Masters 2012: Americans with a Lot to Prove at Augusta National

The 2012 Masters tournament will feature golfers from all over the world, but all eyes will be on the various American players in action at Augusta National.

Okay fine, maybe not all eyes, but certainly eyes belonging to those of us who live in the States. We Americans tend to care a little more about our American golfers.

There's always a lot of pressure on American golfers heading into a major tournament, especially these days. American golfers don't dominate the golf world like they used to, causing many to bemoan the apparently declining state of American golf.

This year at Augusta National, a handful of Americans will be under more pressure than others. Let's count 'em down.

Nick Watney

Nick Watney has enjoyed some nice success since going pro in 2003, winning four PGA Tour events and notching a couple top-10 finishes in majors back in 2010.

One of those was at the Masters.

Watney finished the tournament in seventh place in 2010, and at that point it looked like he was going to be a key player to watch at the 2011 tournament. Prior to his seventh-place finish at the Masters, Watney had finished tied for 11th in 2008 and 19th in 2009.

Sadly, Watney fell well short of the top at the 2011 Masters. He never really got on track and by the end of the tournament he was looking at a four-over score and a 46th-place finish.

Watney still ranks in the top 20 in the World Golf Rankings, but he's had his ups and downs so far in 2012. Most recently, he shot a six-over at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a bad omen heading into the Masters.

I wouldn't say there's tremendous pressure on Watney to win the Masters, but he needs a good performance to stop heading in the wrong direction. He was a top-10 golfer less than a year ago, so this is a chance for him to show the world that wasn't a fluke.

Hunter Mahan

Hunter Mahan was yet another American golfer who looked like he was on the rise at the 2010 Masters, as he finished tied for eighth a year after finishing tied for 10th.

At the 2011 Masters, Mahan missed the cut. He posted a 75 in the first round, and he wasn't able to save himself with an excellent performance in the second round.

Mahan will be looking to bounce back at this year's tournament, and the good news is that he's been playing some good golf so far in 2012.

He opened his season with a sixth-place finish at the Farmers Insurance Open and then won the WGC-Accenture Match Play championship by defeating Rory McIlroy.

Mahan currently stands strong at No. 14 in the World Golf Rankings, and you just get the sense that his best golf is still to come.

However, that will all change if he falls flat at the Masters again. If that happens, we'll be having this same discussion about Mahan this time next year.

Steve Stricker

For lack of a better comparison, I'm starting to think of Steve Stricker as golf's answer to Jamie Moyer. He's just always, you know, there.

Stricker's consistency is remarkable, as it seems like he always ends up in the top 10 and he very rarely has a disastrous round. He's good for a couple wins every year, and he already has one under his belt this year at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

There's one thing Stricker hasn't done in his career though, and that's win a major. At 45 years of age, he's running out of time to win one.

Stricker has played pretty well at the Masters in recent years. He tied for 30th in 2010, but he tied for sixth in 2009 and tied for 11th last year. He's certainly no stranger to Augusta National, meaning all he has to do is play his game and he'll invariably find himself near the top of the leaderboard.

But the story of Stricker's career is that he's good enough to contend at majors, but not good enough to win. That reputation will hold until he proves otherwise.

Dustin Johnson

Given his tremendous talent, Dustin Johnson is a guy whose resume should have at least one major victory on it by this point.

Johnson has come close. He barely missed at the Open Championship last year and I don't think any of us will ever forget what happened to him at the 2010 PGA Championship. With better luck, Johnson could be entering the 2012 Masters with two major victories to his name.

But even then, Johnson would be a total wild card. He only has a brief history at the Masters, but he just hasn't played well at Augusta National. In three tries, he has yet to finish in the top 30.

Johnson's better than that. He's been playing some pretty good golf so far this season, so now is as good a time as any for him to prove that he can hang with the rest of the field in a prestigious tournament like the Masters. 

A win would be nice, but I for one would be content with a simple top-10 finish.

Tiger Woods

I was going to leave Tiger Woods off this list completely when I first sat down to put it together, but I realized that would be ignoring one very simple truth.

These days, Tiger has something to prove every time he even swings a club.

After his win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the buzz around Tiger is more positive than it's been in years. And according to Bovada, he's a 7/2 favorite to win his fifth Green Jacket.

I'm not putting it past him. Tiger has finished in the top 10 at the Masters in each of his last seven trips, including 2010 and 2011 when his game was an absolute wreck. Now that Tiger's game isn't a wreck, he should be able to top the field next weekend.

In other words, the old "Tiger or the field?" question has returned. What he needs to prove is that he deserves that kind of respect again.