Masters Preview 2014

The Masters Preview 2014

For all of us in the north it has been a very long winter waiting for spring.  Thankfully we have had our friends on the PGA tour to watch each week so we could see the sunshine on tv each week.  Based on the weekend forecast, it looks like even mother nature knows The Masters is here it is time for spring.  Tomorrow when Jack, Arnie and Gary get us started we are all in for a big treat.

The pre-tournament build-up has focused on a two things not at Augusta and a whole bunch of rookies.  The two things missing will certainly change the feel of things in different ways.  First, the Eisenhower pine was lost this winter due to a storm.  It appears that it will open up the left side of 17^th fairway.  Somewhere, Ike thrilled it finally happened.  Will it change the hole?  I do not know.  Second, as I am sure everyone knows, the jungle cat is recovering from back surgery somewhere on the planet. 

There are also a record setting (not counting 1934 when The Masters began) 24 players making their debut this year.  This new influx of talent is adding to the feeling that anyone can win this week.

I hope everyone enjoys the weekend of golf!

Past Champions

Most of these guys are well past their primes and just basking in the glow of a life changing week in years gone by.  Mike Weir and Trevor Immelman are just in a years long struggle.

Ben Crenshaw - This is the only major Gentle Ben will play in this year, but his most important involvement will come at the US Open when both the men and women play on Pinehurst #2 which he redesigned. 

There is an interesting article in the most recent Golf Magazine about Ben’s first Masters win 30 years ago and how it came shortly after he and his wife decided to get divorced. Famously, his second was shortly after his teacher Harvey Penick died.  Hopefully, he isn’t dealing with a tragic life event, but if he is he might be in contention to make the cut.

Bernhard Langer - Just three major champions preparing for the upcoming season together.

Sandy Lyle - Sandy made the cut at both the Masters and the British Open last year.  A somewhat surprising feat, now Sandy is thinking he can contend this week.  He just needs everything to go his way. 

More importantly, when I saw that Adam Scott was serving bugs ‘n’ pav for the champions dinner, I thought Sandy might have lost the title of worst Champions dinner ever.  For the Champions dinner in 1989 he served haggis.  It turns out that the bugs in this case are like lobsters in Australia.  Much like Fosters is Australian for beer. 

Jose Maria Olazabal - Jose is the youngest of these guys who really not trying to compete for the green jacket anymore. 

Ian Woosnam - “Stewart Cink, Tim Clark, Ian Woosnam, no – sorry, Woosie, didn’t mean that!”  This was a Rory describing all the people he thought could win this week.  I don’t think Woosy will be too upset since in a recent interview he said, if everyone else withdraws he has an excellent shot.  He is making his first appearance of the year at The Masters because of a bad back so even that wouldn’t be a sure thing.  He will be driving the band wagon for fellow Welshman Jamie Donaldson.

Vijay Singh - You have to respect that Vijay is continuing to play on the PGA tour rather than the easy living on the Champions tour.  However he isn’t having the success these days. 

The most interesting thing Vijay is doing in the world of golf is his lawsuit with the PGA tour.  You may recall this is related to his admitted use of deer antler spray, back when that was a big deal.  It sounds like the PGA tour continues to lose hearings to Vijay in this case and if they don’t settle might have to release some records related to drug testing they would probably prefer to keep private.  I am guessing before that happens Vijay will walk away with a nice payday.   

Larry Mize - Aside from the rookies, another large contingent of players (with some crossover) in this year’s Masters are the guys from or played their golf in Georgia.  Not long ago it was a big deal when Chucky three sticks and Vaughn Taylor were playing.  Now we have Larry (Georgia Tech, Augusta), Bubba (Georgia), Russell Henley (Georgia), Harris English (Georgia), Patrick Reed (Augusta State), Kuchar (Georgia Tech), Roberto Castro (Georgia Tech), Stew Cink (Georgia Tech), Chris Kirk (Georgia) and Boo Weekley.  Over 10% of the players are Georgians or alums from a Georgia college.

Mike Weir - The good news for the queer he has only missed one cut in a row.  The bad news is he has only made one cut in his last ten tournaments.  His game seems all but gone as he is ranked 692^nd in the world.  He can always take pride in the way he inspired a little known lefty named Phil to start winning majors.

Craig Stadler - There have been a lot of great father son duos in the game of golf, but the first two to play in the Masters at the same time will be the Stadlers.  The key is really to have the dad win the Masters so he can play forever and then all the son has to do is qualify.  That is obviously simple if the dad does the heavy lifting of actually winning.   

