Masters Week is finally upon us … in my mind there’s no better tournament in the world of golf as nothing combines the history, tradition and prestige that is offered up every year at Augusta National.

As always, the main focus will be on Tiger as he launches his assault at winning The Grand Slam. Earlier this year he stated on his website that doing the unheard of was “easily within reason”. Well, you can’t win 4 unless you win the first 1 and if Tiger pulls it off, as many expect him to do, it will be his 5^th win at Augusta and will be Major #14 that’ll leave him only 4 shy of Jack’s record 18.

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Speaking of Jack, we all know his competitive golf and Major’s participation is in the past, but he will be teeing it up Wednesday’s annual Par 3 Tournament. While competing in the main event, Nicklaus never participated in the exhibition as he felt it detracted from his preparation …

 “You play a practice round on Wednesday, preparing yourself for a golf tournament,” he said. “And you go out and play on another golf course, another set of greens, and you’re spending energy when you should be resting for the start of the tournament.“Do you spend a lot of energy? No, you don’t. Is it too much to ask the players to play? No, it’s not too much. But in the days when I was competitive and felt like I had a chance, I had so much energy focused on wanting to win that golf tournament that it was a distraction for me and not something I wanted to do.”

Chances are we’ll see a lot of Jack in this Master’s opening event over the years as he’s gotten into the routine of having his Grandchildren as his caddie and #20 is due in a month or so.

Everyone knows about the “curse” of the Par 3 contest in that no one has ever gone onto win the real thing after winning Wednesday’s little tourney, but two have come close: Ben Crenshaw missed the playoff in 1987 by one shot eventually won by Larry Mize’s historical chip-in on the 11^th hole, and in 1990 Ray Floyd took it one step closer to breaking the jinx by making it to extended time losing in a playoff to Nick Faldo.

50 years after the Par 3 course was built, it will finally hit live television for the first time ever as it is being broadcast by both ESPN and TSN at 3 pm EST. The mini tournament replaced what used to be a long-drive and trick-shot exhibition in 1958, and has seen 63 aces and the course record is shared by Art Wall and Gay Brewer at 7 under.

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As for the main course, changes to the layout have continued in earnest since Tiger’s record setting score of 270 in 1997. The “Tiger Proofing” obviously hasn’t exactly been successful, but the Championship Tees now provide a full 7,445 yards versus the 6,925 yards that Tiger first conquered.

 Length is not the only thing that has been changed as rough has been added; hundreds of trees have been planted while others have been removed; greens have been altered; and bunkers have been moved among other things. With all the changes made, and all the purists wails and moans that have accompanied them, the one thing that remains the same is that it is still Augusta and The Masters and it is Tiger’s tournament to win or lose.  

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Davis Love’s 70 straight Major run has come to an end as he needed to win last week’s Shell Houston Open to qualify for his favourite tournament. Instead, Johnson Wagner will make his Master’s debut after winning his first PGA tournament in his second year on tour and just his 44^th event.

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Love played 70 consecutive Majors, but this week will be Gary Player’s 51^st consecutive Master’s appearance, surpassing Arnold Palmer’s record of 50 straight. At age 72, Player has always been known for his fitness and the hills of Augusta are nothing compared to the mountains he regularly hikes as part of his maniacal obsession to be in great physical shape.

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Zach Johnson heads to the 72^nd Masters as the defending Champion, and as far as I know, the only winner of the event to never go for a Par 5 in 2, deciding to lay up every time over the 4 days.

 “I saw how long and wet it was playing and knew that I didn’t hit my long clubs high enough to hold those greens. So I worked out my lay-up spots and relied on my wedge game.” 

It obviously worked as he played them at 11 under for the week without making a bogey. The chances of him repeating are obviously very slim as only Tiger and Faldo have done it in modern times, but it will be interesting to see if any others in the field of 94 will follow his strategy this year. Currently the weather forecast is calling for 30% chance of precipitation for Friday and Saturday with a 20% on Thursday and 10% on Sunday so it lookes like the course won’t be nearly as wet as it was last year which made it very tough.

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Finally, if you haven’t seen our SportsTalkBuzz Master’s Pool make sure you check it out as were giving away a Nike SQ Sumo Driver and a Samsung DVD Player. Here’s a link … http://sportstalkbuzz.com/2008/04/06/masters-golf-contest-is-here-win-a-dvd-player-and-other-prizes/#comment-2889 or just look it up under Kevin’s Blog on the first page while it’s still there. 

All you have to do is pick your top 20 finishers (in any order) plus the 3 tiebreakers. The money your players earn will be used to calculate who our winner is … it’s that simple!

Enjoy the week everyone … The Masters only happens once a year!

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