Masters Countdown: Winners of last five have already won in 2016
Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson and Charl Schwartzel have all won in 2016.
Not that the Masters ever needs any extra juice, but it certainly looks like it's going to get it in 2016. That's because a string of recent winners at Augusta is streaking towards north Georgia and racking up win after win along the way. Consider the winners of the last five Masters. Actually, the last six.
Jordan Spieth (2015): Spieth won the 2016 Tournament of Champions at the beginning of January.
Bubba Watson (2014 and 2012): Watson won the 2016 Northern Trust Open. Last time he did that (2014), he walked away with a green jacket as well.
Adam Scott (2013): Scott finished second to Watson at the Northern Trust Open and won the 2016 Honda Classic the week after.
Charl Schwartzel (2011): Won the 2016 Tshwane Open by eight shots.
Phil Mickelson (2010): Missed out on a playoff at the 2016 Pebble Beach Pro-Am by one shot (and missed a short putt on the final hole to get into that playoff).
So the last five winners -- and winners of the last six Masters -- have all either won on the PGA Tour or European Tour or finished one stroke out of a playoff this season. And all of this in the last 60 days.
That's pretty crazy, right? Even crazier is that the five golfers have combined to make 32 of their last 35 cuts at Augusta and (obviously) rack up the last six wins. If you're looking for a winner in 2016, you could do much worse than picking one of these six names out of a hat.
It would take a team of statisticians a full week to figure out if winners of the last five tournaments have ever all won heading into any given Masters. But it seems improbable at best. Which means we could be in for an all-time Masters at the beginning of April (which means Rory McIlroy will probably win by eight).
