A year ago, Tiger Woods’ return to competitive golf set the stage for a remarkable Masters week. While Woods had the attention heading in (and played what turned out to be his best tournament of the year), his long-time rival Phil Mickelson stole the show. Consecutive eagles on Saturday. A rousing final round to capture his third green jacket. Little did we know it would be the high point of both golfers’ season.
A year later, we enter Augusta with Mickelson fresh off a birdie-fest victory and Tiger still limping along, having fallen to a once-unimaginable seventh in the world. Will this be the first time since 1999 that a European player — five of the top six in the world are from across the pond — emerges? Our experts weigh in.
Who will win this year’s Masters? Score?
Ron Varrial: Phil Mickelson at -14. I swore I was done picking Mickelson, but it’s hard to deny his game is built for Augusta National. Hits it a mile, can play towering shots into greens and has all the creativity needed around the greens. Winning last week should have been the injection of confidence he needs on the greens.
Justin Pucheu: If A.K. was playing better, I’d say he has a good chance after a great showing last year, but he just hasn’t gotten back to form. Hunter Mahan has been playing very good, consistent golf, as has Nick Watney. Tiger seems to be on the verge of breaking through. And then there’s Phil, who seems to just randomly light it up and hit a streak. I dunno, I guess my bias is playing into this but, I’m going to go with Tiger at -17.
Alan Olson: Martin Kaymer can play on the biggest stages and is a proven winner and wins his first green jacket with a score of -8.
Jamieson Weiss: Matt Kuchar at -11.
Dave Koster I’ll take Mickelson for -11, Alex. I’ve never picked him before and I just have a feeling he’s going back-to-back.
George Promenschenkel Mickelson at -12. With his last two rounds at Houston and track record at the Masters, it’s hard not to pick him.
Donald MacKenzie
Total hunch, but I’m going with Ryan Moore. He closed with a 68 last year at Augusta, and I can see things clicking for him in a major this year. I say he dons the green jacket after posting a 6-under 282.
Erik J. Barzeski
Only three players have won back to back Masters. I don’t think Phil becomes the fourth, and I’m picking Nick Watney. I just hope that if he’s around the lead on Sunday he handles it better than the 2010 PGA.
Who places more players in Top 10? USA or Europe?
Ron Varrial: The simple math says Europe has the edge. Even beyond the fact they’ve got five of the top six players in the world, I like guys like the Molinari brothers. If given the choice of “other” I might take that, with guys like Day, Ogilvy, Ishikawa and the really solid South African contingent. I can see a very diverse Top 10 this week.
Justin Pucheu: Gotta go with USA. Though a lot of Europeans have been pretty hot, it seems like a number of Americans have been stepping their game up lately.
Alan Olson: USA with six.
Jamieson Weiss: Last year was the so-called first year of the new European world order, and there were several Brits close to the lead, but Americans still managed seven of the top 10 (and ties). I’ll take the Americans again.
Dave Koster My best guess is that it will be 4-3 in favor of the USA.
George Promenschenkel There are some strong players on the Euro side, but the Americans are playing better. I look for 3-4 on each side. If I had to pick one, I’d give the Euros a slight edge. Now if you include Africa and South America in that, it could be a rout.
Donald MacKenzie
Team USA takes this unofficial title, but don’t count out the Rest of the World team.
Erik J. Barzeski
USA by one.
Predict the finishes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood.
Ron Varrial: Woods makes cut but doesn’t contend, thanks to continued struggles on the greens. Mickelson takes it all. Kaymer’s robotic game better fits to the grind of the other majors, so I’ll say he misses the cut. Can’t argue with Westwood’s history. Figure he’ll have a piece of the lead at some point, but fade to finish Top 10.
Justin Pucheu: Tiger – First; Phil – fifth; Kaymer – 12th; Westwood – third.
Alan Olson: Tiger Woods – Top 10; Phil Mickelson – Top 3; Martin Kaymer – Top 3; Lee Westwood – Misses cut.
