The Masters Tournament is the PGA Tour's first major of the year, and will be played from April 5-8 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Charl Schwartzel won the event in 2011 for his first major title, with Jason Day and Adam Scott finishing two strokes behind him in second place. With that said, what are the top three storylines heading into this week's event?
McIlroy at the US Open
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Will Tiger Woods finally win a major?
The last time Tiger Woods won a major was the 2008 U.S. Open, where he defeated Rocco Mediate in a playoff. Since that time he has gone through both highs and lows, with his most recent high being a win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Can he finally break through and win this week's major? I think he has a great chance to win, especially when looking at his stats thus far into the year. Woods ranks first on Tour in both scoring average and total driving, along with hitting over 70% of greens in regulation on average. He has everything clicking right now, even his putter, and his recent win should give him added confidence at the Masters this week.
Is it Rory McIlroy's time to shine or Luke Donald's?
Anyone following golf closely knew that McIlroy was going to be an elite player someday, but what about right now? His blowout win at the U.S. Open surely opened some eyes to how talented of a golfer he is, and Rory also won the Honda Classic this year with Tiger in the field. He needs more major wins under his belt to solidify this status, though, and McIlroy should be in contention for every major this year barring anything unforeseen. Luke Donald is looking to win his first career major, and has also won an event this year as well (Transitions Championship). While he is a great short game player, the one area of his game that concerns me is his iron play, as he currently ranks 120th on Tour in greens in regulation.
Will we see another First-Time Major Winner?
Schwartzel won the event last year for his first ever major, and there has actually been an interesting trend when it comes to the Masters over the past five years, as Charl, Zach Johnson, and Trevor Immelman all won their first majors at the event. Could it happen again this year? There is a great chance that it could, and there are four players who I believe could do it in 2012: Hunter Mahan, Luke Donald, K.J. Choi, and Adam Scott. All of them have been playing well this year, and I like their chances heading into this week.
Ryan Kekoufski is a scratch golfer who has both played and watched the sport for well over a decade. He covers sports for the Yahoo! Contributor Network, and currently resides in Virginia.
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