I’m sure that if you’ve turned on a television within the past couple days, you know that Tiger Woods has announced that he is participating in the biggest golf tournament of the year after two months without playing in a professional tournament.  His announcement has everybody excited because, well, it’s Tiger Woods.  Some people are expecting a huge turnaround in his play after his terrible performance in recent appearances.  In the last forty-seven holes of professional golf he has played, he shot a total of fifteen over par.  Expecting Tiger to truly have a shot at winning the tournament is ambitious.  He’s still recovering from a nagging back injury which prompted his leave of absence and he hasn’t played in a tournament since early February.  He also hasn’t won a PGA tournament in two years. It’s great to see Tiger still competing, but there is way too much hype surrounding his return.

My money is on “the next Tiger Woods”.  That’s right, Rory McIlroy, the man looking to become the sixth professional mens golfer in history to complete the Grand Slam.  The Grand Slam is when a player wins all four majors: The U.S Open, The P.G.A Championship, The Open Championship, and The Masters.  Rory would already have his name on the elite list of players, if it wasn’t for his final round in the 2011 Masters.  Rory entered the last round with a multiple stroke lead and played some of the worst golf of his professional career.  In a recent interview with Rory, the subject of his meltdown came up. He says that it helped him grow up from a young up and comer to a big time player.  He also says that he has used it for motivation to never let something like that happen again.  This guy can drive the ball like very few can.  If he can keep the ball in the fairway and make some birdie putts, then he has a great chance of receiving a prestigious green jacket.  He has that extra determination of becoming the sixth player ever to win a Grand Slam and that’s why I think he’ll win.

Lots of people are betting on Bubba Watson, who has won two of the last three Masters tournaments.  Watson and Rory can drive the ball with the best of them.  Augusta is a long course which allows both players to utilize this skill.  There’s very little that you can take away from Watson’s game.  Watson’s biggest challenge is going to be able to keep the ball out of the rough or sand traps off his tee shot.  Watson can kill the ball but, he needs to keep it in control and not try to do too much with every swing.