Jamieson Weiss: Tiger and Phil both had high finishes last year and didn’t do much the rest of the year. I think they are both top 10. They just know the course well enough that they probably don’t need to play well to do well. Lee Westwood came in second last year, so I’ll give him another top 10, but I think it might be more of a back-door top 10. Kaymer has played in three Masters and has never made the cut, despite four top 10s in his last five majors. I’ll put Kaymer in the middle of the pack.
Dave Koster
Phil – Win. Tiger – 15ish. Kaymer – makes cut, below 20. Westwood – top 10. Basically, very similar to last year. I don’t think Tiger will be anywhere near the lead at any time but he’ll have a decent tournament.
George Promenschenkel
Tiger has finished in the top 10 every year since 2000 except 2003 (T15) and 2004 (T22), including three wins (though not since 2005). Phil has only missed the Top 10 once in 2007 (T24), while winning three green jackets of his own. So it’s hard to bet against them, even if Tiger has struggled this season.
Tiger – Top 10, if he can putt (not a done deal for the first time in his career) and his newfound driver control lasts, he could be very dangerous on Sunday. Phil – Win, his short game wizardry and bombs off the tee could put him above the rest of the field. Kaymer – MC, why expect him to break his three-year streak of missed cuts? Westwood – Middle of pack, his game just hasn’t seemed sharp this year.
Donald MacKenzie
I’d like to see Tiger electrify everyone by having his game suddenly come alive at Augusta, but I don’t think it happens this week. Middle of the pack for Tiger. I see Phil rising to the occasion with a Top 10, but I think his putting is going to keep him away from the top of the leaderboard. Kaymer has a lot of expectation heaped upon him this week; he’s my pick for a flameout and an MC. Westwood is also getting a lot of buzz, but I see a middle-of-the-pack finish for him.
Erik J. Barzeski
Tiger guts out a T2 finish with Phil, who simply runs out of gas when he needs to be stepping on it. Martin Kaymer, who has yet to make a cut at Augusta National in three tries, improves… to 37th. Lee Westwood continues to putt poorly but makes up for it in ball-striking for a T18. He had his chances to win majors, and didn’t. Now he may never win one.
Name one player outside the top 50 who finishes Top 10. One player in the Top 10 who misses the cut.
Ron Varrial: I’ll play the percentages and say Ricky Barnes (77th) is healthy enough to pull off another solid major performance. As for a disappointing top dog, I’ll say it’s Steve Stricker. He’s been marginal at Augusta, and I’d expect the scores to go low this week, leaving him in the dust.
Justin Pucheu: Outside of top 50 – Hard to believe Ricky Barnes won’t be there, the guy always seems to be somewhere near the top in most recent majors (including last year’s Masters, finished 10th). Inside of top 10 missing cut = Rory McIlroy. No real reason why.
Alan Olson: Sergio Garcia finishes in the Top 10. Lee Westwood misses the cut.
Jamieson Weiss: Vijay Singh is currently ranked 52nd in the world, but he’s had a quietly good year. I think he could contend. My missed cut is going to sound harsh, because I really like this player and think he is goingto be a great player for a long time, but if one guy in the top 10 misses the cut, I think it’ll be Martin Kaymer. He just has no track record of playing well at Augusta.
Dave Koster
Is anyone playing better than Gary Woodland? Not a household name but he has a win and four top tens. If any no-name comes out and wins, I’d be watching for him.
George Promenschenkel
Rory Sabbatini (currently 53rd) seems to have regained his form from a few years back. If that continues, he could easily crack the Top 10. Martin Kaymer has yet to make the cut at the Masters. If there are horses for courses, might not the antithesis also be true?
Donald MacKenzie
Ricky Barnes was made for teasing us with early round runs at majors, and his big game off the tee was made for a good round or two at Augusta. He doesn’t have the short game to grind out a Sunday win, but he could score a top 10. I’m sticking with my pick for Kaymer to catch a Friday night flight out of town.
