Five things you need to know about this week's masters
1. THE GUY IN RED WANTS ANOTHER GREEN JACKET
Tiger Woods won the Masters four times in his first nine years on the PGA Tour. Since then, he has been shut out. Woods has gone seven years since he last won at Augusta National, his longest drought in any of the majors. Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus played a practice round with Woods when he was an amateur, and predicted he would win more green jackets than their 10 combined.
2. HALFWAY HOME
Rory McIlroy is 23 and already is halfway to the career Grand Slam. He already has won the US Open and the US PGA Championship. A green jacket would give him the third leg. McIlroy had a four-shot lead going into the final round at Augusta in 2011 and shot 80. If he wins this year, he will join Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer as the only players since 1960 to win majors in three successive years.
3. STARS & STRIPES
After three years of another "golden era" in European golf, look who's winning all the tournaments. Four Europeans had been at No 1 in the world for 125 consecutive weeks until Woods returned to the top. Along the way, Americans began the year by winning the first 14 events on the US PGA Tour, the longest such streak since Americans opened the 1984 season with 14 straight wins. Americans won all 44 tournaments on the tour in 1982.
4. RETURN OF THE BIG EASY
Ernie Els felt his heart get ripped out in 2004 when he was on the putting green hopeful of a playoff until he heard the ground-shaking roar of Phil Mickelson making a birdie on 18 to win. Worse yet was the Big Easy failing to qualify last year, missing the Masters for the first time in 18 years. He returns as the British Open champion, giving the South African at least five more tries at the major he wants so desperately to win.
5. WITHER THE AZALEAS?
So much for that myth that Augusta National puts ice on the azaleas bushes to make sure they bloom during tournament week. Due to an early spring in the South last year, the azaleas, camellias and dogwoods bloomed before the opening tee shot. The few flowers remaining were wilting fast. The Masters had gone green. The course was beautiful. But it was green.
Associated Press
