To find this year’s Masters champion, look past Phil and both of his drivers, Tiger and his four green jackets, Vijay Singh and his practice routine, and Ernie Els and his 1000 runner-up finishes in majors. Retief Goosen will become the newest Masters champion on Sunday, and will remind people again why he is mentioned with the other big names. Even though people still refer to him as one of the “big five” it seems that everyone forgets how good he really is.

Goosen will win this weekend for the following reasons.

1.With two drivers in the bag, Mickelson’s has now given himself the ability to miss the fairway on both the right and the left. I don’t care how low he went at the Bellsouth- this event is a little different.
2.Tiger can’t win every year, or even most years considering the ratio of wins to appearances for every player in history. Besides, Tiger is going to win both the U.S. and British Opens, so winning the first three majors is a stretch even for him.
3.Vijay Singh can’t putt anymore, and he cries about spike marks.
4.There isn’t suppose to be any rain in Augusta until Saturday, and the course is going to be more like a U.S. Open venue than it ever has before. Advantage Retief.
5.Goosen talked about the greens at the TPC Sugarloaf being slow, so he’ll be happy to make the 2 hour drive east to Augusta- I don’t think he’ll have the same problem this week.
6.Although I don’t buy the theory that only 10 players are in the hunt with the recent course changes, I do think that about half the field has been eliminated.
7.While all the other players are talking about how they ruined the course, Goosen will go play golf exactly like he did at Shinecock Hills. In fact, when he is asked his opinion on the changes, his response will probably be something like, “They changed the course?”

Since the above rationale cannot be disputed, I guess there is only one question up for debate: Will Goosen have any expression when Tiger hands him the green jacket?