Tom Watson - Captain America.  I hope Tom is just scouting out his players for the Ryder Cup team.  Fortunately, he has decided if the back is okay the feline will be in Scotland.  So he needs to decide which other three players to invite.  There are a lot of good young players to scout this week.   

Mark O'Meara - Mark is having a good year on the Champions tour.  The most noteworthy news story I could find about him recently are the fact that he and Tiger are not as close as they use to be.  And by that he means, they don’t really speak to each other and aren’t friends anymore.  According to Mark he sends texts to Tiger about how life is and a week later Tiger responds with a weather report.   

The Amateurs

This is a talented group of amateurs, but aren’t they all. 

Matthew Fitzpatrick - Despite the fact that he looks like his about 14, Matt is a college drop out touring amateur.  After a summer that included a low amateur finish at the British Open and the US Amateur title, the young amateur spent one semester at Northwestern.  Much like the Wildcat football team, he decided to only participate in the first half of the year and became a “touring amateur” in January.  He has set his goal for the year to be the low amateur at all three majors.  He said he doesn’t have a plan after that, but I think it is safe to say he will be turning pro the day after the British Open ends.

Chang-woo Lee - Chang-Woo is probably the best amateur playing this year.  He won the Asia Pacific Amateur last year to earn his spot into Augusta.  Since then he won a tournament on the Korean tour and tied for second with Rory in another one. 

Oliver Goss - The US Amateur runner up, by way of Australia is one of two Tennessee Volunteers amateurs in this event.  Oliver found his way to Knoxville from Australia. 

Michael McCoy – Michael got into the Masters by winning the US Mid-Am which usually produces the worst player in the field.  Michael is the only person in the field who has a job that isn’t playing golf.  He is an insurance salesman from Iowa.  He is also old enough to play on the senior tour at 51.  Given these two facts, I don’t like his chances very much but he should be an inspiration to all of us. 

Garrick Porteous - Apparently the coach of Tennessee does a nice job of recruiting foreigners.  Garrick is an Englishman but went to Tennessee in Knoxville.  He got into the Masters by winning the British Amateur.   He will likely turn pro Friday after the cut, but it could be Sunday.  Either way, this is his last event as an amateur. 

Jordan Niebrugge - Jordan will become the 14^th person from Wisconsin to tee it up at Augusta.   Jordan somehow escaped from Andy North’s grasp and he attends Oklahoma State University.  Hopefully he can someday get into the Badger basketball watching parties Andy and Steve Sticker have.  The Oklahoma State golf alumni is strong, but Andy got Stircker to abandon the Illini.  He can convert Jordan too.

Trunk Slamming

The cut at the Masters is now the top 50 and ties and anyone within 10 shots of the lead.  Last year this ended up being 61 people.  There are 97 players in this year’s tournament.  I put 11 in the past champions category and there are 6 amateurs.  Some of the people from that group will make the weekend but not many.  So only about 20 other golfers will end up missing the cut. 

Sang-Moon Bae –The Resort- The resort is making only his second start at The Masters, and based on his current form it might be his last. Bae is currently last of players in the Masters (and also the PGA Tour) in greens in regulation.  He will need to get a lot worked out on the range this week to get the iron game worked out.

Steven Bowditch - Steven completely came out of nowhere two weeks ago to win and earn his spot in The Masters.  He then played in Houston last week so he was just seeing Augusta for the first time Monday.  Almost all of the day was rained out Monday, so yesterday was the first time Steven played Augusta National.  Even though there are a lot of rookies playing at the Masters this year, none of them have less experience at Augusta then Bowditch.  This is not good for his chances.

Kevin Stadler - Kevin won the Phoenix Open defeating Bubba Watson is what might have been the worst putting duel of the year.  Kevin was missing 5 footers on every other hole for birdie, but fortunately for him Bubba was missing them for par.  Apparently, Kevin is almost unable to putt without a long putter.  He has been practicing putting left handed because he is so bad and his long putter will be illegal next year.  Unfortunately, the ban on the long putter might very well be end of any future father son pairing for the Stadlers in years forward.  The fact that Kevin is pretty shaky with his long wand will make it a short weekend for him. 

Lucas Glover - This is more than likely we will be seeing Lucas playing at Augusta in a while as his exemption from the US Open victory expires after this tournament.  Last year it looked like he might be turning a corner but his game has regressed back to lousy.  At least he had some happiness when the Buckeyes made Sammy Watkins look like Jerry Rice and Randy Moss combined.

