5:04 am | April 10, 2019 | Go to Source | Author:
AUGUSTA, Ga. — The long wait for another season of golf majors is about to be over. And the first one of the year, the Masters, comes complete with a wide variety of intriguing possibilities. Of course, there’s always the Tiger factor. But he’s not the only name — big, small or interesting — who could be a factor this week at Augusta National. So we gathered our experts to weigh in on questions ranging from Tiger to sleepers, surprises and disappointments.
Is this Tiger’s week? If not, where does he finish? In the hunt? Irrelevant weekend player? Missed cut?
Bob Harig: It’s not his week to win, but he could very well be a factor into the weekend, with a top-10 finish more realistic. For all of Woods’ progress, he has not finished among the top 10 in a stroke-play event this year, nor has he been closer to the winner than 8 shots.
Michael Collins: Expect a backdoor top-5 for TW. I expect him to be in a relevant position on Saturday, but his putter will fail him. That being said, remember how great The Open was last year on Sunday!
Ian O’Connor: Irrelevant weekend player? Tiger should be offended this is one of the options. If he’s playing, the most relevant golfer of all time is never irrelevant. He will wake up Sunday with a shot, but no, he won’t close the deal this time.
Mark Schlabach: I don’t think Tiger will be in contention, but I think he’ll be around for the weekend. People might get tired of hearing about Tiger, especially when he’s not among the leaders, but he sure as heck makes any tournament more exciting, especially a major championship. He hasn’t been great in majors since 2008, but he’s been pretty good at Augusta.
Nick Pietruszkiewicz: There is a temptation to say it’s going to happen this week. What evidence is there? Well, not really a ton. But there’s just that feeling. So I am not saying he wins, but I am saying that he is a factor on the weekend and that he finishes in the top 5. Keep this in mind: If Tiger wins, it’ll be a 14-year gap between that and his last Masters victory. It would make it the longest gap between green jackets since Gary Player went 13 years between his 1961 and 1974 triumphs.
Rory McIlroy is a popular pick to win his first Masters. Which big name not named Rory McIlroy could walk away with his first Masters title?
Harig: I like Dustin Johnson because he’s been slowly getting better at Augusta National after several years of struggling. He’s been in the top 10 in his last three appearances. Who knows what might have happened two years ago when he entered as the prohibitive favorite and was injured the day before the first round. Johnson’s form is similar to that period.
Collins: Jon Rahm would have been my pick, but the fact that he’s paired with Tiger for two days ruins him. Watch out for Jason Day this week. This may be the least amount of fanfare he’s ever had coming into a major week. I expect he will make a charge, especially playing in a group with Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau.
O’Connor: DJ. He gave away one Masters by supposedly falling on a staircase. At some point, he is going to get that one back. No excuse for this physical freak to never win a green jacket.
Schlabach: Justin Rose has 11 top-25 finishes and five top-10s at Augusta, including runners-up in 2015 and ’17. His regular caddy, Mark “Fooch” Fulcher, is back on his bag, which might give him an emotional boost. He’s going to win a green jacket sooner or later.
Pietruszkiewicz: I took Justin Thomas to win. While Rickie Fowler was in the mix last year and Dustin Johnson clearly has the game — he’s convinced a few others on this panel to take him — Thomas has the right mix of game and mind to stare everyone down come Sunday evening.
Which player outside the top 25 could pull a Danny Willett or Charl Schwartzel and steal a green jacket?
Harig: Hideki Matsuyama. The Japanese star is far better than his world ranking of 26. He has three top-11 finishes as well as low amateur honors eight years ago. It’s all about the putter for Hideki.
Collins: I bet you didn’t know Jordan Spieth was ranked 33rd in the world! Jordan wouldn’t be stealing the green jacket, he’d just be taking the one he already owns off the property for a second time. Because he’s “been there, done that” he will use the Sunday pressure like a comfy old sweatshirt.
O’Connor: Jordan Spieth. I know, I know, you can’t lump him in with the Willetts and Schwartzels. But he is outside the top 25, and even when his putter has filed for divorce, you can’t count him out at Augusta.
Schlabach: Few people noticed that Cameron Smith quietly finished tied for fifth here in 2018 after firing a 66 on Sunday. The 25-year-old Australian has a boatload of talent, and he’s going to put it all together at some point. My only concern is that he hasn’t been exceptionally long off the tee and has sprayed his driver a bit, which isn’t a great recipe here. He also missed the cut in three of his past six majors and was tied for 56th or worse in the other two.
Pietruszkiewicz: Matthew Fitzpatrick. He doesn’t have a win on the PGA Tour, but he has won five times on the European Tour. He nearly pulled off his first PGA win earlier this year with a runner-up finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He’s 24. A major is going to happen at some point. No reason it can’t be here.
What big name is headed for a disappointing week?
Harig: Patrick Reed. Bringing in David Leadbetter for a look at the swing a few weeks ago was not a suggestion that things were going well. Reed has barely contended anywhere since winning the green jacket.
Collins: Brooks Koepka. I hate the fact that he lost so much weight and is now struggling to get back where he was physically and, more importantly, where his golf game was. This ain’t the week to “figure it out.” That stinks because we’ve still never seen the best Brooks take a shot at this venue.
O’Connor: Brooks Koepka. He’s lost weight; he’s lost distance off the tee; and maybe he’s lost a little of that big-man-on-campus swagger along the way.
Schlabach: Tommy Fleetwood. I think it’s only a matter of time before the exceptionally talented Englishman wins a PGA Tour event, but it’s not going to happen at Augusta. I think it happens at one of the three other U.S. majors this year.
Pietruszkiewicz: Jordan Spieth. I was going to say Koepka, but saw his name here twice already. And if he sees it — since he takes slights very seriously — you just know he’s going to make a run. So I am going with Spieth. Sure, his history here is remarkable — he’s finished top-3 four times and T-11 the other time. Even if he is around on the weekend — he’s missed three cuts this year — his Saturdays have been a nightmare. He’s got as many rounds in the 80s (1) as he does in the 60s (1).
Which old guy — 45 or older — could be a contender?
Harig: The easy answer here is Phil Mickelson. His form has fallen off since winning at Pebble Beach in February — but the bottom line is he won a PGA Tour event at age 48. He loves Augusta, knows the course, has been aiming toward this week. Nobody would be surprised to see him contend.
Collins: Did we already forget what Vijay Singh almost did at the Honda Classic? Vijay is the one “old guy” with the power to still deal with Augusta National’s length for four days. While I don’t think he’ll win or even contend by Sunday late afternoon, I do think he’ll have the best finish of the “senior crowd” participating this week.
O’Connor: The cop-out answer is Phil (see Harig, Bob). Of course, it’s Phil. But what the hell, I’ll go with 61-year-old Bernhard Langer for the hell of it. He can’t win, but would you bet the ranch against him being in the mix Saturday afternoon?
Schlabach: To avoid choosing Phil like all of the other sheep, I’m going to go with Jose Maria Olazabal for no other reason than I like hearing his name slip off my tongue. He hasn’t made a cut since finishing T-34 in 2014. So, yeah, I’ll go with Phil, too.
Pietruszkiewicz: Fred Couples. There’s one more run left in that old back. His love of the place is clear. His record at the place is undeniable. Is he going to walk away with another green jacket? No. But will his name slide up the leaderboard and have people daydreaming about one more run? Yes, indeed.
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