European PGA Tour will be well represented at The Masters this week

When the world’s best golfers tee it up this week for The Masters at Augusta National, the field will include a record number of golfers from the European Tour.

Thirty-four European Tour players were among the 107 pros invited to Augusta National. Of course, the list includes many perennials: Sergio, Monty, Retief, Ernie. Then there are the relative old timers in the field: Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer.

But what is more noteworthy are the players who are making their Masters debut. Ever heard of Jeev Milkha Singh of India? Johan Edfors of Sweden? Julien Guerrier, the French amateur champion? Odds are you won’t hear much from them at the big show, but there are some interesting stories among the six golfers who will be journeying down Magnolia Drive for the first time this week. Singh is the first Indian every to compete in The Masters. Edfors all but came out of nowhere last year, winning three tournaments on the European Tour and finishing 10th on the European Order of Merit. Kenneth Ferrie’s performance in last year’s U.S. Open at Winged Foot was good enough to get him into The Masters (you might recall, he entered Sunday tied with Phil Mickelson, before sliding back to the field and finishing tied for sixth).

Since 1990, five European Tour players have taken home the Green Jacket (well, six, if you count Vijay Singh’s victory in 2000). It tough to say who among the 34 have the best shot this year. Many of the newbies are coming in with solid wins during the past year (anyone see Korean YE Yang come out of the blue and win the HSBC Championship last November?). I’d be intersted in getting WorldGolf.com’s own PGA Punter to weigh in on which European player has the stuff to make a serious run this week.

Until then, we’ll wait and see. Alas, Augusta usually favors the experienced.