The Masters

This week is the first major of the year, The Masters.  The tournament should be a good one to pay attention to as Tiger is trying to prove he is back, McIlroy is trying to redeem himself from last year's final round fall out, Mickelson is playing strong and going after his 4th green jacket, and the rest of the field is trying to make their stroll on the lush grounds of Augusta National Golf Club enjoyable and worthwhile.

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

#	Player	CLi
1	Tiger Woods	2.40
2	Bo Van Pelt	8.35
3	Justin Rose	9.95
4	Charl Schwartzel	11.55
5	Phil Mickelson	11.70
6	Lee Westwood	13.00
7	Rory McIlroy	13.45
8	Hunter Mahan	15.70
9	Luke Donald	16.05
10	Matt Kuchar	19.05
11	Bubba Watson	22.05
12	Adam Scott	22.55
13	Jason Day	23.75
14	Jim Furyk	25.55
15	Steve Stricker	25.55

Tiger Woods (analysis) is a clear favorite based upon the CLi figure.  His CLi figure is 2.40, and the next nearest player has a CLi figure of 8.35. 

Van Pelt (analysis) based upon good play leading up to this tournament, and last year's 8th place finish in the Masters.  His CLi figure is below 10, and I usually go with players that have a CLi below 10.  However, this time, I am going to pass on him as there are too many good players after him that I think have a higher probability of playing well this week.  So I am going to pass on Van Pelt.

Rose (analysis) is playing well this year, with a win 3 weeks ago in the Cadillac Championship at Doral.  He has played in two tournaments since that win, and finished 15th and 29th.  He has played in the Masters 6 times and has never missed the cut.  His lowest finish is a 5th place in 2007, with an average finish of 22.1.  So that means he is a solid pick in terms of finishing with money, but necessarily to win the tournament or place in the top 10.  He has finished no worse than 22nd (in 2004), has won the event twice in the past 10 years (he has won the Masters four times total), placed 2nd twice, third once, 4th twice, and has an average rank of 6.0 the past 10 times he has played in the event.  HE LIKES THIS TOURNAMENT, to say the least.  And with his win two weeks ago at Palmer's event, he looks like a clear favorite.  So he is primed to finish well this week based upon the numbers.  The mental focus is what will need to be strong, along with being able to enjoy the tournament.  If he is smiling the first two days, then I can see him finishing well over the weekend.

I am passing on Schwartzel (analysis).  He is ranked high in the rankings because he won the tournament last year, and has a 4th and 5th place finish 3 and 4 weeks ago.  However, he has missed the cut in the last two tournaments, finishing 91st and 134th.  Both of those finishes are not stellar finishes.  Plus, the pressure of being the defending champion will be a heavy burden to overcome this week.  So I am not picking him.

Along with Woods, Mickelson (analysis) looks like a very good pick.  He has won the Masters 3 times over the past 10 years.  Coupled with those wins, he has an additional 4 top five finishes and a 8.0 rank average in those 10 events.  He finished 4th last week at the Shell Houston Open and 4th at the Northern Trust Open earlier in the year (in mid February).  The only blemish on his record this year is a missed cut at the Humana Challenge in San Diego.  He shot 77 in the first round, which put him out of the tournament.  However, he was dealing with an issue related to his daughter that was a distraction.  So if if you remove that one round, he has a scoring average that is one of the lowest this year.

Westwood (analysis) has made a great revival the past 5 years, and this shows in his record in the Masters.  The last 5 years, he has not missed the cut and has a 2nd place finish in 2010.  His average rank over the last 5 years in the Masters is 19.4.  Leading up to the tournament this week he has a 2nd place finish, two 4th place finishes, and has not placed out of the top 30 in the 7 events he has played this year.

McIlroy (analysis) was leading the Masters last year going into the final round.  He ballooned to an 80 and finished 15th. However, he came back and won the U.S. Open later in the year, and has not looked back.  He has finished 3rd, 1st, 2nd, and 5th in the last 4 tournaments he has played in....and all of those tournaments had strong fields.  As number 2 in the world rankings, he is a strong pick this week to finish well.

Below are my 5 picks for the Masters:

#	Player	CLi
1	Tiger Woods	2.40
2	Justin Rose	9.95
3	Phil Mickelson	11.70
4	Lee Westwood	13.00
5	Rory McIlroy	13.45

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

1. Tiger Woods
2. Rory McIlroy
3. Phil Mickelson
4. Hunter Mahan
5. Luke Donald

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: Masters

We have 3 players in common this tournament: Woods, McIlroy, and Mickelson

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.