Masters Favorites 2012: Highly-Ranked Players Who Won't Finish Near the Top

Being ranked near the top and having a shot at the Masters are two entirely different things. You can be No. 1 in the world, but if you aren't performing well coming into Augusta, it can be a nightmare.

Lee Westwood and Luke Donald have both come close to winning a major championship, but have never been able to seal the deal.

Here's a look at top-ranked golfers who won't even sniff the Green Jacket this year.

Steve Stricker

Steve Stricker is certainly an accomplished golfer, with 12 PGA Tour victories in his career. However, the Masters is also not his best tournament and he's coming off a 36th-place finish at the Houston Open.

Stricker was supposed to be near the top of the leaderboard at the Houston Open, given two top-10 finishes at the Accenture Match Play Championship and Cadillac Championship. But he had a rough go-around at Redstone and that doesn't bode well for him at Augusta.

Since debuting at the Masters in 1993, Stricker only has two top-10 finishes at Augusta. He may be No. 5 in the world, but that doesn't mean he'll be a threat at the Masters.

Webb Simpson

It's hard to knock Webb Simpson, given he's only 26 years old and this is his second season on the PGA Tour. While Simpson is the No. 10 golfer in the world, this is his first career Masters appearance and he's placed 33rd or worse in four of his seven PGA Tour events this season.

Simpson is a young up-and-comer who placed in the Top 20 at the U.S. Open and British Open last year, but he still has a ways to go before he's a front-runner for the Green Jacket.

Charl Schwartzel

Charl Schwartzel may have come out of nowhere to win the Masters last year, but he's sliding at the worst time.

Schwartzel has missed the cut at his last two events, including the Transitions Championship and Houston Open. You need to be on your game when you come to Augusta and Schwartzel simply has lost grip of his at the moment.

His solid play at the beginning of the year seems to have vanished.

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