The Masters

This week the US PGA Tour, and all of the other major tours around the world, focus their eyes on Augusta, Georgia (USA), as the professional golf world commences its first major of the year: The Masters.

Below is the list of the top 15 players in the CLi rankings for The Masters.

#	Player	CLi
1	Nick Watney	5.20
2	Phil Mickelson	10.60
3	Matt Kuchar	14.35
4	Hunter Mahan	17.55
5	Rory Sabbatini	18.45
6	Tim Clark	18.85
7	Fred Couples	21.45
8	Justin Rose	21.85
9	Ryan Moore	22.95
10	Tiger Woods	23.30
11	Padraig Harrington	25.10
12	Stewart Cink	25.80
13	Steve Marino	25.95
14	Lee Westwood	27.10
15	Steve Stricker	28.10

For my first 4 picks, I am going to with the CLi rankings: Watney, Mickelson, Kuchar, and Mahan.

By looking at the CLi figure, Watney is a favorite to player well this week. His CLi figure is 5.20, with the next nearest player's CLi being Mickelson at 10.60. Watney has placed 7th, 19th, and 11th the last 3 years at The Masters, which are the only 3 years he has played in the tournament. He has placed 13th, 1st, 9th, and 6th in the last 4 tournaments he has played in leading up to the tournament this year. And, in the 6 tournaments he has played in this year, 13th is the lowest he has finished.  Such a record for a player makes it difficult not to pick him. [ See analysis ]

Mickelson won last week at the Shell Houston Open, firing 63-65 on the weekend to win by 3 shots. Historically, when Mickelson wins the week before The Masters, he usually plays well the next week in The Masters.  It also helps that he has finished no lower than 24th in the last 10 playings of The Masters, having won the tournament 3 times during that period and placing in the top 10 all but one year since 2000 (he finished 24th in the 2007 Masters).  So Mickelson is in the line-up this week. [ See analysis ]

Kuchar has only played The Masters twice since 2000. Last year he finished 24th, and in 2002 he finished 61st and missed the cut. However, since 2010 his play has been very, very solid -- such solid play earned him the money title in 2010. As it relates to tournaments leading up to this week, he has finished no lower than 17th the past 4 tournaments he has played in, with finishes of 8th, 5th, 17th, and 3rd respectively. He has 6 top 10 finishes since the start of the year for the 8 tournaments he has played.  This earns Kuchar a place in the line-up this week. [ See analysis ]

Mahan is in the top 5 in CLi rankings because of his last two showings in The Masters and his solid showing in the past 4 tournaments. He finished 8th and 10th the last two years in The Masters. In the past 4 tournaments that he has played in, he has finished in the top 10 in 3 of the tournaments. He had a small blimp at the Arnold Palmer Invitation, finishing 38th. In addition, in the 9 tournaments he has played this year, he has finished in the top 10 in 6 of the tournaments and has made the cut in all of them. [ See analysis ]

I am going to skip over Sabbatini, Clark, and Couples to pick Rose for my final player this week. There is not much difference in the CLi figures between these 4 players. Clark is fighting an injury and has missed most of the year so far. Couples loves The Masters and shines at Augusta, but he is getting up in age compared to his playing competitors. With so many young guns playing well, I don't see Couples making a push over the weekend (but I want him to make the weekend, as he is a crowd favorite, and helps TV ratings).

So that leaves comparing Sabbatini with Rose. When examining the details of each of their previous finishes at The Masters, and what their record shows for the year leading up to the tournament, Rose stands out. [ See analysis for Sabbatini | See analysis for Rose ]

Below are my 5 picks for The Masters :

#	Player	CLi
1	Nick Watney	5.20
2	Phil Mickelson	10.60
3	Matt Kuchar	14.35
4	Hunter Mahan	17.55
5	Justin Rose	21.85

Below are the top 5 players in the Power Rankings from Rob Bolton:

1. Phil Mickelson
2. Nick Watney
3. Lee Westwood
4. Matt Kuchar
5. Hunter Mahan

Here is a link to Bolton's Power Rankings so that you can read more about his thoughts on his top players in this week's Power Rankings:

Bolton's Power Rankings: The Masters

We have 4 players in common this week: Mickelson, Watney, Kuchar, and Mahan.

The difference is Rose and Westwood, both Englishman. I have Rose, and Bolton has Westwood. Let's go Justin (Rose)!

Below are the settings for the CLi calculation I used for The Masters:

Number of Past Tournaments Looking Back
Number	Scoring Avg Weight (SA1)	Earnings Avg Weight (EA1)
5	25%	25%
Number of Days Looking Back
Number	Scoring Avg Weight (SA2)	Earnings Avg Weight (EA2)
30	5%	5%
Number of Tournaments Looking Back
Number	Scoring Avg Weight (SA3)	Earnings Avg Weight (EA3)
4	20%	20%

If you don't like the configuration of my CLi calculation, feel free to run your own CLi calculation with your own desired settings by going to golfcli.com.