Kevin Streelman - Kevin is dealing with a problem many of you have experienced, parenthood.  He is certainly not the first person whose golf game was hurt by raising a child.  The bad thing for him is it is his job. 

Boo Weekley - It is good to have Boo back into the Masters.  It will probably be a short trip though.  Boo might have put on the best ball striking round of the year, as well as the worst putting round of the year in the last round of Colonial last year.  It would have made Hogan very proud.  On the back nine he was routinely hitting it inside 10 feet only to badly miss the putt.  This is pretty consistent with his game.

Y.E. Yang - I hate to say it but this is likely to be the last Masters the yang-a-tang will play in because like Lucas Glover his exemption from his surprising major victory in 2009.  Unfortunately, the yang-a-tang’s golf game has gone the same way the drink I invented for him has, which is downhill.

If you don’t know or can’t remember, the Yang-a-Tang recipe is vodka (to your choosing), Tang, and a dash of soy sauce.  I believe Mouton is serving a variation of it, but I am not certain of that.

D.A. Points - D.A. has spent most of the year either missing cuts or finishing about 60^th.  However, at Pebble Beach he got DQ’d to spice up his poor showings.  During a long wait on a tee he got a ball his instructor had given him and put it under his arm pit and mimicked a swing.  This was a rules violation and it was discovered after he had signed his scorecard.  That was that.  Interestingly, he was paired with Condoleeza Rice and their pro-am team was allowed to continue to play, even though he was not in the tournament.  They ended up missing the cut though, probably because D.A. wasn’t playing very well.

Roberto Castro - According to his profile, Roberto’s dream foursome would be himself, Tiger and Bobby Jones and John Lennon.  Sounds like three interesting people, but the mechanics of all of them playing golf would be chaos (assuming Bobby and John are alive).  You have two of the all time greats, a PGA tour player and a musician who I have never heard of golfing despite reading a lot about the Beatles.  Tiger, Bobby and Roberto are shooting par or better, meanwhile John is everywhere.  This is never fun for anyone, but especially I can see Tiger getting annoyed.  I don’t know what age all these people in the foursome would be, but more than likely Yoko is caddying for John so that’s another element of weirdness that Bobby especially would not be able to handle.  Best case scenario you can talk John into picking up and singing a few songs. 

On second thought, I think John could beat Tiger.  Look at that swing. 

K.J. Choi – The Tank- The Tank just keeps rolling along, but he isn’t playing very well so far this year.  He has spent some time tutoring Chang-Woo this week too.

Scott Stallings - The big man that wears little shirts is coming off three straight missed cuts.  However, he won in San Diego earlier this year.  I am chalking that up to a hot week and guessing the three missed cuts are closer to reality.

Louis Oosthuizen - Louis has been battling a back injury for last year.  Based on his latest results it is hard to think he is healthy.  The year he lost in a playoff at Augusta to Bubba he had won at Houston the week before.  This year he missed the cut.  I based my prediction on this set of facts.

Stewart Cink - Stew hasn’t played good golf since he beat Tom Watson to win the British in 2009.  However, he did make some news this year with a ridiculous head tan line in Hawaii earlier this year.    

Darren Clarke - “The putting is driving me to distraction,” Clarke confessed before exhaling on a cigarette. “If I was yipping them or doing something like that, I’d go to the long putter but I’m not. My green reading has been very, very poor.”  This is very bad news for his hopes.  It is also a little confusing how this becomes a common problem for a world class golfer.

John Huh - Huh? Is Huh still around?  Barely.  Huh is really struggling so far this year.  He finished 11^th last year which is why he got invited back.

Brendon de Jonge – Brendon is a Virginia Tech alum and the Buckeyes will be clashing with them next year.  I recently saw Ohio State is paying VT $350K to come to Columbus.  I found this strange because OSU is going down there next year, and VT will then pay OSU.  Why not just call it a wash? 

Ken Duke - Ken won for the first time last June at the age of 44.  He has been on just about every tour there is and it was great to see him win after 187 starts before the win.  He did qualify for The Masters one other time in 2009 and he finished 35^th that time.  It was cool when he won in Hartford, but The Masters does not have journeymen pros win.    

Derek Ernst - Derek won in Charlotte last May in his rookie year.  He was probably the most surprising winner on tour last year.  He was the fourth alternate to get in and won.  Since then he hasn’t done much, missing 19 of 27 cuts.

