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Top Five “Out There” Masters Tournament Scenarios
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Though not super likely to happen, if any of the following scenarios is realized during the 2012 Masters Tournament, this could be a very fun tournament to watch. Bets anyone?
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At least 5 Americans finish in the top 10
While the top three golfers in the world are not from the United States, players from America have been on the comeback trail ever since the end of 2011, with a total of four players now within the top-10 in the World Golf Rankings. In the 2011 Masters only three Americans finished in the top-10, so could at least five finish there in 2012? With a strong international presence in the event I don’t think there is a great chance that it will happen, but you never know.
First Time Major Winner
Charl Schwartzel won the Masters Tournament in 2011 for his first ever major, capping off an incredible Sunday with a stretch of birdies on the back nine that no one expected. With that said though, can another golfer win their first ever major at the Masters this week? Over the past 5 years there have been three first-time major winners that have gone on to win this event (Zach Johnson, Trevor Immelman, Charl Schwartzel), so it is not out of the realm of possibility. However, with the comeback of Tiger Woods and a stellar group of players in this week’s event, I don’t really see it happening.
Someone over age 45 wins the Masters
Can an old guy notch a win this week? Okay, maybe 45 isn’t actually old, but these days on the PGA Tour there have been very few, if any, winners in their mid-to-late 40s. Vijay Singh is the one who comes to mind in the modern era, but Singh won the Masters when he was in his late 30s (2000). The most recent champion to have been at least 45 years of age was Jack Nicklaus, who won the event all the way back in 1986. While there are some well-known golfers in that age range competing in this week’s event (Craig Stadler, Bernhard Langer, Jose Maria Olazabal, Vijay Singh, and Mark O’Meara), the likelihood of any of them winning is very slim.
Sergio Garcia wins the Masters
How could you not come up with an “out there” scenario list for a major event without mentioning Sergio Garcia? Even though he has had a total of 7 PGA Tour wins in his career to this point, Garcia still has yet to win a major, and his time period of winning one anytime soon is closing fast. Sergio has had a pretty decent season to this point with five cuts made in five starts, but he currently ranks 87th on Tour in scoring average, 149th in scrambling, and 160th in putting from 15-25 feet. In other words: don’t bet on Sergio winning the Masters this week, but if he stuns us all then that bet you shouldn’t have made would really pay off.
Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Luke Donald finish 1-2-3
We can all dream of this sort of finish, couldn’t we? Just imagine the ratings this week’s event would get if these three players were to end up in these places when Sunday comes around. That would truly be something. While I do think at least one of them will finish in the top 3 in this week’s event, the likelihood of all of them finishing in those positions is, let’s just say, slim and none.
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About the Author
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Ryan Kekoufski
Ryan Kekoufski is a scratch golfer who has both played and watched the sport for well over a decade. His work has been featured on such sites as Yahoo! Sports, and he currently runs The Yips Blog, a blog dedicated solely to the game of golf. |
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