The Best Week in Golf: The Masters

As a caddie and golf connaisseur, there is one week where I truly enjoy being introduced to the game of golf: Masters Week. Yes, there are other tournaments: there are three other majors, the Players Championship and even my employer’s own tournament the Frys.com Open. The Masters is a tournament so enthralled with history and compelling storylines that it is easily the most entertaining tournament of the PGA Tour season. This year’s Masters is no different.

Last year we had the Tiger Woods show: his first tournament back since his off the course antics that would make the Moonlight Bunny Ranch jealous. Tiger still hasn’t won a tournament since his return and has looked more like a nervous Q-School rookie than a winner of 71 PGA Tour events. Tiger’s career counterpart Phil Mickelson on the other hand has come off a solid three shot victory at the Shell Houston Open last week and has surpassed Tiger as the odds on favorite this week. These two players are arguably the two best golfers in the past decade (although the current World Rankings say otherwise), and whenever a Major is upon us, their performances are especially emphasized.

Another storyline this week is the performances of the young guns, the up and comers, the golfers that will (supposedly) carry the PGA Tour once the Tiger’s and Phil’s of the world leave the game. Rory Mcllroy, Rickie Fowler, Martin Kaymer, Dustin Johnson, Nick Watney, Anthony Kim and Bubba Watson are a few of the players that are poised to have great success in their future, some already meeting it. I hate the expression “the torch being passed”, it’s almost as dull as “it is what it is” or “the eye test”, but in this sense, it has to be applied. There has never been a more dominant player in their respective sport than Tiger Woods, and to see him struggle paves the way for this younger generation of players to take over. We have seen signs of it already, but a major championship for any one of these players will further implant this idea of “the torch being passed.”

This brings me to my picks this week. More than any other tournament during the year, the Masters is the one tournament where you see the true stars of the tour shine. Look at the past winners, besides Trevor Immelman in 2008, there hasn’t been a surprise winner of the tournament since the year I was born. In other words, it’s extremely rare for someone who is not on the radar, a surprise name or amateur player to win this event. Only the strongest and best players win the Masters. Unlike the other majors where we see the Martin Kaymer’s or Louis Oosthuizen’s win in surprising fashion, at Augusta National, only the strongest on the tour survive.

My picks:

5) Matt Kuchar: Kuchar has been on fire as of late. He already has six top 10’s this year (most recently last week) and is coming off his most successful year of his career in 2010. He’s fourth in putting on the tour, and at Augusta National’s slick bent grass greens putting is the most crucial skill to have. Kuchar is one of those guys that may not win often, but you see his name on the leaderboard almost every week. He’s consistent and has the perfect game to pull off the victory on Sunday. Expect Kuchar to be in contention come Sunday.

4) Bubba Watson: At a little over 7400 yards, Augusta is one of the longest courses on the PGA Tour. Bubba is well known to have one of the longest drivers on tour. What he may lack in accuracy he makes up for in greens in regulation, and the fact that he can outdrive his opponents by almost twenty yards on a consistent basis gives him a clear early advantage. Watson has proved he can content in major championships: he lost in a playoff last year to Martin Kaymer in the PGA Championship, and has three top 10’s in the past three years.

3) Tiger Woods: After taking a year off and being thrown into the public fire at last year’s Masters, it’s almost forgotten that Tiger finished T-4. That finish to me says two things: Tiger has the strongest mental game in sports and that Tiger knows Augusta National. Amidst all the controversy, Tiger still finished in the top 5 of the hardest tournament to win in the world. Although he’s been struggling of late, Tiger Woods is still Tiger Woods. He has always loved Augusta National and its lush greens. Tiger’s bad is better than most player’s best, and if Tiger is even at 60% of what the old Tiger was, he could very well win it.

2) Nick Watney: With five top 10’s this year and a victory at the WGC-Cadillac Championship, Watney is one of the hottest players, if not the hottest (pause) on the tour. A local California kid from Sacramento, Watney came into the final round of the PGA Championship with a three shot lead, only to finish with an 81 and a T-18 finish. What seemed like an epic collapse has turned Watney into a much stronger player. He’s playing very well right now and has a total of three top 20’s at Augusta for his career. He’s also second on the tour currently in putting, which we know is an integral part of becoming a major champion, especially at Augusta National. Don’t be shocked to see Watney wearing a green jacket come Sunday afternoon.

1) Phil Mickelson: I wanted to choose someone else, I really did. I didn’t want to conform to the thousands of experts and odds makers that have Phil as the favorite this week, but I had to. He’s playing well, coming off a victory at the Shell Houston Open. Last time he won the week before the Masters: he took home the green jacket the next week. Phil has won the Masters three times, second only to Tiger. He’s getting up there in age, but he’s still one of the best players in the world. We know Lefty has the game to win at Augusta, and he’s most recently put his game back on track and in major championship form. Earlier this year I wouldn’t have put Phil as the favorite for any tournament, but now? It’s almost a sure thing that Lefty will be right in the mix on Sunday.