Billy Horschel - Last year when the Masters was played, Billy was probably the hottest player in the world.  In the four tournaments surrounding The Masters, two on each side, he finished 2^nd, 3^rd, 9^th and 1^st.   He wasn’t qualified for the Masters so he didn’t play.  This year thanks to that good play last year he is qualified, but isn’t playing nearly as well.  This year, his last four tournaments are missed cut, 50^th, 43^rd and missed cut. 

Matt Every – So far in his career Matt has tended to learn things the hard way.  His caddie saved him at Bay Hill, but will he be able to do it every time he needs to at Augusta?  I am envisioning a shot out of the trees into the water on 13, or trying to drive 3, screwing up and then totally unraveling.  As he has done with many things so far in his career, he will have to learn how to play Augusta the hard way.

Trevor Immelman - The I Man got sent down the minor leagues last fall after another bad year on the PGA tour and was at risk of losing his PGA tour card.  While there he won the prestigious Hotel Fitness Championship to secure his card for this year.  He was also the only Masters champion in the field, but winning on any tour is tough.  I am sure he isn’t happy with his game, but Mike Weir is playing so bad that he is distracting most from noticing I Man’s struggles since his victory.  Since his big win at the Hotel Fitness Championship he has missed 9 of 16 cuts and will be right back there if he doesn’t turn it around.

Stephen Gallacher - There is something about hosting a Ryder Cup or a Presidents Cup ti inspire people from that country to make the team.  It appears Gallacher is a guy who is working hard to make the Ryder Cup this year.  If he were to win here would pretty much be a lock to make the team.

Weekend Warriors

As mentioned above, the top 50 and ties will make it to the weekend and anyone within 10 shots of the lead. 

Branden Grace - Branden is a really good player from South Africa.  He got a terrible tee time though.  It probably wont be as distracting as playing with John Lennon would be, but he is playing with what might be the two worst players in the field, Mike McCoy and Larry Mize. 

Peter Hanson - Peter was in the leader going into the final round two years ago.  He got passed by Louis and Bubba but ended up finishing 3^rd.  So far this year he has been playing poorly so I don’t expect that to happen again. 

Thongchai Jaidee - Thongchai makes his return to Augusta after two previous trips to Augusta.  In both 2006 and 2010 he failed to make the cut, but he is coming having played well at Doral.  If he makes the cut he will be the first person from Thailand to make the cut at the Masters. 

Miguel Angel Jimenez - The Mechanic has enjoyed success during round 1 of the Masters many times.  In fact, according to thesportinglife.com he is the favorite to be leading after day one.  If you can find that bet with your local bookie it might be the way to go.

Martin Kaymer - Marty changed his whole swing so he could play better at Augusta.  At the time he decided to make the change he was ranked #1 in the world, but had never made the cut at Augusta.  Now almost three years later he is ranked #63, but has made the cut the last two years at Augusta. 

Chris Kirk - I was reading a roundtable of former champions and this is the guy Arnold Palmer picked.  Arnold has won four times so he has probably been right on predicting the winner four times more than I have.

On a side note, do we really need a three night television event to relive Arnie’s career on The Golf Channel? I understand he helped start it but that might even seem like overkill to him.  I saw a three minute clip about a tournament he didn’t win. 

Joost Luiten – You may remember Joost from the 2012 PGA.  In the first round he was running away with the tournament at 8 under with 4 to play. People were talking 59, but he ended up bogeying the last four holes that day.  Eventually, Joost fell back to 21^st but not before introducing the golfing public to such a great name and one that would fit in perfectly in NHL.

David Lynn - David Lynn seems like a screwball English comedian.  A much less funny, golfer version of the Ricky Gervais/Steven Merchant duo.  I hope he can keep playing well so I can continue to research him each year.  He has an amusing twitter feed as well https://twitter.com/DaveLynndawg

Hideki Matsuyama - Ryo is the bashful prince, but Hideki is the best young player from Japan.  He is long and straight off the tee and has a really good short game.  His iron game is a little off at times, but he is really good.  I predict he will be the first Japanese golfer to win a Masters.

Francesco Molinari - Moliari brothers are only one this year.  I follow Francesco on twitter and he seems like a super guy, but doesn’t do a whole lot.  He is either golfing, skiing and watching soccer.  He is coming off a fifth place finish at Bay Hill in his last tournament.

Thorbjørn Olesen - Since he came stateside in late January, Thorbjorn has not been very good.  He has missed three cuts and lost in the first round of the match play tournament.  Between him and Thomas Bjorn, the Danish will remain without a green jacket for another year.

