A PGA Tour professional believes one participant might run away with the Masters – but additionally factors to a well-known title lurking.
One PGA Tour professional believes this yr’s Masters may very well be over earlier than it actually will get going.
Speaking on the Fore Play Podcast, four-time PGA Tour winner Kevin Kisner supplied a assured – and fairly uncompromising – view on who he’s backing to bag a Green Jacket.
“If Rory’s on his game, the tournament’s over,” he stated. “Now he has won his Green Jacket, if he comes out firing like he was, he won’t have those silly wedge shots he dumped in the creek and the bunker coming down the stretch on Sunday, just because he’s done it.
“So if he’s off and running at Augusta, you can just go ahead and turn the TV off.”
It’s an announcement that speaks to McIlroy’s kind and freedom. With that long-awaited breakthrough now behind him, the five-time main winner arrives at Augusta National Golf Club with out the identical weight on his shoulders – and that may very well be a harmful proposition.
“I feel so much more relaxed,” stated McIlroy. “I know that I’m going to be coming back here for a lot of years, going to enjoy the perks that the champions get here.
“It doesn’t make me any less motivated to go out there and play well and try to win the tournament, but yeah, just more relaxed about it all.”
A resurgent former champion
Of course, tipping the defending champion and world quantity two isn’t precisely going out on a limb. But Kisner didn’t cease there.
He additionally pointed to a different title – a person who received three majors in three seasons, however hasn’t received one for 9 years.
“How about a little Jordan Spieth Green Jacket revival?” stated Kisner. “If you watch his game, he’s been in that 15–25 area all year. He’s striping it. He’s not making any putts, but he feels so comfortable on the Augusta greens that if that little flatstick gets hot, and he’s cocky enough, I just think he could be around.”
It’s a well-known profile for Spieth in current instances – trending with out fairly getting over the road – however Augusta at all times has a behavior of bringing out his greatest.
“A stat for you, Jordan Spieth in 2026 is playing the par threes under par. And when you go look at Augusta National, the par threes are a pivotal, pivotal moment in the round every time,” Kisner added.
“You’ve got four playing 250 yards, then you go to six where guys make two to five, then you go to 12 where guys make two to five, and then 16 if you’re striping your irons, you can birdie to every pin. So to play the par threes under par for the season is incredible. Insanity.”
Before you stick all of your cash on Spieth, it’s price taking a second to notice that he’s truly considered one of 26 gamers at present averaging below par on par 3 holes this season. The others embrace Adam Scott, Ludvig Aberg, Shane Lowry, and Min Woo Lee, whereas Blades Brown leads par 3 scoring with his common of two.88.
Still, it’s signal for the 32-year-old Texan who received the Masters in 2015 and has a complete of six top-five finishes below his belt.
