Masters Winners & Losers

The 2023 Masters was full of compelling storylines both heading into the week and during the tournament. 

From the LIV vs PGA Tour, the weather, Tiger Woods and more. 

Based on those storylines, here are the winners and losers of The Masters.

Winners: 

LIV Golf  

Sorry, LIV Golf came out as a winner this week. 

Of the 18 players in the tournament, 12 of them made the cut and three of them finished in the top four. 

Brooks Koepka had the lead going into the final round.  

Spanish Golf 

A big win and a big day for the Spanish golf community with Jon Rahm putting on the Green Jacket. 

Ram won the tournament on Seve Ballesteros’ 66th birthday and the 40th anniversary of Seve’s last Masters win. 

Was great to see former Masters champ Jose Maria Olazabel there to celebrate with Rahm. 

Augusta National 

Despite all the rain the course got leading into the week and then on Friday and Saturday, it held up. 

The final scoring was very reasonable (12-under won), it didn’t turn into a pitch and putt and the changes to the 13th hole worked perfectly. 

PHOTO: Getty Images

The club even had three trees fall on Friday and miraculously not injure anyone.

Once again, Augusta is undefeated. 

Phil Mickelson 

Lefty exploded with a final round 65 to finish in second place on Sunday. It is one of the lowest scores he has ever shot at Augusta. 

Phil hasn’t been playing that great on the LIV Tour and coming into this week, no one knew what to expect. 

He proved that he still has game at the age of 52 and could be someone to watch going forward. 

Sam Bennett 

How about the amateur Sam Bennett? 

The U.S. Amateur was in the final pairing on Saturday before fading a bit on the weekend. 

Either way, he put on a heck of a show and had fans/media asking how far are we from having an Amateur win The Masters. 

The answer is not far.

Losers:

Tiger Woods

In Tiger’s previous appearances, most notably at Riviera, there were positives to take out of it, something to be excited about. 

Tiger withdrew from the tournament on Sunday morning, and there is really nothing positive to take from the week. 

Tiger Woods PHOTO: Flickr

Woods didn’t play well right from the start and was a non factor. 

Augusta National is one of the toughest places to walk, we understand that, but this weekend raised questions about just how much longer Tiger is he going to keep pushing it. 

Rory McIlroy

After such a positive finish to last year’s Masters, and his current form, there was lots of hype about Rory potentially winning the Masters and completing the career grand-slam.

Not so much.

McIlroy got off to another poor start missed the cut this year, posting 5-over for the week.

He will have to wait another year for a shot at the Green Jacket.

Patrick Cantlay

Patrick Cantlay held up the entire day with his slow play on Sunday.

His playing partner Viktor Hovland was getting frustrated and Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka were annoyed.

“Jon went to the bathroom seven times, and we were still waiting,” said Koepka after the round.

 

2 comments

  • I think you should have included Patrick Cantlay in your list of “Losers”. That guy makes a glacier look like Usain Bolt. Clearly bothered Viktor Hovlund and pissed off Brooks Koepka as well.

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