OK, maybe long putters aren’t cool, but it does seem that Adam Scott has at least made long putters an acceptable option for players that previously wouldn’t consider one.  Lee Westwood put one in play at the Masters.  Ernie Els is reportedly thinking about bagging one this week at the Verizon.   and are right there with him (even though Greene thinks they should be illegal).

Bill Haas is also apparently considering making the switch  after Brendan Steele used a belly putter to win the Valero last weekend.  Tiger was even photographed practicing a long putter stroke during his golf tour of Asia last week.  After all of his 3 putts on Sunday at the Masters, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he’s at least been testing one.

When asked about Scott’s success at the Masters with a long putter, Anthony Kim quipped, “Obviously it’s working for him.  Maybe I should go try it.”

In the past, putting a belly putter in your bag was a tacit admission that you had some serious putting problems and you were looking for something… anything to save your game.  But now with players like Scott and Steele having success with long putters, players seem to be viewing it as another tool to play better… even if they hold their noses while using it.

Personally, I’ve tried a both a belly putter and a long putter in the past and found that I putted worse with them.  But I don’t have a problem with people using them.  Unless somebody in my foursome shows up with one and beats me.  Then they should be illegal.

I wish I could say that I saw Schwartzel coming from a mile away and brilliantly picked him last week as a darkhorse favorite to win the Masters. But unfortunately the Power of the Schwartz-el wasn’t with me.

So how did my darkhorse picks fare? Read on to find out.

1. Ryu Ishikawa (T20) – I was pleasantly surprised by the strength of Ishikawa’s performance.  I figured if there was one player that was most likely to miss the cut out of picks, it was Ishikawa.  But he shot back to back 71′s to make the cut with room to breathe.  It got away from him a little bit on Saturday but he came back with a strong 70 on Sunday to finish T20.

This was only the 3rd cut he’s made this year on tour, and judging by his performance, he’s starting to get things figured out over on this side of the pond.  I think we might see him in contention for a win later this year.

I also have to call out Hideki Matsuyama.  He was the low amateur (the only one to make the cut) at T27.  He didn’t have a great Sunday, but he shot a brilliant 68 on Sunday.  Matsuyama is from Sendai, the city devestated by the earthquake/tsunami last month and will be returning there this week to finish school and help wherever he can.  He showed a lot of class in his comments during the green jacket presentation ceremony.

2. Anthony Kim (MC) – As pleasantly surprised as I was with Ishikawa’s performance, I was equally disappointed with Kim’s missed cut.  The bottom line is that he just made to many bogeys.  He fired off 4 birdies in 5 holes on the back nine Friday but it was only good enough to get him to +2 for the tournament, missing the cut by one.

I think it’s just taking a while for him to come back from the thumb injury and he’s still not 100%.  Hopefully we’ll see him back at full strength in the near future.

3. Gary Woodland (T24) – Not a bad showing for his first Masters.  He didn’t play his best golf on Saturday, culminating in pegging a spectator in the face with hooked shot on 15.  Hey, when you play golf with thousands of fans all over the course, it happens.

But he did get everything back on track for Sunday.  He made 3 birdies on the way in to card a 70 and finish the tournament at 2-under (T24) alongside Jim Furyk and David Toms.  Not bad company.

He played 13 really well all week, finishing at 4-under on that hole alone.  Hell be able to build on this experience and I think we’ll see his name on the leaderboard at Augusta one day in the not too distant future.

4.  Ben Crane (MC) – I wasn’t quite as surprised as I was with Anthony Kim that he missed the cut.  He really struggled on Friday making 5 bogeys on the way to carding a 75, leaving him at +4, 3-over the cut line.  I’m just disappointed that we won’t get to see a video featuring him in the green jacket.

5.  Justin Rose (T11) – Justin Rose played a solid tournament.  His only problem was that he really didn’t get things going until Sunday, when he shot a 68.  He was dead straight off the tee all week (78%) and hit a ton of greens (79%).  But he averaged 31 putts, which just isn’t going to get it done at the Masters.

He’s playing really well though so I would not be surprised at all if he picks up another victory or two this year.  And if he keeps hitting it this straight, we could definitely see him contend at the US Open, where the course will be set up to punish 300 yard wayward drives (neither of which describes Rose’s tee game).

So how did I do overall? 5 Picks.  T11, T20, T24, and 2 MC’s.  Honestly I don’t think that’s too shabby for darkhorse picks.  Did any of you guys pick Schwartzel to win?

Liars…

[Image Flickr/Pocketwiley]

In the latest Masters odds from Bodog.com, Phil Mickelson remains the favorite at 6-1.  Tiger is 8-1 (again, wtf?). Both Lee Westwood and Nick Watney are 14-1, with nobody else under 20-1.

The odds on my dark horse picks?  Justin Rose is 30-1.  Anthony Kim is 33-1.   Ben Crane is 100-1.  And Gary Woodland and Ryu Ishikawa are sitting at 150-1.

