Quote:
Originally Posted by Polar Bear
I respect what you’re saying, but I would never, ever agree that The Masters is the “easiest to win”.  |
It has the smallest and weakest field of any of the four majors. That makes it the easiest to win of the four majors.
Here is a list of players that have zero chance to win:
Fred Couples
Sandy Lyle
Larry Mize
Jose Maria Olazabal
Vijay Singh
Mike Weir
Ian Woosnam
Joe Long
Charles Osborne
Tyler Strafaci
Bernhard Langer
Brian Gay
Jim Herman
Mackenzie Hughes
Robert Streb
Martin Laird
Hudson Swafford
Matt Jones
Jimmy Walker
Here is a list of players that it would take a miracle for them to win:
Will Zalatoris
Matt Wallace
Robert MacIntyre
Si Woo Kim
Victor Perez
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Bernd Wiesberger
Stewart Cink
Phil Mickelson
Francesco Molinari
Ryan Palmer
Henrik Stenson
Michael Thompson
Carlos Ortiz
Zach Johnson
(OK, we have the possibility of a miracle with Zalatoris but it's still highly unlikely)
That leaves on 54 players that you have to beat.
This year there are only three amateurs, here are usually six so that's three more that have no chance. And fewer former champions have decided to play this year. There is also a record low six first time players. There have only been two first time players that have won and one of them was Horton Smith in the first Masters. So this year's field is stronger than usual.
Now granted that the players that are left are the cream of the crop but some of the best players in the world are going to have a couple of bad rounds and not make the cut like Rory and DJ so the field could be weakened even more.
Other majors have 144 players most of whom are at the top of the OWGR. The US Open and Open Championship do have a few amateurs and guys that get in through the qualifying system but they are a small percentage.
The PGA Championship does have several club pros, but again they start with a much bigger field than The Masters.
The most difficult tournament to win however is The Players. It has by far the strongest field in golf.
All four these events have half again more players than The Masters and the top players in the are in all of them. That makes The Masters the hardest to get into and the easiest to win.