As Brandel Chamblee recently pointed out, it takes experience to win at Augusta. It might not take this much experience, though.
There are nine golfers over the age of 50 (all former champions) teeing it up this year at Augusta National. For one (Ben Crenshaw), it will be his final time.
The two oldest champions in Masters history are Jack Nicklaus (46) and Ben Crenshaw (43). Yet, it seems like each of the last few years a Fred Couples or Miguel Angel Jimenez has made us believe for a few rounds.
Can somebody that old really win a major, much less a green jacket? It's extremely improbably, but I ranked all nine from most likely to least likely to pull off the impossible.
1. Fred Couples (55)
I still believe, do you? Boom Boom is one of seven golfers to make each of the last five cuts and hasn't finished outside the top 20 since 2009.
His weekend rounds have been nasty but if he can just make it to the second side on Sunday, there will be thousands of patrons to take him the distance.
2. Vijay Singh (52)
Wouldn't this be a nightmare for Tim Finchem and Co.? Actually, the real nightmare would be for whoever runs the range at Augusta. Singh might sleep out there between rounds if he's even sniffing the lead. By the way, he's made the last three cuts here.
3. Bernhard Langer (57)
Remember when the 56-year-old Langer finished T8 (!) last season? He said last year he thinks an old man can win it.
"There's a lot of good over-50 players. We can compete at the highest level and even on a very, very long golf course like this one."
4. Miguel Angel Jimenez (51)
Jimenez finished fourth (!) last year. He hasn't missed a cut at Augusta since 2003.
“Why not?” Jimenez said recently about winning. “To win a tournament you need to hit the ball well, putt good and go play. If you are able and ready to play, you got a chance.”
Check, check, check and check.
If he does a salsa dance in the jacket, I hope they bury me someplace nice.
5. Sandy Lyle (57)
This is where it starts getting ugly. Lyle only has one top 10 here ever and that's when he won back in 1988. He has made the last two cuts, however.
6. Larry Mize (56)
Mize has only made three cuts since 2000 (last year was one of them).
7. Mark O'Meara (58)
O'Meara hasn't seen a weekend at Augusta since 2005. It is a little crazy to me, given their friendly history, that he's out-playing his old buddy Tiger Woods at an event Woods used to own.
8. Ian Woosnam (57)
One cut made since 2000. He won't be making it two this year.
9. Ben Crenshaw (63)
Gentle Ben has been under par here one time since 1991. That was 1995, the year he won at 14 under. If Crenshaw even made one of the final groups on Sunday, it would be one of the five most improbably sports stories ever.
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