Arnold Palmer Invitational 2012 Leaderboard: Players Who Will Ride Momentum

Tiger Woods is having a great tournament at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and will surely ride that momentum into the Masters Tournament in early April.

But who else is seeing a similar shift upward?

Here's a look at the golfers who are having the best weekend (current leaderboard) and will see an uptick in momentum in the up-coming weeks. 

Tiger Woods

Woods has slowly been putting together stellar rounds here and there, but he hasn't quite put together the full tournament.

Until now.

Woods is currently in a race with Graeme McDowell for No. 1 in this tournament, but his 69-65-71 in the first three rounds proves Tiger is finally starting to gain the consistency of the Tiger of old. 

Woods seems to be getting better with every tournament in the last month or so. Watch out in Augusta. 

Graeme McDowell

McDowell's second-round score of 63 was one of the most impressive rounds of the tournament and it's not like his 72 and 71 are bad scores, either.

The Irishman is having a terrific start to this season, as he has two top-25 finishes and one top-10 finish already. Add in a likely top-five finish and possibly even a win here (he's currently two strokes behind Woods for first), and you have a golfer who is on fire.

If McDowell puts together another good finish next week in Texas, he will be considered a favorite in Augusta.

Chris Stroud

After failing to make the cut at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Northern Trust Open, Stroud finished fifth in the Mayakoba Golf Classic and ninth at the Honda Classic.

Now, he's putting together another solid performance as he's six under and tied for fifth with three other golfers.

If Stroud ends his day well, that will make three straight top-10 finishes. The 155th-ranked golfer in the world is looking like a strong sleeper pick for the Masters. 

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