Ian Poulter – Poultry- A year ago the build up to the Masters was focused on Tiger, but after that there was a fair amount of discussion about the English invasion.  With Poultry, Rose, Westwood and Luke Donald all with good odds.  This year we are hearing all we hear is Aussie, Aussie Aussie.  Naturally, an Englishman will probably win. Regarding Poultry, he is just not a good enough ball striker or long enough to compete with most of his contemporaries at the beefed up Augusta.  Add to that he isn’t playing good and you have a recipe for a cut. 

John Senden - John regularly leads the tour in greens in regulation.  The fact that you might not have heard of him probably tells you all you need to know about his short game and putting specifically.  However, he won two weeks ago and made the cut last year. 

Harris English - If you are a Davis Love fan, this is your new guy.  A four time all-American at Georgia, tall, long, really good and a resident of Sea Island.  He is making his first start here at Augusta, but a lot of people like his chances. 

Jamie Donaldson - We had Victor come out of nowhere at the WGC match play and Jamie could be the one to do it at Augusta.  He finished 3^rd at Doral and is making his second start at The Masters so he should have a better feel for things.  On top of that, once Woosy misses the cut he will be there to coach him along.

Gary Woodland - From his PGATour profile “Favorite TV show is "Two and a Half Men." Favorite movie is "Gladiator." Favorite food is steak.” That is a man right there.  He is back with a new team (coach, caddie, putting instructor, water boy, general lackey, etc) for the third time in as many years, and this current one has Gary back on the right path.  His biggest hindrance has always been his short game, but he says it is improved.  We will see how much. 

Jim Furyk - I have only been to one major in my life.  Jim won it.  Despite this overwhelming evidence that I caused him to win, he has never invited me to attend another one.  I will let you know if he calls me, but as of now I am planning to stay home.  Look for Jim to either have a comfortable top 20 finish, or another devastating second place finish. 

Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano - Other than the fact that he is a good golfer from Spain I don’t know much about Gonzo.  So I googled him to find some information about him so I could write 3-4 sentences about him.  After my search I was offered some images and some other stuff.  This is pretty consistent with how google works if you are reading this from 1999.  In the little image previews I saw some pictures of him holding a trophy standing next to what I thought was a model.  Then I noticed he was kissing her.  Turns out it was his wife.  It is amazing what being rich and famous can do for a guy.

Marc Leishman - He played with Adam Scott in the final round last year en route to a 4^th place finish.  The sweet swinging Australian hung in there last year after leading after the first round. 

Luke Donald - Remember when Luke was #1 in the world?  Seems like a long time ago, but it was only about 20 months ago.  He is currently in the midst of a swing change so I wouldn’t expect a turn around this week.

Nick Watney - His wife had a baby a month ago, which prompted him to withdraw from Doral.  Since then he hasn’t played in any tournaments.  I cant imagine he has been playing a lot of golf either. If I could figure out whether his wife and new born are with him at Augusta or not I would feel better about predicting his fate but I am guessing he is coming in rusty.

Ernie Els – It would be awesome to see The Big Easy win a green jacket, but I just don’t see it this year.  As he has aged his putter got a little shaky, but the belly putter really helped him.  However, in order to be in compliance with the ban next year when it takes affect, Els is putting with a normal putter.  This will not help at Augusta.

 

Thomas Bjørn – One thing that has always bummed me out about Bjorn is the fact that his last name translates to bear in Danish.  I was bummed because he does lumber around like a bear.  However, there cant be another golfer with his nickname involve the bear animal.  There is the golden bear and that is it.

Matt Jones – I watched Matt play on Sunday at The Memorial last year.  I was very impressed.  He was playing with Bill Haas and Justin Rose.  Bill and Matt were chatting the whole time and playing as fast as they could.  Justin was playing so slow the other two were rolling their eyes at him as he stood over his ball.  Two weeks later Justin won the US Open.  This wont be Matt’s only Masters.

Steve Stricker - This will be only his fourth start of the year, including last week.  Instead of golf he has started to attend many Wisconsin Badger basketball games with his pal Andy North.  Last weekend he flew from Houston to Dallas to see the Badgers lose to Kentucky.  He has said this week he is rusty, which makes sense given his lack of play, but he has to have been inspired by the antics of Frank Kaminsky.

Webb Simpson - Izod has picked out a line of clothes this year for Webb and released them online, like every other clothes sponsor.  During The Masters he will be in red white and blue every round.  This is going to look sharp.  A couple years ago I started to try to work as much red, white and blue into my golf clothes as I could and it has really paid off.  You know you look sharp and match.  I highly recommend this move.

