Masters Odds 2012: Handicapping the Field at Augusta

The 76th edition of the Masters tournament is golf season's first major and begins April 5 at the Augusta National Golf Club.

Now that Tiger Woods broke the massive iceberg he was in with a win at Bay Hill last weekend, everyone is buzzing about the Masters. Woods is relevant once again—he's the main story, either because you are rooting for him or against him.

But much has changed in the time span between the last two official wins for the former No. 1 in the world, and there are plenty of suitors for the Green Jacket.

The world's top four players—Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer—have been No. 1 at some point during that time. They are all primed to win their first green jacket. In fact, McIlroy (US Open) and Kaymer (PGA Championship) have won a major already.

Three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson will be trying to tie Woods and Arnold Palmer for second place in the all-time winners list.

Last year's champ, Charl Schwartzel, as well as runner-up finishers Jason Day and Adam Scott are also present.

This year, the Masters promises to deliver an exciting finish on Sunday. So let's handicap the odds of some of the top contenders that should contribute to make this edition one of the best Masters tournaments of all time.

Martin Kaymer

Player: Martin Kaymer

World Ranking: 4

Vegas Odds: 40-1

Kaymer has one major (PGA Championship) to his credit and entered the Masters last year as the No. 1 player in the world.

But that wasn't good enough for him as he missed the cut for the fourth time in as many tries. Now you can understand why the odds are so low for the fourth-ranked player in the world.

After the Masters, he started to fall in the rankings until he reached the sixth spot. But he is back up to fourth and seems to have straightened the ship at the right time.

He has been able to finish in the top 10 in the other three majors, but Augusta seems to get the best of him every time.

Until he breaks that barrier and makes his first cut, it will be difficult to count him as a contender.

Nick Watney

Player: Nick Watney

World Ranking: 19

Vegas Odds: 30-1

Watney is going the wrong way on the world rankings. After peaking at No. 10 last year after the AT&T National, he has been on a slow-and-steady decline and is down to No. 19.

His best finish at the Masters was in 2010 when he finished tied for 7th. He finished 46th last year.

This year he has been good at the right time. His only top-20 finishes have been at the WGC tournaments—T9 at the Accenture Match Play and T17 at the Cadillac.

The Masters is the right time to be great. And he will need to be if he is to contend this year.

One good thing he has going for him is that he already defeated Tiger Woods one-on-one at the Accenture Match Play. That gives him an edge on a possible final pairing with Woods on Sunday at Augusta.

Right?

Jason Day

Player: Jason Day

World Ranking: 11

Vegas Odds: 40-1

Last year, Day finished runner-up at two majors. He finished second at the Masters and followed that up with a second at the US Open.

He had a career year that saw him peak at No. 7 in the world rankings, g  and it looked like he was destined for great things.

But that destiny has been put on hold for the moment as he is down to 11th in the rankings.

He is not playing that bad, but he has not been that good either. With two consecutive T20 finishes and a T17 just before that, he has been just average.

But maybe he remembers in time for the Masters exactly what it was that made him finish second, and he'll jump-start his 2012 season at the Masters, just like he did last year.

Charl Schwartzel

Player: Charl Schwartzel

World Ranking: 7

Vegas Odds: 40-1

The defending champ is at 40-1? How can this be possible?

Maybe it's the fact that history tells us that only three players have been able to repeat as Masters champions, and their last names are Woods, Palmer and Faldo.

That is right down Schwartzel's alley. Well, not quite.

But to Schwartzel's credit, he is peaking at the right time. He is up to a career-high No. 6 in the world rankings, and before his missed cut at the Transitions Championship, he had two top-five finishes in a row.

And not only that, but no one was better with the putter during those two weeks, and that was his key to victory last year. He was the first man to ever close the Masters with four consecutive birdies with clutch putts on each hole.

That could serve him well, and he should be a contender going into Sunday. He would join pretty good company if he were to repeat as Masters champion.

Keegan Bradley

Player: Keegan Bradley

World Ranking: 20

Vegas Odds: 30-1

Last year's PGA Championship winner and Rookie of the Year has playing solid golf ever since he missed the cut at the Deutsche Bank Championship last year.

He has finished in the top 20 in every tournament but one, the Farmers Insurance Open where he finished 22nd.

Bradley has never lost a major he has played in. It helps that he has played in only one, of course, but that makes him remarkable as well.

The Masters is a totally different kind of monster, but Bradley has the intangibles that would allow him to succeed here.

Bill Haas

Player: Bill Haas

World Ranking: 16

Vegas Odds: 60-1

I like Hass' chances to win the Masters.

He is a player that sneaks up on you and wins a tournament when you least expect it. He hovers around, and then all of a sudden he climbs up the leaderboard and defeats you with clutch shots in a playoff.

Just ask Hunter Mahan, Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley.

He has finished T26 and T42 at the Masters in his two appearances. And this year at 60-1 odds, I like to take my chances with Haas.

After his win at the Northern Trust Open, he has just average top-30 finishes. However, he frequently puts in average performances right before winning or finishing in the top 10. He has everyone looking one way, and he'll sneak up the other.

But seriously, Haas' chances to win or at least contend are very good, and I will not be surprised at a great performance by him next weekend.

Adam Scott

Player: Adam Scott

World Ranking: 10

Vegas Odds: 25-1

Scott started the year as the seventh-ranked player in the world and has slipped to the 10th spot after three tournaments.

But some of that can be attributed to the fact that he had to take three months off to recover from a tonsillectomy last December.

