2013 Masters Preview

Tiger Woods - clearly the man to beat.

I will try not to mention his name as we all know he is the heavily deserved favourite. There are three other players though who may not be household names like Phil Mickelson or Rory McIlroy, who I think have a very good chance of finishing high up the leaderboard on Sunday night.

 

Bill Haas may have a more illustrious father in Jay, but his form this year makes me think that he has a very good chance at finishing in the top five at Augusta. Haas has played eight tournaments this year, has made seven cuts, four top tens, and one top three. That sort of consistency makes him a threat for the Masters. Haas is listed 6^th on the PGA Tour this year in greens in regulation, and 21^st in eagles/hole. These two stats make me believe that Haas will be able to hit greens and sink a couple of eagles throughout the week to put him in contention.

 

Olesen is on track for a high finish at
this years first major.

Thorbjorn Olesen. Yes that Danish golfer who none of us have heard of. This is a golfer who may take Augusta by storm this year. Olesen has been having a very good year, having a T2 and a T3, and is yet to miss a cut. Olesen is driving over 300 yards this year, giving him good opportunities on the par 5’s at the Georgia layout. In his two majors last year, he finished a very respectable T9 and T27th, giving confidence that he will not only make the cut, but go one further and secure a top five finish.

 

The final player who may not be so obscure, but I think if, 'you know who' doesn’t win this year, this is our man. Louis Oosthuizen is a player who finished runner up last year and was very unlucky not to win. Remember Bubba's 9 Iron? Oosthuizen has only played four tournaments this year, but his form has been very good. Yet to miss a cut and a win under his belt, I can only assume the lack of tournaments this year (four to date), is due to an extensive preparation for Augusta to go one better than last year.

Is England really any good?

Just over a year ago, I wrote a blog (England Number One?) questioning the credentials of England’s number one test ranking. I questioned whether they could go and beat other test nations away from home in a series. Credit to England – they went and beat India in their own backyard. But are India really what they were five years ago? No Rahul Dravid, no Sourav Ganguly, a declining Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman only plays against Australia, and Tendulkar on his swansong tour.

Now this is no fault of England’s, but it does demerit from their tour victory. Looking at the present, England has barely had the better of a number eight ranked New Zealand team. The pitches and weather have not been conducive to result cricket, but shouldn’t a top team be able to win a series like this? They may still lose it after a stellar day one from NZ.

England are a very good team who may take over their number one status again from a very good South African team when it hosts a NZ team who won’t have a chance against England in England, and an Ashes series against an Australian team in meltdown.

Their team is very reliant on three or four outstanding players surrounded by good players. They desperately miss Graeme Swann’s quality on this NZ tour. Monty Panesar has been woeful, not having a clue how to bowl on flat decks. Alastair Cook is their best batter, and if he is to go out early, you now have Nick Compton, and one Jonathon Trott wicket (who has had a bad year) away from joining Jonny Bairstow. Not so formidable anymore without KP.

I’m not saying this team isn’t good, but compared to the great test teams (Australia of the 2000’s, West Indies in the 80’s, or England in the late 50’s), England are fortunate to play in a weakened time.