2015 Masters

It’s a good time of year.  The temps are into the 70s here in DC, and I played my first 2015 round of golf on Easter morning.  It was a season’s debut for a few things, not only my annual dedication to remaining cool on the golf course (which will be followed by annual failure in achieving said goal), but also a Banana Ball approach off the tee.  Remember in Mario Golf the Wario/Donkey Kong hook?  I played with it on Sunday, and it worked alright.

It should also tell you something that, on Opening Day of the baseball season, I am choosing to write about golf.  MLB can come back in June after the NBA finishes, and I’ll consider sitting down with them.  In the meantime, it’s Masters week on the PGA Tour.

Every year, I have a fun time with the golf majors, but this is the pearl of them all.  This year has a particular significance due to the presence of one Eldrick Woods.  Tiger will return this weekend at Augusta, and he needs to do something positive.  After viewing his pedestrian short game in early February, making the cut would feel like climbing Mount Everest.  But this is the same guy who returned at Augusta a few seasons back and finished in the top-five.  Let’s also not forget his bad drop in 2013, without which he would have been right there at the end.  For all of his struggles, he can play the course and may very well be on your TV come Sunday.

In the meantime, it seems like a tournament that could be won by only a handful of players.  Despite the relative parity in golf this year, the tournament’s history is full of winners who simultaneously were near the top of the global game.  Without further ado:

The Heavyweights

Rory – One win at Augusta, and he will complete the career Grand Slam.  After a searing finish to the season last year, Rory won in Dubai this year and finished second at Abu Dhabi on the European Tour.  He’s a man-child, prone neither to the pressures of big moments nor the intense emotional rollercoasters that can tank some players.  If there’s a good bet for this week, he might be it, particularly after his terrible collapse in 2011.
 
Jordan Spieth – Twenty-one years old, and an absolute stud right now.  Spieth, who led the Masters on Sunday last year before faltering, has three wins and four other top-five finishes in his last 11 starts.  In the last three PGA Tour starts, he’s finished 1-2-2.  Augusta always tends to take care of its own, and certainly recognizes familiar faces, but Spieth is firing on all cylinders.  A Rory-Spieth final pairing might be the start of golf’s worldwide resurgence.  If you like golf, you want those two to compete directly with each other.

Bubba Watson – A year ago, I picked Bubba to miss the cut.  He won the tournament, so thankfully I don’t get paid for this.  Bubba’s imagination on shot shape and selection continues to be a marvel, and he has shown the ability to dominate this course when necessary.  Furthermore, his bombing ways are now a little more controlled, and I’d expect him to use the undulations at Augusta to his advantage all week.  Four starts this year, but with two top-threes.

Kinda-Sorta-Maybes

There are some guys who have played well this year, but don’t appear to be at the elite level for competition.

Henrik Stenson – Plenty of golf analysts think Stenson hits the purest irons of any Tour player.  After a surprising missed cut, in Abu Dhabi, the Swede has five straight top-13 finishes, with three of those being in the top-five.  He has plenty of top-25s at Augusta over the years, especially in his last two appearances, but he’s had putting issues.  Most notably, he lost at Bay Hill due to consecutive three-putts, a decided no-no in golfland.

Jimmy Walker – Decidedly more boring than the alcohol that bears his name, Walker has been a revelation at age 36.  He has won twice already this season, and finished in the top-10 in three of the four majors last year.  It would be difficult not to support him, a guy who arrived late to the PGA party but has become something of a mainstay thanks to his schedule.  He plays the big tournaments and the small tournaments well.

Jason Day – Every year it seems Day is about to break out, or finally win a major.  He is ranked fifth worldwide and has three top-fives in six tournaments this year.  After a 2014 filled with an injury to his thumb that he worried might be career ending, Day has returned with strength.  He has a second and third place finish in this event since 2010.  It would be good to see him win or compete this week, as golf needs more younger guys for its relevancy.

Really Dark Horses

Rickie Fowler – There’s no reason to put him on this list.  Fowler has not been especially dominant this season, but he deserves a look thanks to his play in the majors last year, where he finished top-five in each of them.  Thus far in 2015, he’s had a slow start, but this is the same guy who had a missed cut three weeks before the 2014 Masters. 
J.B. Holmes – If you don’t know him, you’re not alone.  Holmes can straight up bomb the ball, and is one of the longest guys on Tour.  He has one win this past week in Houston, but also lost in a playoff earlier in the year and blew a huge lead at the Cadillac Championship.  He’s in fine form, and will need a reassuring placement this weekend at Augusta.

Dustin Johnson – After taking a leave of absence from golf last year, DJ has come flying out of the gates.  He’s finished sixth or better in four of his last five events, and won against a very tough field in the Cadillac Championship.  He’s down here because he never seems to get it right in the majors, or at least he hasn’t for quite some time.  Of greater concern is that while Bubba has become something of a surgeon with his booming driver, Johnson has had the opposite problem, so maybe that changes this week.

Guy I would like to see win

Erik Compton – Despite his 117^th world ranking, Erik Compton is one hell of a story.  He’s had two heart transplants in his life, one at age 12 and the other in 2008.  Thanks to his second place finish at the U.S. Open last year, the 35-year-old will debut at Augusta this weekend.  You can’t help but root for this guy to be there on Sunday, and do well enough to get back next year.  He has been through a lot, and deserves some recognition in this space.