Jonas Blixt - Jonas is probably best known for dressing like Ricky Fowler on a day when he was paired with him.  He is also know for two wins, but is coming off two straight missed cuts. Or maybe he is known for his cool name.  Either way, he is making his debut at Augusta. 

Matteo Manassero - Matteo is not yet 21, but he is making his third start at The Masters this week.  Augusta is a tough course for him because he doesn’t hit the ball particularly far, but a lot of shots can be saved on the green where he excels.  He is also a really good competitor if he gets into contention. 

Jason Dufner - There is a lot I like about Dufner.  He has a great swing, he has an amusing demeanor on the course and it is great the way he has embraced dufnering.  The ball striking, and especially the driving display he put on at the PGA was amazing.  On the other hand, his putting was down right scary.  I have never seen a guy look so nervous and hit one foot putts softer.  He was dying in putts that in your weekend game you might call a gimme.  That worked out great at Southern Hills, but that is a recipe for disaster at Augusta. 

Russell Henley - From what I can gather, this picture pretty much sums up Russell Henley.  He likes golf, playing Guitar and Georgia football.  I heard him playing guitar on the golf channel and I can confirm he is really good at golf.

Keegan Bradley - Keegan hasn’t been as good as you would expect in the Masters.  There is no reason he should struggle at Augusta.  The most noteworthy thing he has going on for The Masters is the fact that he is wearing golf shoes modeled off the Jordans XI, also known as the Concords. 

As I was trying to type this I realized how out of it I am.  I had no idea if I should call the shoes Air Jordans, just plain old Jordans, are they known as Concords?  Anyway, if you happen to hear about a hole change involving basketball, Keegan is in good shape.

Lee Westwood - Lee Westwood comes in playing poorly but full of confidence.  Sounds about right. 

Dustin Johnson - Dustin is embroiled in controversy once again because his fiancé, Paulina Gretzky, is on the cover of Golf Digest.  This got a group of LPGA players upset.  I believe they are upset because they didn’t put Tiger, Phil or Adam Scott on the cover again this month, but it could be that they put an attractive woman on the cover.  In fact I think it was related to the attractive woman situation.  With this controversy in mind, I was at the bookstore this weekend and had a discouraging revelation, all the people on the covers of all the magazines are better looking than me.  Now I am upset about the whole industry not just Golf Digest.  Why are only good looking people on the cover of magazines? 

Anyway, Dustin has the game, but he wont win.  Even if he is close he will do something like try to chip left handed or get an absurd penalty stroke.   

Jimmy Walker – Jimmy’s play this year has been dy-no-mite.  But his finish at Pebble Beach, where he nearly blew a huge lead on the back nine has cooled him off.  Since that tournament, which was his second win in three tournaments and third of the season.  Since then he has played in 5 tournaments with his best finish being a tie for 16^th.  You cant blame the guy for not being hot all the time, he has basically clinched a spot on the Ryder Cup team.  But he cant blame me for doubting his chances for the green jacket.

Within Shouting Distance

These guys will be guys to keep your eye on at some point this weekend

Zach Johnson – The Jerk- The jerk is playing well and is suddenly in a lot of commercials.  If living well is the best revenge and he is really getting me back.  We should all hope to avoid a boring Masters won by a man laying up.  I get shaky just thinking about it.

Graeme McDowell - Graeme is playing really well.  He is leading the tour in putting so far this year.  He is routinely near the lead on the weekend so far this year.  He hasn’t had very much success at Augusta to this point.

More importantly, his restaurant, which I discussed last year seems to be off and running.  It is averaging a solid if not spectacular 3.5 stars on Yelp and a 72% on Urban Spoon.  For what I can gather from the reviews, they struggled with service in the beginning and their food is more bar food than gourmet.

Justin Rose - Rosie as they call him is coming in under the radar a little bit mainly because he hasn’t played very much.  After his win at the US Open he played well the second half of last year and this year when he has played.  He likes his chances as well, as he says, “this is my time.”

Rickie Fowler - Rick Fowler is on the upswing.  To this point, he has been a lot more steak than sizzle.  To his credit, some might have been content with having every 10-15 year old  and some lost 45 year olds at a tournament dress like him, but Rick was not.  He has set out on a path of improvement, mostly by hiring the best coach in the world Butch Harmon.  He finished 6^th last week in Houston and is rumored to have made 9 birdies and an eagle yesterday in his practice round Tuesday.   

