This is officially Masters Week. This year is going to feel more extraordinary than any of the masters in masters history, and the last big one of 2020 is still full of storylines. In fact, maybe Because This Masters is more unusual than anything else, and the 84th edition of this competition is full to the brim with intriguing stories.
Some of the best storylines are definitely coming back again and again. As Rory McIlroy searches for the final major for his Grand Slam, that is what will happen if Jordan Speed still wanders around in the desert. But the others are very new, and there is a chance for any player to get an Ian Wozniak in the Bryson DiCambo weight field and test positive for COVID-19, which will knock them out of the competition altogether.
Much to be missed about these masters – no Bar-3 competition, no hosts, no commercial tents – but there is a lot to celebrate. Let’s start with the fact that even in the midst of a global epidemic, Augusta National was able to safely arrange for senior players to play.
Here are the top 10 storylines that should have been a fun week at Augusta National.
1. Bryson DiCambo Flexibility: This may (and may not be) one of the best storylines to follow. A key champion goal for DiCambo Augusta National is to tilt his direction with the confidence that comes with taking hammer drivers and the US Open. DeChambeau has yet to win back-to-back major majors (because no player is likely to win any event), but there is little to say about whether he has won this week and how he is going. Trying To win. I recently broke down every stroke he could take and how many clubs he really had to carry. Not only will he be a two-time big champion if he plays DiCambo Augusta as he played at the US Open on Wing Foot, he will have even more general and pressing issues on his hands when it comes to golf distance. The most classic of all golf courses handles the modern game.
2. Tiger Woods returns as defensive champion: Of his four previous Masters title defends, Woods finished T8, 1, T15 and T3. It will be good for this year even if his game is not up to par. Wendy Masters is more likely to offer Tiger for a Champions Dinner than to win a golf tournament based on how he plays. Still, he is the most intelligent, decent golfer on the field in this particular course. The dirty little secret of last year’s success is that he didn’t really do much coming home … because he didn’t need to. He played the second nine under 1 – the things you rarely dream of in the Masters – let everyone else bow their heads at Rain Creek. He has a path to the sixth green jacket, I think, which is similar to 2019. But without a particular mess affecting everyone who is not named Tiger, without the Dee-to-Green game he brought up last year, it’s a lot more complicated and much less likely than it was a year ago.
3. Rory McIlroy goes to the slam … again: Over the years, McIlroy’s focus on winning all four majors seems to have diminished somewhat, but this does not change potential achievements less historically. McIlroy is coming to play the Masters … well, but not at the level needed to win. His biggest problem is iron play, which is one of the lowest points in his life based on the stroke he currently receives (see chart). However, he takes the lead over the weekend and if there are no other great stories (like Tiger, Brooks Koypka), the four majors he requested to join Woods, Jack Nicholas, Jean Saracen, Ben Hogan and Gary Blair will take full advantage of the event.
Data Golf
4. Lost Boys: There are many. Two of the most notable – Jordan Speed and Phil Mickelson – have a combined eight major championships and are unlikely to win this year. It has been a tough scene for both golfers on the PGA tour in recent months (and years), but Augusta seems to have revitalizing powers. Speed, for example, did not finish worse than the T21 at the Masters, and since 1998 Mickelson has missed two cuts. Competing at this time will be a shock to those who follow closely, but of course even more bizarre are the key decisions ahead.
5. Young Superstars: Masters has not won in 40 years for the first time, but don’t be surprised if it changes this time. The “there are too many young studs” story is prevalent in the game of golf, but a certain circumstance – of late masters, of last year’s historically good cultivation, of no hosts – led to the real possibility that Woods might slip the jacket over the shoulders of someone who had never been born – Chungje Im? Matthew Wolf? – When he won his first Masters.
6. First (or second): There are so many great players looking for their first big championship that it is almost inevitable that one of them will win as much as Decombo did at the US Open in September. These players include John Rahm, Patrick Cantley, Sander Schaffel, Tommy Fleetwood, Tony Finaw and Hideki Matsuyama, all of whom are favorites at the Augusta National. Even more interesting to me is the team that Justin Thomas, Adam Scott, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose, Web Simpson, Patrick Reid, Jason Day and Sergio Garcia are all stuck in a big hit. Remember, 225 golfers have had at least one major win, but only 82 have done so at least twice. There are many majors who are part of separating adults from everyone at all times.
7. Is Brooks back? Would he have won if Koipka had finished 12th in the Masters last year and dried up in 12th place? I remember. It was before all the injury issues and, of course, the last 15 months have been very memorable for the four-time big winner. However, he’s been a couple 65s over the weekend at the Houston Open and is playing better than he has played in a long time. Of the 14 wins he has won worldwide, he has finished in the top 10 (as he did in Houston) directly in previous tournaments, winning eight times.
8. Weather effects: How Augusta will play in November has so far been shown a little too much, which means that it is not necessarily enough how it will affect the incoming weather event. The course often looks the same, Although McIlroy says Chipping can be tricky because Bermuda is not dead yet – but the weather forecast looks like rain for four days in Augusta. This would mean a slower event than being filled with dirt balls and fair paths of endurance. This is probably in favor of the biggest hitters (what not, though?), But regardless, it’s something to watch out for throughout the week.
9. No hosts: While there is no way to prove that the PGA Championship and US Open results were reversed, those events do not have the buzz of ordinary big championships, although all we know about what the big championships are is that this is true. How about 30,000 people looking at you trying to draw a 7-iron green with a dome around a group of dense rough trees? No. Change your heart rate a little? Woods Old Katie, Steve Williams, It has been mentioned recently He also noted how it affects players like the Tigers who try to use the unrestrained nature of a big week against inexperienced golfers. On a Saturday or Sunday afternoon that addictive feeling will make your head swim in every direction and will not work this year. Unfortunately by 2020 we cannot live with the alternative reality of postgraduate teachers With There are hosts, but one thing to keep in mind when playing the lead is that Wolf should be in a hot room on a Saturday afternoon, otherwise it will be much clearer than that.
10. Covit-19 test: Since Joaquin Neyman had to quit after a positive test, the corona virus has already claimed to be a master infection. This has a fair effect on the outcome of the competition. Neyman was unlikely to win, but he was certainly one of 30-35 golfers. Players have always been out of the main championship for various ailments and injuries, but this year the risk is never high or anywhere.
