Tiger Woods on verge of historic 82nd win at ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP

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AUGUSTA, Georgia – We are just days away to one of the most anticipated Masters tournaments in living memory. Here are some notes and observations from Monday at the Masters. ROSE GETS THORNS OUT OF THE WAY Justin Rose deliberately came up to Augusta National Golf Club a few weeks ago to rid his brain of all of the second guessing and pain associated with last year’s playoff loss to Sergio Garcia. Knowing a walk around the property would likely bring up memories the Englishman wanted all of it out of the way well before tournament week. “It was just important just to come and walk the grounds. Clearly you’re going to kind of go through memories and shots you hit and shots that didn’t come off, et cetera, et cetera, so I just wanted to have that walk,” Rose said. “Just what might have been. Hitting the putt on 18 thinking why didn’t it break and those sorts of things – things I didn’t really want to be doing tomorrow or Wednesday.” Rose is now a two-time runner up in the tournament having finished second behind Jordan Spieth in 2015. In his 12 appearances he has never missed a cut and has seven top-15 results. With a win at the World Golf Championships – HSBC Champions and three further top-10s on the PGA TOUR this season in the lead up Rose is considered one of the key favorites. “The golf course doesn’t recognize what happened last year. There’s not a blade of grass that’s here that was here last year,” he said. “I’m kind of coming in with high confidence but also low expectation, in the sense that I can’t control so many variables that are going to be out there this week. My skillset should produce a chance to win if all goes well.” SCOTT BUSTS OUT OLD FOOTAGE IN PREP Five years ago Adam Scott claimed the 2013 Masters, breaking a personal major drought and an Augusta National famine for his country. It appeared he might head towards winning many more majors but instead the Australian has failed to kick on as much as he would have liked. Between 2011 and 2015 Scott had 15 top-15 finishes, including his win, in 20 major starts. But in his last eight majors he has just one top-15 result, a T9 at last year’s Masters. After a slow start to this PGA TOUR season that has yielded no top-10 finishes in seven starts Scott turned back the clock for motivation. He decided to relive his winning effort where he made a clutch putt on the 72nd hole and then ultimately beat Angel Cabrera in a playoff and it opened his eyes to the fierceness of his mental game that has since been lacking. “I watched the playoff last week for the first time in a long time which was really great – it is instantly emotional – it still feels quite close by,” Scott said. “That was fun to watch, took some good stuff out of that going into this week. Good vibes obviously but also to see the intensity – where my intensity level was at – that’s where you have got to take yourself to be competitive.” With all the hype surrounding the likes of Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy the 38-year-old Scott is quietly confident. “There are a lot of great stories coming into this Masters and I’d like to in a sense spoil the party – and make another story,” he smiled. UNDER RADAR DAY READY TO RUMBLE Jason Day returned as a player to watch this season after a long winless stretch of 18 months was broken with victory at the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year. He backed up the win with a T2 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am before taking a small hiatus from the PGA TOUR to visit with his mother. Since his return Day has shown a mediocre T22 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and a T36 finish at the World Golf Championships – Dell Technologies Match Play taking him out of the top headlines leading into the Masters. But the 30-year-old Australian – who has three top 10s from seven Augusta National starts including a runner up and third place – isn’t concerned. “I don’t care what I come into an event like this, I just want to win,” he said bluntly. “If it is underdog, great. If it’s a favorite, great. If I’m not too worried about that, I just got to put it out of my mind and just try and focus on winning. “I am kind of under the radar only because there’s a lot of talent in the pool now and there’s not really too many big finish anymore. There’s like just a lot of medium‑large fish that are just trying to chomp at each other.” This is the first Masters Day has faced without Colin Swatton on his bag having made the switch to using two of his friends last year. Rika Batibasaga, who caddied in the win at Torrey Pines, returns for the first time since Pebble Beach, taking the bag back from Luke Reardon. “Hopefully that will make things a little bit more light out there for me and a little bit more fun, because over the last few years it’s been more of a grind trying to get that win because a lot of people have come up to me and said: This is your year, this is your year, you’re going to win one,” Day said. “That can add a little bit more pressure so hopefully I have my good close buddy out there with me and we can make things a little less stressful and go out there and have fun.” NICKLAUS RECORD TO FALL SAYS LANGER Jack Nicklaus holds the record for the oldest Masters winner at 46 but two-time champion Bernhard Langer feels it will be broken soon enough – and the 60-year-old believes he could be the man to do it! It’s certainly not the silliest concept given top-25 finishes at Augusta National in three of the last five years. “My goal is certainly to be in contention, and two out of the last four years I was in contention,” the 1985 and 1993 champion said. “I would like to be on the leaderboard and have a chance on Sunday to win the trophy or the Green Jacket in this case.” Langer says it is only a matter of time before Nicklaus’ record falls. “There’s several reasons. The guys are much fitter nowadays than golfers have ever been,” Langer added. “You have guys like Mickelson, Fred Couples and a few others in the future that are still long enough to temper this golf course or to have a chance if their short game is good. “And it’s going to be more of them in the future because we’re learning to be real athletes. “Years ago some took care of their bodies, some don’t, but now you go out there and you don’t see too many overweight, big bellies out there. They have physical trainers, mental coaches, whatever it takes. They watch the diet. And that will give you longevity.” RESTED WESLEY It has been a long year of waiting for Wesley Bryan who punched his first ticket to the Masters with his win at the 2017 RBC Heritage – played the week after Sergio Garcia won his Green Jacket. But the Augusta resident, who grew up in nearby South Carolina, is finally between the ropes in tournament week rather than outside them. Bryan recalls multiple occasions he came as a patron, including getting a ball thrown his way by Billy Andrade as a kid, but can’t wait for his first crack at a Green Jacket. Especially since he hasn’t played a PGA TOUR event in five weeks and missed the cut in the last three he played prior to the sabbatical. “I felt like I was going in a direction that I wasn’t seeing any results for the first half of the year, and I knew that I was really close,” Bryan explained. “And I’ve never been one to play my way into form. You’ll see guys like Patrick Reed go out and play nine or 10 events in a row and get a little bit better every single week. I feel like I’m one of those guys that has always done really well off of rest.” He might have a point. He had three weeks off before winning at Hilton Head last year and his first Web.com Tour win came after a five-week break. His other two Web.com Tour wins also came off rest. “I’m one of those guys, I kind of know what I got to do to get better and I don’t need tournament golf to round me into form,” he says. “So I’ve been working really hard these last five weeks. It’s definitely not been a vacation by any stretch, probably worked harder than I’ve ever worked in my entire life to get ready for this one event.” FOWLER FRIENDS FIRE HIM UP Rickie Fowler seems to constantly be around to congratulate his friends in big tournaments. But now he says it is his turn again. “It’s fun to see your friends win. It’s fun to see them play well,” THE PLAYERS 2015 champion says. “But it is a motivation factor in a way. It also is kind of a kick in the butt to get yourself to kind of keep pushing forward. You want to be in that position and you want your buddies to be there, whether they decide to be there or not, it’s kind of a nice bonus, a nice touch. “It’s fun to have the bragging rights over your friends.” Fowler sat one-shot behind Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose through 54 holes last year at the Masters before fading with a Sunday 76 to be T11. His best Masters finish came with a T5 in 2014. “I know that I can hit every shot that I need to on this golf course,” he said of his chances. “If I am able to really commit to the line and the swings that we’re trying to make at that exact time, then it’s going to be a good week.”

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