The First Major This Year “The Masters”
posted in News |Today will be a very special day for a select few golfers as they pass down Magnolia Lane for the first time as a competitor at The Masters. The Masters is the first major of the year and will be the smallest field of all the major golf tournaments. The number of American competitors will be out numbered by the foreign contingent.
Johnson Wagner was the last player to qualify, as he won last week’s Shell Houston Open. For several years the tournamnet did not automatically let tournament winners into the field, but this trend has been reversed and as in years past these tournament winners gain a spot in the field.
This event has been gaining a lot of momentum from the press with the expectations of Tiger Woods winning the “Grand Slam” in a calendar year. This slam is certainly possible, but there are a lot of great players in every major field and a lot of luck is needed to win any PGA event.
The field of Australian players is again quite strong. Geoff Ogilvy, who is a U.S. Open champion, Stuart Appleby, Adam Scott, just to name a few should play well this year. Although, it is surprising that no Australian has ever won The Masters.
Ernie Els would dearly like to win this tournament. But Ernie will have to play significantly better that he has lately just to make the cut.
My pick this week is Vijay Singh. The only thing that holds Vijay back any week is his putting. Of course this may be said about a lot players, but Vijay is one of the very best ball strikers on the tour. It will be interesting to see what putting style Vijay chooses this week to attack the treacherous greens at Augusta. Vijay has been switching from the long putter, to the conventional length, and also conventional grip to left hand low. He does remarkably well for someone that may switch from week to week and still be a continder.
One of the highlights of the week for the past champions is the champions dinner in which the last year’s champion chooses the dinner menu. Zack Johnson will be responsible for the dinner menu this year, look for something traditional from the midwest.
Enjoy the great golf and spectacular views.