The Masters Open 2019

The Masters Open is one of the four major golf tournaments. Due to the green jacket and many other traditions, The Masters is considered number one in all the major championships. But it is a long debate because some people place The British Open Championship on the first place as its history spans around 159 years making it the oldest one secondly it belongs to the origin of the golf. Some people consider The US Open on the top due to the prize money it offers which is the highest in any golf tournament; 12.5 million US dollars.

The Masters has its own colors and traditions which make it unique among the others. Unlike other major tournaments, its golf course is constant since its inauguration 1934. It is always played at Augusta National Golf Club. It is the only championship which is conducted and organized by a private golf course rather than any golf organizations. Its final round is held on the second Sunday of the month of April. The Masters is contested among a relatively small number of players as compared to other majors. All caddies wear uniforms with numbers and name of players. Defending champion’s caddie wears the shirt with the number “1”.

The Masters is an invitational match and is contested between up to 100 players and there are no qualifying tournaments as a prerequisite. This year tournament is going to be held on 11th to 14th of April. Patrick Reed is going to defend his title against the top invitees. He has won 6 PGA tours and 2 European tours. In Majors, he has only one title. His best finishes in other 3 major championships are 2nd The PGA Championship, 4th in The US Open and 12th in The British Open. He rose to limelight when he was going to win The PGA Championship in 2017 when he fell short to Justin Thomas on the final hole when his tee shot landed in a fairway bunker resulting a bogey.

On the final round of The Masters Open 2018, Patrick was 14 under par with 3 amazing rounds of 69, 66 and 67. He started with the lead of 3 strokes and top professionals were chasing him and he was playing bogey-birdie combinations all the way. Rickie Fowler, Rory Mcllroy and Jordan Spieth were doing their best to climb the victory stand. Rory gave it up on the first nine while Rickie and Jordan were still hungry and energetic. Especially Jordan Spieth was making back to back birdies to remain in the contest of the leaders. His 2 amazing birdie putts of 27 foot and 33 foot on 12th and 16th holes showed his aggression. Spieth was a constant challenge until the last hole. Rickie played 6 under par on the back nine but fell a little short against Patrick Reed’s 71, a one-under par on the final day was enough to lift the trophy and cash prize of almost 2 million US dollars ($1,980,000) and above all the Green Jacket; a dream of every professional golfer.

Patrick Reeds in one of the 4 USA golfers to be awarded the lifetime honorary membership of European tour, the other three players are Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, and Jack Nicklaus. Although he is officially world number 17 but after his 3 consecutive rounds of 69 in Players Championship, he has shown his form and accuracy in the field. He is considered in top seeds for any professional tournament along with Justin Rose, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Justin Thomas. These are the top dogs for any tournament but there are few having the ability to challenge the odds and change the game, Rickie Fowler is one of them and can outpoint any player at any course. Francesco Molinari is another player having 1 major on the resume but can surprise at any time.

The Masters Open title has been defended by only 3 players; Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods. Jordan Spieth was going to defend it in 2016 but he was out of the top runners after a quadruple par at hole number 12. Now Patrick has a chance to place his name along with the 3 legends. Two weeks ago website of Augusta mentioned Rory Mcllroy as betting favorite to win the title of 2019 edition of The Masters but referring Patrick Reed they also said: “ Don’t Count Him Off”.

When asked about defending his title Reed said, “Even the times I’m not actually wearing the green jacket, to be able to see the green jacket sitting in your closet or sitting in an area where you’re always kind of walking by and you’ll see it, it just gives you motivation and kind of picks me up and tells me that you want to keep it around,” he said. “You want to keep it around as long as you can. The only way you’re going to do that is continue winning at Augusta and continue winning the event so you can have it year in and year out.”