Masters 2015 Leaderboard: Updating Results and Standings for Thursday
Golf's first major championship of 2015 has finally arrived. The world's best and brightest have been in Augusta, Georgia, all week getting ready for the 79th Masters Tournament, with practice rounds bleeding into the Par 3 Contest and then finally setting the tone for Thursday.
Bubba Watson will be attempting to become the first golfer in over a decade to capture back-to-back green jackets; he'd become the ninth player in history to win at least three Masters tournaments.
Looking to stop Watson is a gaggle of greats, all coming in with varying degrees of momentum. After some fits and starts, the Rory McIlroy era seems to have truly begun. He's one Masters victory away from the career grand slam and has galloped ahead of the field in the World Golf Rankings. Jordan Spieth looks like the man most likely to challenge McIlroy's throne over the next decade, having taken three tournaments since his second-place outing here a year ago.
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Then there is Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. The less that's said about their respective calendar years, the better. Woods, hobbled by recurrent back issues, went DNP-DNP-69-CUT at the 2014 majors. Mickelson hasn't finished better than a tie for 17th in 2015 and has not taken a title on tour since the 2013 Open Championship.
Add in an eclectic group of other challengers, and this is shaping up—as per usual—to be an excellent start to the major season. With that in mind, let's take a look at what to expect from the field Thursday.
Early Morning Groups of Note
Patrick Reed, Keegan Bradley, Ian Poulter (9:02 a.m. ET)
This is perhaps the best all-around group of Thursday morning, though none of the trio have been mentioned much as potential sleepers.
Reed, 24, almost feels like the Phil Mickelson to Spieth's Tiger Woods—though we're way, way, way off from ever truly making that comparison. A talented young golfer who has rocketed up the world rankings thanks to stellar all-around play, Reed almost feels under-appreciated. He and Spieth have the same number of professional wins, and Reed sits fourth in FedEx Cup points coming into the weekend.
Bradley is looking for his second career major win and first decent overall showing at Augusta. In three previous starts, he's never finished better than 27th and has done progressively worse in each outing; Bradley was cut for just the second time in his major career last year.
Poulter has has finished in the top 10 at Augusta twice and generally remains on the outskirts of contention in each of his appearances. He has finished between seventh and 33rd in nine of his 10 attempts at a green jacket; the lone exception was a cut two years ago.
Very few expect any of this trio to actually get their measurements taken this weekend, but it'd be a shock if they weren't all playing deep into Saturday and Sunday with at least an outside shot at making a run.
Bubba Watson, Justin Rose, Gunn Yang (9:24 a.m. ET)
Watson's the defending champion, which makes him interesting by default. The 2012 and 2014 champion, as per usual, has high-variance tendencies at Augusta. In the four times he's played the event and not won, Watson has never finished better than 20th and has an average finish of 37.5.
Plus, more attention has been paid to Watson's likability this week than his chance at repeating. In an ESPN.com survey, his fellow players said he'd be the last player they'd help if in a fight—essentially calling him the least liked player on Tour.
"Here is the way I take it: I take it as I need to improve as a man," Watson said in response, per Bob Harig of ESPN.com. "I take it with pride. I need to get better. And I think over my career, since my rookie season to now, I've gotten better. But obviously there's more room for me to improve as a man. And so hopefully next year or the year after, it improves. It's a challenge. It's great. I'm glad that it came out and it's going to help me improve."
Watson can look to improve his reputation on Tour playing alongside Rose, who tends to be a fringe contender into the weekend. He has only finished outside the top 25 once since 2007, though he did not play in 2010.
The duo will be playing with Gunn Yang, a 21-year-old qualifier who took the 2014 U.S. Amateur championship. Yang will be playing in his first major.
Adam Scott, Dustin Johnson, Antonio Murdaca (9:35 a.m. ET)
We know McIlroy, Spieth and Watson are considered the overall favorites. The two formers are the best players in the world at the moment, and the latter has won this event two of the last three years.
That said, Scott and Johnson are arguably at the top of the next tier in the contenders conversation. Scott donned the green jacket for his first major championship in 2013 and has finished no worse than 18th here in his last five tries. That title did not spark an ascent to the top of the sport as many expected, but Scott's due for an upswing—especially following his decision to return to the longer putter for the event.
"Putting with a longer putter is maybe the smarter thing to do," Scott said, per Jonathan Wall of the PGA's official website. "I don't know. It's all about the lag putting. It's such a difference in weight of club and stroke and everything. I'm just trying to figure it all out."
Scott had gone back to the standard putter in anticipation of the banishment of the long putter at the end of this season. The results were mixed at best, so it's probably for the best—at least in the short-term—that he returns to his comfort zone this weekend.
Johnson, meanwhile, has been magnificent since his return to the course. He has four top-sixes in six starts and took home the WGC-Cadillac Championship last month. At age 30, Johnson is also right in that ripe age where many first-time victors are born.
On the other hand, Augusta has been a bit of a bugaboo throughout his career. Johnson has never finished better than 13th and has been 30th or worse in four of his five appearances.
Antonio Murdaca is another amateur who earned his way into the field. At the very least, this should be a good learning experience for the young Australian.
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