A tradition unlike any other: The Masters Preview

What a week it is, Monday was Opening Day for our respective teams and the National Championship game and this weekend is the Masters. For those of you who don’t know the Masters is my favorite major. The winner of the tournament gets the famous Green Jacket, which he is only allowed to keep for a year and then it must be returned. The Maters is the only tournament that is invite only, meaning there are no qualifiers and is the smallest field of players of any tournament. The tournament is also always played at Augusta National Golf Club. These factors and the many traditions make it the most prestigious tournament in golf.

Now the big storyline of the tournament is the return of Tiger. It is his first tournament back from his awful disease of sex addiction (if you haven’t seen the South Park episode about this you should go watch it, it’s hilarious). Personally I’m sick of hearing about it, I get it he cheated on his hot Swedish wife can we move on, so hopefully they don’t focus on that story this weekend. Now I don’t really start watching a lot of golf until The Masters so I don’t know who has been playing well recently, but I will give you some names to look for.

Tiger Woods – He hasn’t played in a while so no one knows how well he will play. I thought he should have played in a tournament before The Masters, but he decided against it. Regardless he is still the best golfer in the world and I have no doubt he’s been playing in private the past couple months. I know some people that think he will miss the cut, but I am not one of those people I think he makes it the whole weekend. While he has the ability to win it I just don’t see it happening.

Ian Poulter - Like I said I haven’t watched a lot of golf, but after talking to my Uncle and future brother in law this past weekend they both have stated that he has been playing really well the past couple weeks.

Ernie Els – Another golfer that has been playing well recently. Els hasn’t been as good since his knee surgery a couple of years ago (much like David Duval and his back), but he seems to be on his way back to competing more. I’ve always liked Ernie and hope he does well.

Phil Mickleson – He hasn’t been playing well recently but still has the ability to win a tournament as long as he doesn’t get creative.

Sergio Garcia – The Masters marks the start of his traditional can’t play in major’s campaign, but he’s probably just using these tournaments to get ready for the Ryder Cup this year.

So those are some names to look for (not really Sergio I just had to get that in) if you plan on watching this weekend. Coverage starts tomorrow on ESPN for the first two rounds and CBS for the final two rounds. Enjoy the weekend.