Why Ernie Els Will Win The Masters

For the next two days I will be randomly presenting different top-notch golfers and explaining why these guys have a chance to win the Masters over anyone else in the field. Mostly, this will just be stupid "stats" that really don't matter once the golfers tee it up Thursday morning. To recap, skip everything I'm about to write. Anyway, today's golfer is Ernie Els.

So maybe Ernie Els isn't the hottest golfer on the planet. Maybe he's struggled in years past because of that damn injury bug. Maybe he isn't the guy he used to be, someone that everyone thought had a chance to win week in and week out. Whatever the take, he plays well at Augusta and (wait for the generic tag line) should be a force to be reckoned with come Thursday (BAM).

Major Champion Blood - He has won three majors, the same amount as Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh, which included two U.S. Opens, arguably the toughest tournament to rise victorious. He is one of the few golfers to be competitive in numerous majors, finishing in second place in all four at least once.

Big Easy? - Ok, I've always been on the lame side of this nickname, but I guess you could argue that his golf swing justifies the rather dorky name. Anyway, the point is, that golf swing seems to hold up under pressure, and there are only a couple of golfers you could say that about these days.

At least It Isn't Last Year - Until his victory at the Honda Classic in March, Ernie hadn't won on the PGA Tour since 2004. The thing with Ernie is it seems to pour when that first raindrop hits. I'd say the over/under on victories this year is three, so maybe one could land at Augusta.

Ok, maybe not the most compelling argument for a golfer, but the guy hasn't done much lately. I think an Ernie-Tiger battle would be better than a Phil-Tiger one, but that's just me.