Handicapping Augusta: The Regular Joes

For golf fans, this week is March Madness, a really good shoe sale, the NFL playoffs, your birthday, Christmas morning and the day "Star Wars" comes out on DVD, all wrapped into one. It's Masters week, and with it comes tradition, beauty and the first major championship of the year. As a preview of this year's Masters, FanHouse will be giving you three groups of golfers to watch at Augusta; the Heavy Hitters, the Regular Joes and the Sleepers (Wednesday). Here are the Regular Joes.


Paul Casey -- Best Finish: t-6 -- Unlike the Par-3 Contest at the Masters, players have won the Masters coming off a victory. Phil Mickelson was the latest to do it when he won the BellSouth Classic in 2006 a week before claiming his second green jacket. Casey has a chance to do just that after his Shell Houston Open win on Sunday. The Englishman has had success at Augusta National over the years, with a t-6 in '04, t-10 in '07 and t-11 in '08. He made the cuts in all four majors last year, including a top-10 at the British, so he knows how to play in the big tournaments.

K.J. Choi -- 3 -- When it comes to Augusta, you can almost always expect Choi to play well. In six appearances at the Masters, K.J. has missed only one cut and finished third back in '04. He hasn't been on top of his game in the last two events, missing both cuts, but normally the best show up at majors and I expect Choi to do just that.

Nick Watney -- t-11 -- Possibly my favorite under-the-radar pick of the '09 Masters, and I may or may not have a Venetian 35-to-1 sports book ticket to show for it. Watney is just 27, but he already has two wins on tour, including a gutsy two-putt birdie at the Buick Invitational this year on the final hole for the win and a second place finish at the CA Championship behind Mickelson. He is third on the FedEx Cup point standings and finished t-11 in his only Masters appearance last year. Does he have the internal fortitude to actually win a big boy tournament? It is yet to be seen, but he did battle Phil at that World Golf Championship event pretty darn tough and so far this season hasn't shot over 71 in a final round.

Hunter Mahan -- t-28 -- Mahan is very quietly becoming one of the more consistent golfers on tour. So far in '09, he has played eight events and made all the cuts. While he hasn't yet produced a lot at major championships, he hits the ball well enough (37th in driving distance, 19th in greens in regulation) to compete at a ball-striker's golf course. What does every golfer need to happen to win his first major? Have a hot putter, which is the only weak part of Mahan's game.

Sean O'Hair -- t-14 -- Like Ryan Wilson said about O'Hair when I mentioned him on this list -- he's a great addition as long as he doesn't have to play with Tiger Woods. The 26-year-old has played eight tournaments this year and has four top-10s including that second place finish to Tiger at the Arnold Palmer where O'Hair shot a final round 73 to let Woods sneak back in the tournament. He doesn't have a top-10 in a major just yet, but he does seem to play well in wet, cold conditions, which it appears might be the case this week at Augusta National. O'Hair has never missed a cut at the British Open, so I'll speak for Sean when he says, "Bring on the nasty elements."