Masters Recap: Green Jacket for Garcia

As the back nine unfolded at the Masters on Sunday, it became readily apparent that only two men had a chance to win the coveted major championship: Sergio Garcia and me. It was kind of a tough call, but I ended up rooting against me and for Sergio. I would usually write "Garcia" there, as journalists do, but I wasn't rooting for Garcia; I was rooting for Sergio, someone golf fans have followed – often in agony, often in glee – for almost two decades.

All but two of the golfers who were so closely bunched at the start of the final round had fallen, leaving just Garcia and Justin Rose. Rose had been not only been a RotoWire value pick, but he was rostered in my DraftKings game. It's nice to write after the tournament that we (RotoWire) had the winner. But journalists also root for the story, and there was no better story than Garcia winning the Masters.

Sergio Garcia won the Masters.

Garcia had been such a tortured soul for so many years, finding new and different Sergio-ways to lose major tournaments. He had played in 73 of them without a victory. Greatest golfer to have never won a major? Sure, he had worn that left-handed compliment for years. Perhaps the only thing worse than wearing it is losing it, and not by winning a major but by no longer being the greatest.

The Spaniard is 37 now, and had indeed lost that "title" a few years ago as Jason Day and then Dustin Johnson captured majors. Then to his, um, credit, Garcia likely wrested it back. Some could argue that even before Sunday, Hideki Matsuyama or Rickie Fowler was the greatest golfer without a major (GGWAM). After all, they were higher in the world rankings than Garcia. But there's also a time element to the GGWAM tag; you have to be around awhile to get it.

Fowler is now in his eighth season on the PGA Tour and will turn 29 by year's end. That's certainly enough time to secure the mantle. Matsuyama is higher in the OWGR – fourth to Fowler's ninth – but he just turned 25 and is in only his fourth full year on Tour.

Clearly, Fowler is now the GGWAM.

Right after the New Year, Garcia announced his engagement. We wondered if that could make a difference on the course, too. There's no way to know for sure, but four months later, Garcia is a major champion. Coincidence? Probably not. We're not saying fiancée Angela Akins, a former Golf Channel reporter and University of Texas golfer, is the reason for Garcia's new success. But maybe, as he neared 40, it just took Garcia this long to get his personal life in a good place. And that helped his golf.

Lastly, since this is a fantasy site, we'd be remiss not to offer a take on Garcia. He's now up to No. 7 in the world and has his elusive major. What's next? Many observers believed that Garcia's best chance to win a major was the Open Championship. That was always his best of the four, with runners-up in 2007 and 2014. Interestingly, his worst cash in the Open (he's missed four cuts) was T51 in 2008 at Royal Birkdale, where it will be played this summer.

Garcia had already won earlier this year in Dubai, so he's clearly been on his game. We see no reason that won't continue, but we'd also expect a step back during his honeymoon period. Garcia won't be getting married till later this year; we're talking his honeymoon as a major champion.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Justin Rose

Rose can't be the GGWAM since he's already won a U.S. Open. But he could be the greatest golfer in Masters history to have never won a green jacket. The Englishman has now been runner-up twice with seven top-15s in his 12 tries, having never missed a cut. Rose was and is having a good season after a back injury curtailed him last year. Something did happen to Rose's back toward the finish on Sunday, so it will bear watching when he returns to play.

Jordan Spieth

Well, Spieth incredibly found the water on No. 12 again. Only this time it didn't cost him the Masters; he was already out of it by then. Spieth was surprisingly off his game on Sunday, bogeying three of his first six holes. Only three meaningless, closing birdies allowed him to tie for 11th with a 3-over 75. It's kind of official now that Spieth is not the golfer he was 2-3 years ago. Still among the very best, still top-5 in the OWGR, will still win tournaments. But it's also hard to envision a return to No. 1 anytime soon.

Rickie Fowler

Welcome to the RotoWire Golf Recap, GGWAM. Fowler was paired with Spieth in the penultimate group, and he did him one shot worse, 4-over-76, to also finish T11. Fowler has a win this year and was really on his game before and during the Masters – until Sunday. Majors are hard. Fowler surely will win at least one. For now, we'd expect him to rebound nicely at The Players Championship next month.

Rory McIlroy

Spieth's Sunday falter allows McIlroy to say he's the only golfer with top-10s at the Masters the past four years. McIlroy closed with a 69 to tie for seventh, albeit another one of his patented back-door top-10s in a major. He has finished top-7 in all three of his stroke-play tournaments since returning from a rib injury. It shows that when McIlroy is not at his best, he's still among the best. But it also shows that he has to play better to get another major. The PGA Championship at Quail Hollow seems his best bet this year.

