The Masters: Top 10 power rankings at Augusta National
Golf’s first major championship of the year is here. The Masters. There are plenty of viable candidates, but who will emerge to done the green jacket?
The 368-day countdown is almost over. It will have been over a year since Patrick Reed sunk the final putt to win the 2018 Masters to Gary and Jack ushering in the 2019 edition at Augusta National.
A lot has happened since then: Tiger won the Tour Championship, Francesco Molinari has become a golfing robot, Rory has fallen and risen and world No. 1 has traded hands by a multitude of players who make their way into this week’s top 10.
More often than not at major championships, the host course is often as close as we get to a “neutral site” in golf. Save for Pebble Beach and a select few courses that double as PGA Tour or European Tour venues, players will have little to no course history.
That’s obviously not the case at Augusta and course knowledge is critical.
It only took Jordan Spieth one time around before cracking the code as a Masters sophomore. He still couldn’t become the first first-timer to win since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.
The greens and surrounding areas are immensely challenging and not to mention lightning fast. Absent is the long, torturous rough of say, a U.S. Open, but plenty of creativity is needed to traverse this tightly mown gem.
Longer hitters tend to fare well at Augusta as it’s possible to score well without hitting every fairway. By the same token, all types of players can succeed here if they’re precise with their irons and have a good short game.
The course measures 7,475 yards for a par 72. The Alister MacKenzie design features Bermuda over-seeded with rye. Greens are bentgrass.
Corey Conners won the Texas Open last week to become the 87th and final Masters invitee, making it one of the smaller fields in recent years. Top 50 and ties qualify for the weekend.
The early forecast calls for temperatures in the 60s-80s with chance for rain over the last two-three days. If this course plays wet, it will be even more advantageous for the big hitters. It was wet when Zach Johnson won in 2007, but it was also frigidly cold (for Georgia standards — this is a Minnesotan writing this, so it’s all relative).
It’s time for the annual egg salad vs. pimento cheese debate. Jim Nantz is consuming tea and honey by the gallon to ensure his call is as dulcet as ever on Sunday evening.
It’s Masters week.