Bill Haas - Bill is getting better each year.  He has progressively won more and more prestigious tournaments.  It seems he has to get into the mix mess up, learn from it and then win the next time.  There is no reason he couldn’t win The Masters, but if he follows that pattern he will have to get into the mix first.  Hopefully he will skip that step and just pull it off this year.

Hunter Mahan - Sometimes you watch Hunter and you just wonder how it the world he doesn’t win every week.  He hits it so straight, so long and pure every time.  Then you see him miss hit one and you remember that he can chip, and his putting is merely decent and very mechanical.  It hasn’t received as much coverage as one of his colleagues, but he is also nursing a sore back.  He wont win the Masters because he doesn’t have much of a short game.  Check back in on him at the other majors, although Pinehurst is no walk in the park for a lousy chipper.

Ryan Moore - Moore has never missed the cut at Augusta and is coming in playing better than any time before, not counting the year he played as an amateur.  He has gotten himself into shape thanks to a cross fit routine, which will help him on the hilly course.  Is he going to start living up to his promise when he turned pro?    

Charl Schwartzel - For those of you note getting up on the weekends and watching the European tour, here are the shenanigans you are missing.  Considering where the ball was I am not really sure how it wasn’t out of bounds.  It appears he is on a neighborhood road.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLZfp9qpLsQ

Anyway, Charl is really good and has done it before. 

Top 16

The top 16 get an invitation back next year

16) Brandt Snedeker - Twice he has been in the final group on Sunday, and he has averaged 76 in those final rounds.  So far this year he has putted poorly by his standards.  He played well at Bay Hill though and might be rounding into form. 

15) Bubba Watson- If a pro shoots in the 80s there is about a 90% he is going to withdraw.  When Bubba shot 83 at Bay Hill, partly caused by getting an 11 on one hole, it was no surprise he withdrew.  Can you imagine how hard it would have been to suck it up and play a round at Bay Hill on Friday morning?  Knowing he is going to withdraw he has ample time to think of a reason.  The reason he gave, allergies.  What a ridiculous reason to give.  Just go with the tried and true stiff back.  Dustin Johnson shot 80 last Friday, went with a stiff back, admitted his back was fine but just a hair tight and no one cared. 

All this said, Bubba has played really well this year.  He should have won in Phoenix, did win at Riviera and finished second at Doral.  Assuming his allergies are fine he could be putting on his second green jacket Sunday night. 

14)  Adam Scott – He gave away Bay Hill because his putter let him down.  He will never be a great putter but he made some clutch putts last year.  Only three guys have repeated at Augusta though.  Can he be the fourth?  I look for him to start strong but fade as the week goes along. 

13)  Graham DeLaet - Of all the guys I saw during the rain soaked Presidents Cup, I was most impressed with Graham.  He chipped in on 18 twice to keep the matches close enough to make it interesting.  He has played well so far this year but making his debut at Augusta will be tough.

Also, I know a lot of people who will read this were there with me, but I would recommend staying home to watch if the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup to your town. There is a lot of looking at empty holes.

12) Rory McIlroy - Rory is probably the most talented player in the world.  What he was doing last year I do not know, but people are jumping the gun a little bit saying he is back.  He is showing signs of his brilliance in most tournaments, but he is also struggling through rounds too.  Last week his final round 65 was combined with a 70, 71 and a 74.  His good rounds are great so he just needs to pair it with three good ones and he will be right there.  Right now he is pairing a great round with two average rounds and a bad one. 

11)  Angel Cabrera - Last year I wrote

“There is no reason to think Angel Cabrera can win this week, but there was no reason to think he would win the two majors he has won.  Form coming into an event does not make any difference to Angel.  He could shoot a million but if he is strutting around Sunday sucking down heaters in hopes to slip into his second green jacket I won’t be shocked either.  He is a true throw back to a different time.” 

There is no reason to change what I wrote last year.  He comes in having missed 4 of 6 cuts and his only recent success coming when he finished T5 at the 108 VISO open de Arentina, which was won by the immortal Marcelo Rozo.  But, if he is in the mix Sunday who is counting him out?

Go Duck!

10) Jordan Spieth - Jordan will turn 21 on July 27^th.  So far in his career, just about a season and a half he has earned $5.7M.  It seems like he is right up there every week and I expect him to be again this week.    