Jason Day

Day had scant practice time in advance of Augusta, concerned with his mother's cancer surgery and recovery. He still cobbled together a good weekend, with four birdies in his final six stress-free holes on Sunday, to tie for 22nd. Like McIlroy, that shows how well good Day is even when he's not at his best. But unlike McIlroy, Day has much further to travel to return to elite status. His hallmark putting game has been horrid this season. The first thing he needs is reps. And he surprisingly won't get them this week at the RBC Heritage, a tournament that RBC-sponsored Day played last year.

Thomas Pieters

We always hear how hard it is to win the Masters in your maiden try. And it is. But virtually every year there is a newcomer who does quite well. This year, it was Pieters, who tied for fourth. The Belgian is up to a career-best 26th in the OWGR, and appears to be a threat every time he tees it up. It would be hard to argue Pieters as a lineup consideration no matter the tournament.

Matt Kuchar

Kuchar certainly gets votes for GGWAM, having been around a lot longer than Fowler. Kuchar for years has made a career out of just playing well enough in majors to be a good player. He tied for fourth on Sunday, his fourth top-8 at Augusta in six years. Kuchar's fantasy value has been on the downside the last year or two, and that shouldn't change just because he played well on a course he usually plays well on.

Brooks Koepka

Koepka has had a horrible year, but there was a glimmer a few weeks back at the WGC-Match Play. And now there's much more than a glimmer after a T11 at Augusta. Maybe Koepka was simply slumping after two big years on Tour. It happens. Sometimes, slumps become permanent. But Koepka is young enough to believe that he'll end it and thrive. Maybe not a top-10 golfer, but thrive.

Phil Mickelson

Oh, Phil. We had Mickelson as a value pick because combining Mickelson and the Masters can lead to beautiful results. But he's also a guy who has wild ups and downs. We considered Mickelson for our DraftKings lineup after listening to him before the tournament. He sounded so convincing that he was prepared to do well in the extreme wind, that nobody knows Augusta better than him. But then we said to ourselves: This guy has missed the cut two of the previous three years (albeit with a runner-up in between). We removed him from our DK lineup and replaced him with Rose. Mickelson did make it to the weekend, finishing T22 with many highs and lows. It's Phil. And it doesn't appear he's ready to win anywhere anytime soon.

Ernie Els

Els has never won a Masters, finishing second twice, including to Mickelson in 2004. And now Els has likely played Augusta for the 23rd and last time, his five-year exemption for winning the 2012 Open Championship fully spent. While the four-time major winner did make the cut, he did not go out on a high note, closing 83-78 to finish last among the 53 who played the weekend. Mickelson had held up much better than his fellow over-45 competitor. Els is 383rd in the world and counting the days – still more than two years away – till he becomes eligible for the Champions Tour.

RotoWire Value Picks

Last week: Winner (Henley), six top-10s, 10 top-25s, three missed cuts

This week: Two top-10s, seven top-25s, one MC, one DNS

We made the 16 picks, though Dustin Johnson didn't start because of his back injury. Otherwise, 14 of our 15 picks made the cut, and that's not too shabby. Besides Johnson, our Tier 1 picks were Spieth ($11,500), Fowler ($9,300) and Matsuyama ($9,900). And while we had high hopes for the first two entering Sunday, all three wound up tied for 11th. That's not good enough for those prices. In Tier 2, we tabbed Rose, who obviously was worth his $9,200 as the runner-up. Mickelson at $8,700/T22 was disappointing, but way better than Louis Oosthuizen at $8,100/T41. Paul Casey was a steal at $7,800/T6. In Tier 3, Russell Henley was excellent at $7,200/T11, Daniel Berger at $7,300/T27 and Bill Haas at $7,200/T36 were so-so, and Shane Lowry at $7,300/MC was a bust. We were 4-for-4 in cuts among our long shots – Marc Leishman, Jason Dufner, Adam Hadwin and Kevin Kisner – though none cached top-30.

We finished 20th out of 114 to cash in our DraftKings game, rostering Matsuyama, Fowler, Rose, Casey, Hadwin and Kisner for 424 points. At the last minute, we removed Mickelson and Berger for Rose and Kisner, and it improved our standing. Mickelson would've driven us nuts all week.