AUGUSTA, Ga. – Brandt Snedeker and Angel Cabrera lead the 77th Masters at 7 under par, but there are several big names nipping at their heels. So, with 18 holes remaining, who will don the green jacket this year? Our team at Augusta National weighs in.
By JAY COFFIN
There will be breakthroughs aplenty Sunday at Augusta National, and Adam Scott will be the one making history. He’ll collect his first major championship and, at the same time, will break the Masters’ curse that has prevented an Australian from winning the green jacket.
If there are golf gods – and many golfers believe that there are – then Scott has to win this Masters. He deserves to win this Masters.
Two years ago, here at Augusta National, Scott shot 67-67 on the weekend but Charl Schwartzel birdied the last four holes to win. Last year Scott had one hand on the claret jug at the British Open but faltered over the last four holes to give Ernie Els his fourth major championship.
Scott has handled each gut-wrenching defeat with class and grace. It’s time his effort pays off with a victory that sends him into one of the most elite groups in sports.
It’s time. Scott has suffered enough.
By RANDALL MELL
This could be a wonderfully weepy Masters Sunday.
This time the tears Brandt Snedeker will shed will be tears of joy.
Five years after Snedeker cried in the wake of his Sunday failure when Trevor Immelman won the green jacket, Snedeker’s eyes will water with the wonder of wearing that jacket.
Snedeker had such a wonderful start to this year before a rib injury sidelined him, but he appears to have his form back. He’s such a strong putter, and it will serve him well Sunday as he bids to win his first major. He feels good about his short game and his swing has come around. Mostly, he feels his confidence coming back.
BY REX HOGGARD
Brandt Snedeker will win the 77th Masters.
He will win because before he got sideways with an ailing intercostal muscle on the West Coast he was doing what Masters champions do, rolling in every putt that matters and contending nearly every week.
Before going on the DL with a strained intercostal muscle, Snedeker began the season with top-3 finishes in four of his first five events and won his fifth PGA Tour title at Pebble Beach with a nearly flawless putting stroke and dramatically improved ballstriking.
For Snedeker, his start to 2013 was simply an extension of his finish in 2012, having ended his season with a runner-up showing at The Barclays and a victory at the Tour Championship to claim the FedEx Cup.
He’s also been here before, back in 2008 when he began the final round within two shots of the lead but struggled to an emotional 77. But late Saturday at Augusta National, that ’08 disappointment seemed like a lifetime ago.
“I had no clue what I was doing in 2008. No idea,” Snedeker said. “I have a complete and clear focus of what I need to do tomorrow.”
But most importantly, Snedeker will win the Masters because, as he said after his third round, “I spent 32 years getting ready for tomorrow.”