Tough field gears up for ’08 Masters

Who will ‘Master’ Augusta this year?

It has to be either everyone’s favorite golfer, Tiger Woods, or maybe Phil Mickelson, right? Or what about Ernie Els?

Picking who will win the Masters tournament is like picking who will win the NCAA basketball title. OK, it might be a little harder than that.

Tiger Woods is once again the odds-on favorite to capture his fifth Masters title, as the odds-makers have him at 5/6, which pretty much means you would have to pay $6 to win $5.

Mickelson stands as a 10-1 favorite and Els comes in at 12-1 at the top three picks.

If you’re looking to make some big bucks then climb down the ladder and pick Vijay Singh at 30-1. Or what about last year’s winner, Zach Johnson, who stands a 60-1 chance of taking his second Masters title?

If you dare to get a little crazy, then Bubba Watson or Thomas Bjorn could bring in some big money at a 100-1 odds.

Now I’m not a betting man, but my point is, picking who’s going to win the Masters is just like any other sporting event. It’s whoever is the hottest on Saturday and Sunday.

Granted you have to make it through the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday, but all you have to do is to stay within striking distance.

Everyone has their prediction or opinion, but let’s face it; a prediction is just another way of saying you’re taking a guess.

The word prediction is a statement or claim that a particular event will occur in the future, something like a forecast.

So if I say Tiger Woods will win at the Masters then I think that’s a safe bet, I’m just not saying he will win this one.

I do believe it will be Tiger and Phil battling it out once again at Augusta National. Combined they’ve won five of the last seven Masters.

The other two were won by Mike Weir and last year’s champion, Johnson, who displayed a gritty round on Sunday to claim the green jacket.

But don’t rule out some overachiever who comes from three or four strokes down to capture the title. It’s Augusta, and anything can happen.

This year’s tournament will have 19 first-timers swinging their way through Amen Corner. Brian Bateman and Drew Weaver, along with Andres Romero, might just sneak up on the leaders. But Augusta is a course where experience usually pays off and I still have to go with a more experience golfer like Woods or even Vijay Singh.

With four Masters titles and a tournament record score of -18 it’s no wonder Woods is the favorite to tame the 7,445 yard par 72 course. And with over $7 million in prize money up for grabs Tiger is sure to bring his A game to the table.

The Masters is a special tournament played on a special course and if you have never made the trip over to Augusta, it’s one piece of real-estate everyone one should see once before they die. You don’t have to be a golfer to enjoy the beauty of Augusta National.

But if you’re looking for tickets and they’re not that expensive, they are still very hard to come by.

Unless you know someone, getting in to see Saturday or Sunday’s round is almost impossible these days. Even tickets for the practice rounds are hard to get. Those ticket have to be applied for almost a year in advance and tickets to the actual tournament are sold only to members of a patrons list which is closed and no longer accepting applications. So if you are ever offered tickets take them and you’ll have the a wonderful time walking the rolling hills of Georgia.