Erik J. Barzeski
Steve Stricker MCs and Aaron Baddeley finishes inside the top 10.
If you had it your way, do you prefer a shootout or a grind it out Masters?
Ron Varrial: Let’s go low! The weather forecast is for hot and sunny and not much wind. Will that mean ultra-fast, firm greens, or ideal scoring conditions? I’m OK letting them duke it out for a couple days, but love to see the birdies and eagles fly on Sunday.
Justin Pucheu: Shootout is always much more fun to watch, makes it interesting all the way to the end.
Alan Olson: I lean more towards a grind it out style as the majors should be the toughest test of golf for the year however I do want to see opportunities for birdies and eagles.
Jamieson Weiss: Shootout, always. I like the occasional event where the world’s best have to struggle to break par, but not at the Masters. Very few things guard Augusta from low scores, and if those are out of whack it just won’t be as enjoyable. I say bring on the birdies.
Dave Koster
Shootout. I love hearing the roars. That back nine was built for someone to shoot 31 or 32 and come from 3-4 shots back to win it.
George Promenschenkel
Shootout. We already have one U.S. Open. I want to see a player make birdies and eagles to win. Not some guy making fewer bogeys than his competitors.
Donald MacKenzie
Shootout, baby. Get rid of the “second cut,” slow the greens just a touch and move the Sunday tees up a bit. Let’s see someone win by shooting a 64 in the final round, not by surviving an extreme putting challenge.
Erik J. Barzeski
Pure shootouts produce fluky winners. Look at the Bob Hope and those types of tournaments. Grinds are boring. A good mix of the two would be nice. Or, if “shootout” includes plenty of bogeys and double bogeys, I’ll take “shootout” to keep things simple.
Predictions aside, who is the one golfer you’d like most see win this year’s Masters
Ron Varrial: I recently wavered in my affection for Phil and put Bubba into my top spot as a fan. But I can’t lie, I really want to see Phil reach the top of the world golf rankings. Last week’s win means he’s finally passed Tiger and I have a feeling that’s one less monkey on his back. It’s like a glorious heavyweight near the end of his career, it would be awesome to see him wear the title belt, even if it’s just for a little while until the young guns take it away.
Justin Pucheu: Tiger – I want him to silence the critics.
Alan Olson: It’s always exciting to see a past champion from year’s past on the first page of the leader’s board. Watching Tom Watson win would be fun to see.
Jamieson Weiss: Tiger Woods.
Dave Koster
Bubba. I absolutely love that dude. Not because he hits it long but because he does it his way. No teachers and no holding back. He has it in him to win a major and why not at Augusta? Also, it doesn’t hurt that he’s just a good guy that absolutely LOVES the game.
George Promenschenkel
Dustin Johnson or Hunter Mahan for the redemption story line.
Donald MacKenzie
I’d like to see Tiger win, just so we can all stop talking about if/when he’ll ever get back to playing Tiger golf.
Erik J. Barzeski
One of the guys who finished T4 last year on nothing but local knowledge and guts. But his swing ain’t where it needs to be on the course yet, and I’m not sure two weeks was enough to get it there, and if it is, has he had enough time to work on his putting?
i would pick an A&M / SF player as they should know how to hit a draw AND control it… kinda fancy tiger on this one… it wouldn’t surprise me if he pulls it out the bag in the big event…
I love the staff prediction articles. Dave is right about Gary Woodland. Also, one of those non-wins is a loss in a playoff, so he was that close to two wins!
One nitpick, though: it’s Hunter Mahan not Hunter Mahon.
You guys should find yourself a day job. Your American bend, clouds your minds – like with everything.
Thanks, Jooma, for having the guts to make your own picks.
We have day jobs. This isn’t our gig. We’re just golf fans with a website on which we can share our opinions. The comments allow you to do the same. You choose to bash us. Good for you.