9)  Patrick Reed - Patrick is getting a lot of guff about his declaration that he considers himself a top five player in the world.  Keep in mind he said this right before he won at Doral against the best field of the year.  It was his third win in a year.  Based on what I can tell he rubs his peers the wrong way because he tells them he is going to beat them, and then he does.  There is another really popular player known as FIGJAM (F I’m Good Just Ask Me) so I don’t think this behavior is new.  I am glad to have this guy in the mix ruffling a few feathers.  It only makes the tour more interesting. 

8)  Fred Couples - Boom Boom will be aiming for his 5^th top 15 finish in a row this year.  He has played well so far on The Champions tour, although no season would be complete without an injured back scare.  This season his longtime clothing manufacturer Ashworth has decided to honor his 1992 Masters victory with a shirt.  I highly recommend picking up this shirt which can be found at www.ashworthgolf.com.  Mine is on the way.  Let’s hope he scoop up his second green jacket.

7)  Victor Dubuisson - Mains d’or- It is so nice to have a Frenchman back into golf.  Even though most golf fans, myself included, had never heard of the guy until he was making dazzling saves out of the cacti in Arizona, he is a really good player.  He is long and has a really good short game.  The short game brilliance is why I have stolen former Red’s shortstop Juan Castro’s nickname manos de oro (hands of golf), and translated it into French.  It is also just great to have a Frenchmen in the game.  With all due respect to Gregory Havret, not since Jean Van de Velde have the French been real active in world of golf.  It allows everyone to work on their French accents, make pepe le pew jokes and during the British Open have croissants for breakfast. 

6)  Tim Clark - There is a lot of discussion about the value of experience with so many rookies playing.  I am wondering if some of it is the guys who have experience trying to psych out some of the rookies.  I am sure there are some important things only experience can teach someone, but if you play good you play good.  That said, there is no doubt some guys play better on some courses than others.  A guy like Marty Kaymer may never play well at Augusta.  A guy like Tim Clark seems to play well at Augusta no matter how he comes into it. 

5)  Henrik Stenson - The man of steel was on fire last spring and fall.  He moved from 30^th in the world to 3^rd, won the Fed Ex Cup and the Race to Dubai with a run starting in the Scottish Open (the week before the British Open) to the Thailand Golf Chmapionship, over the course of 23 weeks when his finishes were 3^rd, 2^nd, 2^nd, 3^rd, 43^rd, 1^st, 33^rd, 1^st, 34^th, 31^st, 7^th, 1^st, 4^th, and 2^nd.  The streak earned him somewhere around $25M.  Understandably, the man of steel has started 2014 a little slow, but he got fifth at Bay Hill.  His game sets up well for Augusta too.  He is really long and really good. 

4)  Phil Mickelson - You have to love Phil and his “concerns” about his game being that he hasn’t won yet this year.  He has said numerous times this year that the parts of his game are all good but he hasn’t put them together.  If he gets them together this week he will win by five.  If he doesn’t he will contend.  Nobody knows the course better and no one will enjoy playing it more. 

3)  Matt Kuchar - On paper Kuchar is playing the best of anyone. He has been in the mix the last two weeks.  I have theory that if a guy is playing good he will stay in the mix to win until he wins and then drop off.  So I suspect he will be right in the thick of it again this weekend.  However, back to back bad finishes down the stretch scare me enough to wonder if he will be able to close the deal down the stretch.  

2)  Jason Day - Now that the Aussie curse is over will Jason be the next “wizard of Oz”?  If his wrist was fully healthy there is no doubt he would be the favorite.  He has been in the hunt two of the last three years.  But, is his wrist healthy?  He hasn’t played in a tournament since he won the match play tournament in late February.  I hope the hometown favorite can do it, but the combination of rust and an injured wrist makes me think the green jacket will belong to another Sunday night.

1) Sergio Garcia -The Canary- Is it finally time for the oft tortured Garcia to win a major?  I say yes.  He could have won a couple majors by now, but he hasn’t either because he got beat or he beat himself.  Sergio has always had all the game to win anywhere except he completely lost control of his putter.  Now, thanks to the claw grip, his putter seems reliable enough for him to succeed.  He has played consistently well over the course of the last year and his last ten finishes are 11^th, 4^th, 2^nd, 1^st, 19^th, 1^st, 9^th, 8^th, 16^th, and 3^rd.  More than anything, I think Sergio thinks he can win.  He wont be holding press conferences saying he cant win a major, his long time nemesis Tiger won’t be there, and he is showing a resiliency recently that we haven’t seen before.

The Canary will look good in green.