Author: Matt Fargo - Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Answer: The Final Four, the opening of baseball season and The Masters. Question: What three things indicate to us that spring has sprung? The latter commences this week and in my eyes, officially begins the spring season. This year is no exception as the lingering effects of winter are slowly dissipating and we are getting into the outdoor mode, for those of us nestled in the northeastern United States at least. Ok, back to golf.
The Masters is easily the most popular of the four major tournaments and that can be proven by all of the office and bar room pools that are making their rounds. Expanded television coverage has created even more interest and for those without a TV or who are stuck at work during coverage, your prayers are answered. For the first time ever, visitors to masters.org, the Tournament's official Web site, will be able to see every golfer play Amen Corner live.
This is the one major that you aren't going to see many no name players sneaking up and winning. First off, the field is not large and is reserved to those players who have accomplished something in the past to earn the right to tee it up at Augusta. Scroll through the winners and you will not see anyone you've never heard of. No one outside of the top ten in World Rankings has won The Masters since 2001. That goes to show what the field is made up of.
20 years ago when Jack Nicklaus won The Masters in one of the most thrilling back nines ever, Augusta was a modest 6,905 yards in length. This week? It's 7,445 yards tip to tip. Being able to bomb the ball is big since the course has been lengthened for the third time in seven years but driving the ball long is not the most important aspect. Chipping and putting are going to be extremely important this week just as they always are. Whoever has the best control around the greens will be the ultimate winner.
The Top Five will be here. Tiger Woods is at the top of the list and he will be looking to defend his 2005 title and grab his fifth green jacket this week. Phil Mickelson is coming off a monster victory last week while Retief Goosen has been contending after a late arrival. Ernie Els could be due since he always seems to be around on Sunday and looks to be getting better following off season knee surgery. Vijay Singh, the 2000 winner, is off to a slow start but he is another player who always seems to hang around.
Woods took last week off which came on the heels of a very disappointing performance at The Players. There is not another golfer on tour who is more focused than Woods but the unfortunate sickness of his father is certainly taking its toll on him mentally. He is the type of player who can dig in even more and win it for his dad so counting him out because of his personal issues is not a smart thing. His driving ability, or disability at this point, is the real big question mark.
Mickelson, the 2004 champion, played at the Bellsouth like he is more than ready and he is obviously riding the momentum wave this week. He was winless before last week although he did have four top ten finishes so it isn't like the season was going very badly. He finished 10th at The Masters last year and incredibly, he has not finished outside the top ten in seven consecutive years. Yes he will be there again on Sunday but where he will end up depends on the rest of the field.
Goosen is another of the top five who is playing extremely well. He has finished no worse than 13th the past four years while coming in third in 2005. The U.S. Open was the only major he didn't finish in the top 10 in 2005. In addition to his tie for third in the Masters, he tied for fifth in the British Open and tied for sixth in the PGA Championship. Putting is an area of strength for Goosen, and he has the 6th best putting stats on tour this year.
History is not on Mickelson's side as the only person to win The Masters after picking up a victory the previous week was Sandy Lyle, who won the Greater Greensboro Open in 1988 and went on to The Masters title the following week. Other players to keep an eye on are Jose Maria Olazabal, David Toms, Luke Donald?.actually the list could go on forever as this has the makings of one of the most wide open fields in quite some time. Woods nor Mickelson are locks so it could be a very fun four days.
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