Masters could be anybody's game

Just because so many players near the top of the world golf ranking are peaking doesn’t mean an unexpected winner won’t emerge from the 80th Masters Tournament.

“Someone can find it this week that hasn’t shown form,” said 2013 Mas­ters champion Adam Scott, who isn’t worried about his form after winning two of his past four starts.

“You just don’t know,” said Ben
Crenshaw, a two-time Masters champion who retired from the Mas­­ters after last year’s tournament.
Four of the past nine past Mas­ters champions – Zach John­son in 2007, Trevor Immel­man in 2008, Angel Cabrera in 2009 and Charl Schwartzel in 2011 – were not mentioned among the favorites when they won. Going into their victories, Johnson was ranked 56th in the world, while Immelman and Schwartzel were ranked 29th. Even though Cabrera won the U.S. Open in 2007, he was ranked 69th when he won the Masters two years later.

“I think this tournament especially there are so many great players here that they can pop out,” said Keegan Bradley, whose victory in the 2011 PGA Cham­pion­ship came in his first appearance at a major.

The top six players in the world and this year’s favorites – Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler and Scott – will have media commitments that other players such as Bradley, who was ranked 98th last week, won’t have to worry about.

“They have a lot of pressure on them to perform every week, and they’re doing it,” Bradley said. “It’s definitely easier for me right now than for Jordan Spieth to come to the course to play and practice. I’ve been through that and it’s difficult. I’ll take all the advantage I can get.”

Said Crenshaw: “The media glare is white-hot these days. It takes a certain amount of energy to deal with it. Much more so than in my day.”

Then there is the strength of the field. Of the top 55 players in the world ranking, 53 are playing this week.

“The media is going to make stories about whoever’s in what tournament, about the big-name guys, and they should,” Johnson said. “I get that, because a portion of them are usually around there on Sunday. Anyone can win on any given week. I know there are some guys who are playing well that are former champions. Tell you what, 90-plus percent of the field could win this week.”

Said Crenshaw: “There are players that people only know a little bit about that are unbelievable and they’ve proved themselves all over the world. There are probably four or five names I could give you. There are more good players now than there ever has been that are capable. It’s world competition now and they have so much experience. They haven’t played places like this, but they could excel at places like this.”

Three-time Masters champion Nick Faldo, who retired from Mas­ters competition after the 2006 tournament, has his finger on the game through his work as the CBS golf analyst. He knows how deep the field is.

“I remember going through the list (of starters) a couple of years ago and saying, ‘So does this guy have it? Has he got the game? Has he got the temperament?’ … That year Schwartzel came through, I picked him. One year I think there were 40 guys that I put a dot next to and thought, ‘Wow, any one of 40 could win this.’”

As for this year, Faldo said, “The big boys are playing pretty well, then the next wave is pretty good as well – guys who haven’t won majors. Like (Henrik) Sten­son, he’s 40 years old, trying to get one. Maybe a young guy like (Hideki) Matsuyama, you really don’t know.”

You can throw some of the nonstars out if they are not long hitters, said 1979 winner Fuzzy Zoeller, one of just three players to win in his first start here.

“This is a long-ball paradise,” he said of the 7,435-yard Augusta National Golf Club. “The short or medium hitter doesn’t have a whole lot of chance. It’s going to be somebody who pops that ball out there pretty good. It always is. Long hitters definitely have a huge advantage here because of the clubs they get to hit into the green. I was a long-ball hitter when I came here and I was playing well, which is a positive.”

By Sunday, Faldo still expects some of the stars to be vying for the green jacket, perhaps against an unlikely contender.

“It always starts this way, doesn’t it? Nine out of 10 times, the guy who is coming under the radar, he’ll lead Day 1,” Faldo said. “It happens at most of the majors because the big boys have to do all the media, and practice rounds are hard work sometimes to get your focus. As we know, the cream comes to the top just about every week.”