee that we will be seeing Boom playing in the Target World Challenge for years to come. With the Skins game, the Target world challenge and the Masters, Boom can pretty much take off the rest of the year and make a good living.

4) The Big Easy (Ernie Els)- Three years ago the Big Easy announced he had the three year plan to become #1 in the world. That plan has worked out about as well as the 10 year plan from the Old Guy in Big Daddy. However, somewhat quietly for a top 10 player and three time major champion, the Easy has actually started playing pretty good. He almost/should have won in Dubai, but he also proved he still cant beat Tiger. But then he did actually win at the Honda. The Easy has traditionally played well at Augusta and I could see him doing something this weekend, until he looks at the leaderboard and sees “Woods.”


3) Boom Boom (aka Captain America) (Fred Couples)- When Boom took an early lead at Bay Hill it was all the internet could do to help from exploding. You could feel the excitement in the air. With Steve Lowery winning at Pebble and Jeff Maggert showing signs of life at the Honda, it was like the early nineties had returned. Sadly, Boom faded down the stretch and never really contended, but it was sign that Boom was back. Last year Mr. Couples only played 6 rounds on tour. Even the biggest die hard Duffey D had worries that maybe the end was in sight. However, we now know Freddie will be around for at least a few more years and this year he has a chance to break the record for most cuts made in a row at Augusta at 24.


2) Geoff Ogilvy- As soon I saw Geoff hitting pitch shots at the 2003 U.S. Open I was intrigued. Geoff later used that touch, with a little help from Monty and Phil, to get up and down on the last hole of the U.S. Open and win. Since then Geoff has become one of the best players in the world. Geoff has a great short game, hits it good and contends at all the big events. I am pretty sure we are looking at 3-4 majors for Geoff.


1) Tiger- I know, it is boring and I agree, but how can someone justify picking someone else. Tiger is the greatest player of all time or will be there soon enough, depending on how you judge. His only flaw is a mildly wild driver, but he has learned to put it away when he needs to and has been putting like a mad man. Tiger has gotten back to his form in the 2000-2002 form of not making any bogeys but he has also developed a penchant for making a bunch of birdies and going really low once a tournament. Once he gets into the lead and goes into par mode it is all over. I hope everyone enjoys their Masters weekend.