Masters Predictions 2012: Power Ranking the Hottest Players Coming into Augusta

This week, the golf world turns all the attention to the Masters tournament, the first major of the golf season.

The Augusta National Golf Club gives us a view of beautiful flowers, bridges and poster-like ponds. But it also gives us a chance to watch the world's best players take their shot at history, and of course the purse that goes to the winner from the $8 million prize fund adds a lot of incentive.

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are the headliners. But we are talking about the Masters; all of the contenders are not going to back down from the challenge and will come out swinging for the title.

At the Masters, experience, past success and course knowledge are all very good ingredients for the winning recipe. But sometimes some players bring a secret ingredient, like for example four consecutive birdies to close the tournament and win.

Forrest Gump would say that his momma told him it's like a box of chocolates, since we never know what we are going to get.

Something that always helps is momentum, as players can ride it and boost their chances at winning here. Let's take a look at the hottest players going into The Masters tournament this weekend.

Justin Rose

Justin Rose is having a great 2012 season that has seen him rise to a career-high No. 7 in the official world golf rankings.

This happened after he won his first World Golf Championship (Cadillac) tournament at Doral four weeks ago.

Before that he had finished T5 at the Honda Classic.

Rose has been steadily improving and rising ever since winning the BMW Championship last year and contending for the FedEx Cup title.

He already won his first WGC title this year and has been playing with renewed confidence. He could carry that and turn it into his first major title.

Phil Mickelson

Phil Mickelson charged up the leaderboard on the final round at Pebble Beach and won the tournament.

He almost made it back-to-back at the Northern Trust Open, but he lost in a playoff to Bill Haas.

His momentum stopped a little in the next two tournaments, but this past weekend he started to get back on track with his T4 finish at the Shell Houston Open.

If someone can ride the momentum going into the Masters, it's Mickelson. When he is on, he is extremely good, and that could be the case as he always performs well at Augusta.

Bubba Watson

Bubba Watson is another player who has been steady and consistent coming to Augusta.

Watson has 10 straight top 20 finishes that include four top 10s and three top-five finishes.

Two of those top five finishes have come in his last two tournaments, the WGC Cadillac (2nd) and the Arnold Palmer Invitational (T4).

He is definitely carrying a lot of momentum with those two top-five finishes in his last two tournaments.

And even when his length might not help him much at The Masters, Bay Hill was playing very much like Augusta and he was able to finish T4.

This could be Watson's breakthrough tournament.

Keegan Bradley

Keegan Bradley is the reigning PGA Rookie of the Year and last year's PGA Championship winner.

He won his first major in his first try. Can he make it two-for-two?

Bradley has been a model of consistency this year. In nine tournaments he has been in the top 20 in eight of them and has three top 10s including twice in the top five.

He almost won the Northern Trust Open, which he lost in a three-way playoff to Bill Haas.

If you like trends in numbers, take a look at Bradley's finishes in the last three tournaments, T12, T8 and T4.

If you do the math correctly and believe in following these trends you now know where he should finish at Augusta.

Luke Donald

The world's No. 1 is peaking at the right time.

After making history by officially sweeping the money lists on both the PGA and European tours last year, Donald was off to a very slow start this year.

He saw Rory McIlroy take the top spot in the rankings. But then he finished T6 at the WGC Cadillac and then won the Transitions Championship, his last tournament, and regained his No. 1 ranking.

Donald said that the Masters gives him the best chance at winning his first major.

He showed he was back in top form at the Transitions Championship, and that win has given him the confidence and the momentum that could carry him to his first major championship.

Hunter Mahan

When Hunter Mahan won the Shell Houston Open this past weekend, he became the first player to win twice this year.

He also reached a career high No. 4 in the world rankings and is No. 1 in the FedEx Cup points standings by a hefty 258 points.

There are 11 players that could wrestle the the top spot at the FedEx Cup standings from him this weekend.

But Mahan now has three top five finishes this year, is bringing a truckload of confidence and momentum to The Masters.

Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods is definitely playing back in top form coming to Augusta.

If you discard his WD from the WGC Cadillac, on his previous two finishes he has a T2 at the Honda Classic and a victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

He now has five finishes in the top five on his last eight tournaments, and finished in the top 20 on two others. The WD at the WGC Cadillac is his only other result in that span.

The previous four times that Woods has won The Masters, he has at least won one tournament and was peaking those years towards the tournament.

That sounds very familiar for him right now.

Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy has come a long way since last year's 10th hole on the final round at the Masters.

McIlroy reached the long-awaited No. 1 spot in the world rankings with his win at the Honda Classic. Luke Donald has since taken the top spot back, but McIlroy didn't lose it on the course.

Nobody has played better than him this year.

McIlroy has been head and shoulders above the rest, and has displayed that form on his last 12 tournaments where he has 11 top-five finishes.

If someone has performed better or has a better record than him coming to Augusta, name him.