AUGUSTA Ga. — Three players in the Masters field this week can overtake Tiger Woods’ No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Rankings — Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson and Jason Day.
Scott, the defending Masters champion and currently ranked No. 2, had a chance to become No. 1 two weeks ago with a win at Bay Hill, but he lost a three-shot lead in the final round. He can take over No. 1 this week if he finishes in a two-way tie for third or better.
Stenson, who is ranked No. 3, can become No. 1 with at least a two-way tie for second, as long as Scott doesn’t finish first or second. If Stenson does it, he would become the first Swedish player to reach No. 1. If he wins this week, he’ll become the first Swede to win a major.
Day, who tied for second in the 2011 Masters and was third last year, is ranked No. 4 and can get to No. 1 with a win.
Scott said “there’s absolutely motivation’’ to get to No. 1, “but the motivation is just to play well.
“I feel like my game is at a point where if I play well, I have got a chance to win this tournament,’’ Scott added. “That’s my goal this week, and the follow on from that would be world No. 1. I’ve had a couple goes at that the last couple times I’ve played and it hasn’t worked out. I just think you just have to keep playing well consistently to be No. 1.
“If I can keep chipping away at it, whether I win or not this week and get to No. 1, my goal is just to keep playing well. I don’t tee up thinking I’m going to try to be world No. 1. It just works out. You’ve just got to keep playing well. And for the guys who have been world No. 1, it’s been a process to get there and that’s where I’m at, at the moment, and I’m getting close. But it will take four great rounds this week.’’
Day said he’s “not trying to think of’’ getting to No. 1.
“I can’t get to No. 1 if I don’t win,’’ he said. “So my biggest thing is just to really focus on myself. I just need to go out and not really think about the outcomes that could possibly happen; ‘if I do this, then this will happen,’ or get caught up in stuff that can make my game go backwards.
“My goal is obviously to be able to get to No. 1 one day and to have a green jacket, and I can do that in one week. That’s exciting stuff for me.’’
Ryan Moore won the annual Masters Par-3 Contest at 6-under par on Wednesday. No player who has won the Par-3 Contest has gone on to win the Masters in the same year. Mark O’Meara had a hole-in-one on No. 2 and Matt Jones aced No. 3.
In a bizarre twist that occurs only at Augusta, Ricky Elliott, the caddie for U.S. Amateur champion Matthew Fitzpatrick, will not be able to caddie for him because he has a foot ailment that requires him to wear sandals and the powers that be at Augusta National won’t allow that. So Fitzpatrick, who is British, had to have another caddie flown in to work for him.
Phil Mickelson, who is chasing his fourth green jacket and sixth career major, said if the greens remain as firm and fast as they have been during the practice rounds, despite heavy rain on Monday (which they should, because there is no rain forecast for the rest of the week) “a lot less’’ players will have a chance to win because “the subtleties and the nuances and the penalty of Augusta National will come through.’’
“If the course plays firm and fast, I think you’re looking at less than a dozen’’ players with a chance to win, he said.
Rory McIlroy, who blew a four-shot lead entering the final round of the 2011 Masters, said he has “no ill feelings towards 2011.”
“It was a very important day in my career,’’ he said. “It was a big learning curve for me. And I don’t know if I had not had that day, would I be the person and the player that I am sitting here? … I learned exactly not what to do under pressure and contention, and I definitely learned from that day how to handle my emotions better on the course. This year there are no excuses if I don’t play well. Everything’s in the right place to allow me to play well. So it’s just a matter of managing my expectations, not getting ahead of myself, not thinking about Sunday when it’s Friday afternoon.”
McIlroy said after that loss, “that’s probably the only time I’ve cried over golf … the morning after in 2011.’’