Tiger Woods: Breaking Down Tiger's Biggest Obstacles to a Masters Win

Tiger Woods' big win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational means one thing for his chances at the Masters in early April: he will be a favorite to win.

Nonetheless, there are still certain players who will stand in the way of Woods and his fifth Masters win. Here's a look at those golfers. 

Rory McIlroy

The 22-year-old has been playing absolutely out of his mind as of late. In McIlroy's last five tournaments, he has finished second, fifth, second, first and third.

He has beaten Woods in all of the tournaments that both of them played in—even the Honda Classic, where Woods finished second.

McIlroy didn't play in the Arnold Palmer Invitational this weekend, but he still serves as Tiger's biggest threat, as he has been outplaying Tiger for quite some time now. 

With that being said, the Masters has been McIlroy's worst major, with his best finish coming last year when he placed 15th. 

Luke Donald

Donald was the world's No. 1-ranked golfer for a long time before McIlroy moved him to No. 2, but after a win at the Transitions Championship last week, Donald reclaimed his spot at the top.

Before that win, Donald wasn't playing very well, as he had three straight finishes outside the Top 30.

Nonetheless, the 34-year-old is very good and certainly will be one of the favorites heading into Augusta.

Graeme McDowell

The No. 17 golfer in the world has been playing very well lately.

In his last seven tournaments before this weekend, McDowell finished in the Top 15 in five of them, and that includes two Top 10 finishes and one Top Five. 

He topped it all off this weekend, as he finished second and gave Woods all he could handle on the final day before falling apart at the end. 

The former world No. 4 is on his way back up and he could easily make a sneaky run in Augusta, although he'll probably get overlooked.

Tiger Woods

Let's face it: if Woods is on his game, no one is going to outplay him. He's going to be his own biggest obstacle.

But if he plays like he did to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he has a very good chance.

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