Last year, Scott had his best finish at the Masters when he placed T2 with Jason Day. Just like Day, he is looking to do one better this year, and he seems to be moving in the right direction towards achieving this.

He had the opening-round share of the lead at the WGC Cadillac before finishing T13.

He should also be helped by the fact that he will have on the bag someone that has been on the winner's bag four times before. I bet you don't have a clue who that is, right?

Justin Rose

Player: Justin Rose

World Ranking: 8

Vegas Odds: 30-1

Since winning the BMW Championship last year, Rose is playing the best golf of his career.

He had reached his career-high No. 7 ranking in the world after he won his first WGC Championship (Cadillac) three weeks ago. He had finished T5 at the Honda Classic just before that.

He just finished T15 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational after flirting with the leaders for most of the tournament.

His best finish at the Masters is a T5 in 2007 and finished T11 last year.

Here we have a player that has the game to make a successful run for the title, and you should expect to see him among the leaders on Sunday.

Lee Westwood

Player: Lee Westwood

World Ranking: 3

Vegas Odds: 15-1

The former world's No. 1 is still looking for that elusive first major win.

He's had a very good year so far even though he has slipped to No. 3 in the rankings. He had finished second at the Dubai Desert Classic and fourth at the WGC Accenture Match Play and Honda Classic before his T29 at the WGC Cadilllac.

But Westwood wants to win a major just as much as anyone else.

He's had pretty good success in the past four years at the Masters with two T11 and a second-place finish in 2010.

You can never count Westwood out, and if you do this year, you might miss him finally achieving his first career win in a major.

Luke Donald

Player: Luke Donald

World Ranking: 1

Vegas Odds: 15-1

The world's No. 1 is also looking for his first major win.

It is the only accolade left to achieve in a remarkable career that saw him last year become the first man to officially win the money titles at both the PGA and European tours on the same year.

Donald started the year slowly but has been turning it up a notch with each tournament. On his last two tournaments, he has finished T6 (Honda Classic) and won (Transitions Championship).

He has become a clutch player and learned how to close the deal on Sundays. This, along with his deadly precision game, should be key at Augusta.

Donald finished T4 last year and has said that the Masters is his best shot at a winning a major this year. Agreed. 

Rory McIlroy

Player: Rory McIlroy

World Ranking: 2

Vegas Odds: 4-1

McIlroy and Tiger Woods are the headliners at Augusta this year.

Nobody else has been even close to McIlroy this year in points gained (170.96) on the Official Golf World Rankings.

On his last 12 tournaments, he has 11 top-five finishes. This includes his win at the Honda Classic, after which he reached the No. 1 ranking in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time in his career.

Last year his collapse on the final round at Augusta was bigger news than Charl Schwartzel's win. He then responded to his critics on the year's second major, the U.S. Open, with his record-setting win.

This year everyone is expecting McIlroy to make headlines with a win at Augusta and hopefully go mano-a-mano with Tiger Woods on Sunday.

Now, that would be record-setting golf TV ratings.

Phil Mickelson

Player: Phil Mickelson

World Ranking: 15

Vegas Odds: 9-1

Three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson has to be considered by all accounts a favorite to win the Masters, as much as Tiger Woods..

Of all the players on the field, you could argue that only Woods has been more successful than Lefty at the Masters. And even that is worthy of discussion.

If someone other than Mickelson knows how to gamble and make better use of his short game at the right time at Augusta, name him.

Since 1995, in 17 appearances, Mickelson has three wins, six additional top-fives and four additional top-10s. In other words, 76 percent of the time, Mickelson has finished in the top 10.

He relishes playing alongside Woods, especially on Sundays. Last time we saw the two together on a final round, Mickelson stole the spotlight from Woods and charged to a two-shot victory at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

The prospect of watching Mickelson and Woods on the final group at the Masters would also provide that instant-classic feeling to the tournament.

Tiger Woods

Player: Tiger Woods

World Ranking: 6

Vegas Odds: 7-1

Much is being said about Tiger Woods being back to his winning ways and his old self on the golf course.

Not quite.

The 14-time major champion did signal he is back to playing form with his win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. But his return to prominence won't be full-circle until he wins a major, and what better setting than winning his fifth green jacket?

The last two years, Woods was not in top form at the Masters and still finished T4. He even had a share of the lead on Sunday last year.

Has he met the readiness requirements to win at Augusta this year?

One important checkpoint is that, the other four times he has won The Masters, he's had at least one win on the year. Checked.

Another important checkpoint would be that his scrambling game was at its peak every time he won. Checked.

Woods is ready and primed this year to tie Jack Nicklaus for second place in the all-time wins list, and be solo second on the Masters wins list.

Expect Woods to win his 15th career major title.

The Field

Player: The Field

Vegas Odds: 12-1

There is a full field among the rest of the players that could provide an upset win to any of the favorites this year.

Notables from the field include Steve Stricker (40-1), Webb Simpson (40-1), Dustin Johnson (40-1), Sergio Garcia (40-1), veteran K.J. Choi (50-1) and Graeme McDowell (60-1).

But if I had to pick someone from that group to win the Masters, it would be the veteran Choi.

Choi, like many other top players, is still looking for his first major win.

Last year he won the so-called fifth major, when he took the Players Championship. And the last two years at the Masters, he has finished T4 and T8.

While he has been on a downward spiral on the rankings recently, due to his average play, the Masters is the kind of tournament that brings the best in Choi.

His game suits Augusta, and it wouldn't surprise me to see him contending for the win all weekend long.