2011 Masters Predictions: Will There Be a Wire-to-Wire Champion This Year?

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Does The Champion  Have To Start Out Strong?

Phil Mickelson won last year's Masters thanks to an outstanding five-under closing round 67. But it certainly helped that Lefty got off to a great start.

In the opening round he made four birdies and a thrilling eagle to post a 67, the day's second lowest total, tied with K.J. Choi, Tom  Watson, and Lee Westwood. The only man to shoot a higher score was 50-year-old Fred Couples. 

Coincidently, Westwood, Choi, and Couples all entered the final day in the hunt and finished inside the top six.

Two years earlier, when Trevor Immelman won his first major title, the South African finished each of the four days in the lead. 

So does that mean a great start (or at least one that isn't disastrous) is vital to contending at Augusta National?

Probably not. But the Masters isn't like the US Open. It's harder to climb the leaderboard if no one is posing sevens or eights because a terrible drive landed buried them in rough.

Certainly major trouble can befall a player in the Masters. Tom Weiskopf once posted a 13 on the par-3 12th. Amen Corner has the potential to be nasty. But there seems to be less carnage at Augusta National than at the British and US Open or even the PGA Championship.

The limited, invite-only field contributes to that: aside from the aged former champions and the senior and amateurs who are usually invited more as honorees than as potential contenders, the world's best players are in the field.

So not only can one bad day can ruin a players chances, so can a fairly mediocre day. More than likely the man who slips on the Green Jacket Sunday night will have crafted four spectacular days in a row.

For more on the Masters, see Masters 2011: Top Five Young Golfers Looking for Their First Major Title Win

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