What To Watch For Sunday At Augusta

Yesterday's action at the Masters was incredible. It was maybe the best Saturday we've seen at a major in many years. The famous roars were reverberating around Augusta National. Phil Mickelson's back to back eagles at 13 and 14 have him one behind the lead of Lee Westwood (-12). Tiger Woods and KJ Choi are 4 back with some work to do and Freddy Couples is 5 back and hoping for perhaps the miraculous major win of all-time. Here is what to watch for Sunday at Augusta...

*Can Lee Westwood Close The Deal?

-With Sergio Garcia's disappearance from the leaderboards of majors, Lee Westwood has taken the mantle of best player to never win a major. Consistently one of Europe's best players, he only has 1 PGA Tour win to go along with 20 on the European Tour. But, he's been close to getting a breakthrough major win finishing 3rd at the 2008 US Open, 2009 British Open, and 2009 PGA Championship. Each time, he had a chance to win late but could not close the deal. Now, with the lead for the first time, can Lee Westwood close the deal? He hasn't yet proven that he can, and with the Augusta stars behind him, it'll be a tough ask of Westwood.

*More Mickelson Miracles

-Phil Mickelson's 9 strokes on holes 13-15 yesterday was perhaps the best stretch of 3 holes we've seen in a major championship. In spite of his poor record recently, Phil always plays well at Augusta. As was noted on the broadcast yesterday, Mickelson has had a lot to think about off the course in his personal life with his wife and mother battling breast cancer. Believe it or not, Phil is going for his 3rd Green Jacket, but it's been 4 years since he last won a major! He seemingly has never recovered from his disaster at Winged Foot in the '06 US Open. Phil's key today will have to be to keep the bogeys away (he had a good run last year before blowing up at Amen Corner). He's clearly the crowd favorite, and should be the odds-on favorite to win with Tiger 3 strokes back. Speaking of...

*Tiger Watch

-Interesting that yesterday during a run of bogeys was the first time we heard talk of Tiger not playing a competitive round in 5 months. Funny how the excuses weren't mentioned when he shot his best ever 1st round at Augusta. I think 4 strokes will be too much of a mountain to climb, even for Tiger. Unless he shoots a 64, it's not in the cards - I don't see Mickelson and Westwood coming back to the pack today. Keep track today of how many times you hear the words Elin, sex, scandal, affair, mistakes, regret, shame, embarrassment, etc... Richard Nixon would be proud of the cover-up that CBS and ESPN have done this week treating Tiger with kid gloves. If you've been under a rock since Thanksgiving, you would have zero idea what exactly he's "coming back from." On the course today, Tiger will play a solid round, but he'll fall just short.

*Augusta Magic

-If yesterday was any sort of preview to what we'll see today, we'll be in store for an incredible 4th round. It wouldn't surprise me to see Fred Couples make a charge up the leaderboard for a while... or several young guns just behind (Mahan, Kim, Barnes). There's perhaps nothing more enjoyable than hearing the roars on the Back 9, Sunday, at Augusta. Enjoy today because it only comes around once a year.