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The 2017 Masters has all the storylines heading into the weekend
Rickie Fowler and Hideki Matsuyama walk off the 12th tee. (Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports)
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Major championships, especially the Masters, are a total and complete crapshoot when it comes to leaderboards. We can talk for hours on end before the event about players and their form, but it’s impossible to predict who is going to have a good week and who will struggle.
But this week at Augusta National, the leaderboard dreams are coming true. Besides Dustin Johnson pulling out before the week and Jason Day struggling the first two days, almost all the names you’d expect to be in the conversation are there, and we wanted to break down what everyone is playing for as Moving Day approaches.
Charley Hoffman — There is always one random player in the mix at the Masters, but you can’t sleep on the career of Hoffman. The 40-year-old has four PGA Tour wins and played well here two years ago, so this isn’t that big of a shock — even if he would go down as one of the biggest surprise winners in the history of the Masters.
Sergio Garcia — What else can you say about Sergio and his major championship drought? Twenty-two top-10s in majors over his career, including four seconds, Garcia winning would be similar to Phil Mickelson’s victory in 2004, and would cap an incredible career that is missing just one piece of the puzzle.
Thomas Pieters — The 25 year old has slowly become one of the most talented young players in the game. A win would be the first for someone making their Masters debut since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.
Rickie Fowler — We’ve waited for Fowler to win his first major, and a lot of people thought this might be his best chance, considering how well he has played the last couple of months. Fowler winning would be huge for the game and would give the Champions locker room a much-needed young American star to join alongside Jordan Spieth.
Phil Mickelson — Jack won at 46 back in ’86, and Phil would join him with a win at that age if he could pull this off on Sunday. It would also give Phil four green jackets, tying him with Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer for second-most, two behind Jack Nicklaus.
William McGirt — OK, McGirt would be the most random winner in the history of this tournament. He would also be a Masters rookie like Pieters if he left with green. McGirt doesn’t have much of a major championship resume, but he did finish T-10 at the PGA Championship last year — his first top-10 in one of the big four.
Justin Rose — Winning one major puts you in a certain category. But winning a second — especially a different one — vaults you ahead of so many names in golf history. Rose would make it back-to-back Masters wins for England after going 26 years without a win at Augusta National, and would complete an impressive run as of late at the tournament for the 36-year-old.
Fred Couples — He’s 57, so he would easily be the oldest Masters winner ever. But his victory would also bring up so many insane stats — like the fact that Spieth wasn’t even born when Couples last left Augusta National in a green jacket in 1992.
Rory McIlroy — The Masters is the lone major Rory has yet to win. If he can come back over the weekend it would complete the career Grand Slam — golf's highest honor and its most elite club.
Jordan Spieth — Spieth has never finished outside the top two at the Masters, and he’s trying to keep that record in tact as he approaches the weekend. Everyone knows what happened a year ago, but this will be the first time Spieth isn’t in the driver’s seat as he heads into Moving Day.
