The Masters: Why Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson Have Upper Hand at Augusta National

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: March 30, 2011

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The new trend in professional golf seems to be the unrelenting interest in the game’s youth movement.

You can’t get two sentences into an article or 20 minutes into a golf telecast without seeing or hearing the words “young guns”.

Rory McIlroy is one of the young guns.

Nick Watney’s win at the WGC-Cadillac Championship was just another demonstration that the young guns are taking over the game.

Dustin Johnson may be the best of all the young guns.

Etc. etc. etc.

Now, all of the attention these young professionals are receiving is not without warrant.  There is indeed an excellent class of players under the age of 30 currently on tour.  

This “young-gun” trend is unlikely to wane as we head into the Masters.  Every “expert” analyst, television commentator and Wall Street executive taking part in yet more gambling through a Masters pool will be selecting the likes of Nick Watney, Rory McIlory, Dustin Johnson, Ricky Fowler, Martin Kaymer, etc. as potential 2011 Masters Champions.

But what a lot of people don’t realize is that Augusta is one place where experience, and particularly experience being in contention on Sunday, trumps just about everything else.

Since 1980, only two players have won the Masters without participating in the tournament at least three times prior to their victories (Zach Johnson in 2007 and Bernhard Langer in 1985).  Out of the 31 Masters champions since 1980, only nine have won without first finishing within the top 10 at Augusta.  

That means that almost 71 percent of all Masters champions during the past 30 years have not only played several Masters before their first victory, but have also been at least somewhat in contention on Sunday afternoon prior to their first victory (contention being defined as at least one top-10 finish).
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Golf

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