Horses for Courses: Masters Tournament

Augusta National Golf Club annually serves as the backdrop to unofficially kick off spring and provides canvas for the first major championship of the season.

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The former Fruitland Nurseries property has evolved over the years but the commitment to the original design and playability continues over time. For the first time in history the course will finally exceed 7,500 yards. The Par-72 stretches now to 7,510 as the changes to No. 11 and No. 15 put the extra lumber on the scorecard.

The annual test here begins with ball-striking and finishes with nerves being held on the perfect Bentgrass greens. Moving it off the tee creates angles and opportunities into the tiered, well-protected green complexes. Knowing where to miss approach shots and scrambling for pars is modern art. Par-5 holes provide 16 chances to erase the blemishes that occur during the round.

The course is right in front of the players and the execution is on them. Experience here counts greatly as the layout and green complexes are not overhauled annually. The patience to ride the difficult holes is just as important as deciphering when to attack the accessible pin positions. There will be bad breaks, bad bounces and trying circumstances. Dealing with the execution of those circumstances is where the tournament can be won or lost.

My focus this week will be on the last two spring editions rather than fall of 2020. The consensus suggests the course didn't play similarly to what it does in spring time so take those records with a grain of salt. Yes, the routing is similar but the action of the golf ball (in the air or on the ground), lack of patrons/atmosphere and general malaise of November 2020 was real.

The field of 91 will be reduced to the top 50 and ties to play the final two rounds. Last year the prize purse was $11.5 million with the winner collecting $2.070 million plus 600 FedExCup points. I would expect that number to be expanded for this year's champion.

Let's find some horses for courses!

Horses for Courses

Odds sourced on Tuesday, March 22 at 6 p.m. ET. For live odds visit betmgm.

Recent Event Winner Stats

Extra Credit (players entered this week only)

2021

Hideki Matsuyama won for the first time in 10 visits to become the first Asian Masters champion. ... Debutant Will Zalatoris (2nd) also hit the second most greens (53/72) and posted all four under par. ... Xander Schauffele (T3) finished three shots adrift with a double and triple on the card in the final round. ... 2015 winner Jordan Spieth (T3) collected his fifth podium finish in eight starts. ... Marc Leishman (T5) picked up his fifth consecutive paycheck here as he co-led the field in Par-3 scoring. ... Jon Rahm (T5) chalked up his fourth consecutive top 10 and co-led the field in bogey avoidance. ... First Round Leader and 36 hole leader Justin Rose (7th) hasn't finished outside T25 since 2008. ... Corey Conners (T8) ranked seventh in Fairways and third GIR as he's cashed in every visit as a professional. ... 2018 champion Patrick Reed (T8) picks up his third top 10 in his last four visits. ... Tony Finau (T10) only finish outside the top 10 was in November of 2020. ... Cam Smith (T10) backed up his T2 from 2020 and picks up his third top 10 in five attempts. ... Rose and Matsuyama (bogey free) posted the co-low round of the week with 65 while Rahm (bogey free) and Finau posted 66. ... Debutant Robert MacIntyre (T12) led the field with 21 birdies. ... Kevin Na (T12) matched Matsuyama and Rahm with only nine bogeys on the week. ... Viktor Hovland (T21) tied Spieth and Schauffele at 12-under on the Par-5 holes. ... Scoring average 73.064. ... Two bogey free rounds for the week. ... Cut was 3-over.

2020

First November event crowned Dustin Johnson champion in his 10th attempt. Johnson equaled the 54 hole scoring record, set the tournament scoring record and won by five shots. ... Sungjae Im (T2) signed for 77-80 last spring. ... Cameron Smith (T2) became the first player EVER to post all four rounds in the 60s and lost by five. ... Justin Thomas (4th) picked up his only top 10 but has five T22 or better from six tries. ... Rory McIlroy (T5) picked up his sixth top 10 from seven starts but MC in April 2021. ... Brooks Koepka (T7) extended his streak to five consecutive cuts made before MC in April 2021. ... Jon Rahm (T7) added another round of 66 to his collection. ... Corey Conners (T10) posted 65 in Round 2, one of five on the week. Johnson had two of them! .... Patrick Reed (T10) led the field in Putts/GIR. ... Webb Simpson (T10) backed up his T5 from 2019 and followed with T12 2021. ... Paul Casey (T38) shared the first round lead with Johnson on 65. ... Scoring average 71.752. ... 11 bogey free rounds. ... Cut was Even.

2019

Winner Tiger Woods slipped on his fifth green jacket, second most in history behind Jack Nicklaus. ... Dustin Johnson (T2) only squared five bogeys on the week. ... Brooks Koepka (T2) played the Par-5 holes in 13-under (T2). ... Xander Schauffele (T2) led the field with 25 birdies and added 19 more last spring. ... Tony Finau (T5) signed for 64 and finished in the top five in putting for the first of two consecutive spring editions. ... Francesco Molinari (T5) had a three shot lead after 63 holes and led the field in Putting. ... Webb Simpson (T5) produced a career-best paycheck and posted 64 in Round 3. ... Patrick Cantlay (T9) closed 64-68 but MC the spring before and after. ... Jon Rahm (T9) was T6 Fairways and T10 GIR. ... Bryson DeChambeau (T29) led after 18 holes with 66. ... Scoring average 71.865. ... 7 bogey free rounds. ... Cut 3-over.

Notes:

• Since 2011 only winners Bubba Watson (2014), Tiger Woods (2019) and Dustin Johnson (2020) have won previous major champioships.
• Average age of winner is 32.21 years.
• Youngest winner is Tiger Woods (21 years, 3 months).
• Oldest winner is Jack Nicklaus (46 years, 2 months).
• Oldest first-time winner is Mark O'Meara (41 years, 3 months).
• Fuzzy Zoeller (1979) is the last winner on debut.
• Last two winners have won on their 10th attempts.
• Charl Schwartzel (2011), Jordan Spieth (2015) and Danny Willett (2016) won on their second attempts.
• Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods are the only champions to defend successfully.
• Course record is 63 set by Nick Price in 1986 and Greg Norman in 1996.
• Jordan Spieth circled 28 birdies in 2015, a tournament record.
• The last playoff was 2017 (Sergio Garcia d. Justin Rose).
• Louis Oosthuizen has cashed eight straight but none inside the top 10.
• Matt Fitzpatrick is on a run of six straight with T7 2016 his best.
• Bryson DeChambeau has never MC in five attempts but his best was Low Amateur in 2016 (T21).
• Russell Henley has cashed in four straight but his last visit was 2018.

Key stat leaders

Top golfers in each statistic on the 2020-2021 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week; Select players with top 10 finishes since 2017.