Interestingly Tom Watson is sitting at 400-1.  That might be a good long shot bet.  He came damn close to winning the British Open 2 years ago and was on the leaderboard going into Friday at the 2010 Masters after firing a first round 67.  Yes, at 61, he’s probably too old to realistically contend at the Masters.  But at 400-1 it might be worth a little fun money.

Phil Mickelson – 6/1
Tiger Woods – 8/1
Lee Westwood – 14/1
Nick Watney – 16/1
Martin Kaymer – 20/1
Luke Donald – 25/1
Paul Casey – 25/1
Rory McIlroy – 25/1
Dustin Johnson – 20/1
Padraig Harrington – 28/1
Hunter Mahan – 28/1
Justin Rose – 30/1
Graeme McDowell – 33/1
Bubba Watson – 33/1
Matt Kuchar – 28/1
Steve Stricker – 33/1
Rickie Fowler – 33/1
Aaron Baddeley – 33/1
Ian Poulter – 33/1
Ernie Els – 33/1
Anthony Kim – 33/1
Retief Goosen – 40/1
Jim Furyk – 40/1
Geoff Ogilvy – 40/1
Sergio Garcia – 40/1
Vijay Singh – 50/1
Francesco Molinari – 50/1
Martin Laird – 50/1
Charl Schwartzel – 50/1
K.J. Choi – 50/1

[Image Flickr/Keith Allison]

Everybody knows that Phil and Tiger are the two favorites to win the Masters.  And of course there are guys like Dustin Johnson and Lee Westwood that have sniffed at glory in the majors and come up just short.  But there are a number of other players who have legitimate shots at winning their first major this year.  Keep reading to find out who I like as “dark horse” picks.

1. Ryu Ishikawa – I don’t actually think Ryu is going to win the Masters.  He’s finding out the hard way this season that the level of play on the PGA Tour is very different than on the Japanese tour.  But the 19 year old phenom has serious game and I think it’s a matter of time before he gets his legs under himself and wins on Tour.  So if I don’t think that Ishikawa has a realistic shot at winning, why am I picking him?

Well, last week Ishikawa announced that he’s donating his entire 2011 tournament earnings to disaster relief in his home country of Japan.  That’s a hell of a thing for a 19-year old to step up and commit to.  And I for one would love to see him mixing it up on Sunday at Augusta with the entire country of Japan behind him (along with a good number of fans here in the US).  It would be one of the greatest feel-good sports stories in recent memory if he’s able to pull it off.

I know that I (and probably a number of others) will be rooting for Ishikawa this week.

2.  Anthony Kim – Kim had a rough 2011.  After getting off to a great start, he had a thumb injury that required surgery and forced away from the golf course for several months.  And when he finally did return in the Fall, it was obvious that he wasn’t quite a 100%.

But now several months later, Kim is showing signs of the form that he kicked off 2010 with.  No, he’s still not quite 100%, but his Friday 64 at Houston last week, showed that he can put it together.  The only question now is whether he can do it for 4 days in a row.

3.  Gary Woodland – He hits the ball a mile (although not always too straight) and is a pretty darn good putter.  That combination adds up to somebody who can win at Augusta where long errant tee shots aren’t penalized like they would be at a US Open.  Woodland had his breakthrough win at the Transitions last month and seems poised to continue to play well after his T13 finish in Houston.

If he can figure out a way to make putts on the slick greens at Augusta, he should do very well.

4.  Ben Crane – He leads the tour in greens-in-regulation at 73%.  No, he’s not a long hitter.  But he hits a lot of fairways and is able to convert those into GIR’s.  He hasn’t any great finishes yet this season, which is kind of surprising given that he ranks 16th in scoring average at 69.81.

Crane doesn’t do anything flashy on the golf course.  But sometime slow and steady wins the race.  Or in Crane’s case, really, really slow and steady.  But I’ll be honest, I kind of want Crane to win just to see what kind of video he’ll release afterwards.

5.  Justin Rose – Rose had 2 victories last year and came out ready to play this spring (I still can’t believe that he and Paul Casey were left off of the Ryder Cup team).  He already has 3 top 10 finishes this year including a T3 at a very tough Bay Hill course.  He’s not a particularly long hitter by Tour standards (284 yd avg drive), but he does keep it in the fairways (65%) and he hits a lot of greens in regulation (73%).

Rose’s short game is also excellent.  So on the rare occasion that he misses a GIR, he’s probably going to chip it close.  Like Woodland, the question mark will be his putting.  If he can get it going, he’ll be in the hunt on the weekend.

So what do you guys think of my picks?  Disagree?  Have any picks of your own?  Let me know in the comments.

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem w/ his Golden Goose, Tiger Woods

We all know that the Euros got the best of our last encounter at the Ryder Cup. I thought we were going to have to wait 2 years to see a rematch, but the PGA and European Tours are giving us a bit of a rematch less than 2 months later. Over the last few weeks there have been a series of escalating actions/reactions that have the potential to create dramatic lasting impacts on the landscape of professional golf.

If you haven’t been following everything too closely, here’s a quick rundown of what’s been going on:

• Non-American players win 3 out of 4 majors this year (Graeme McDowell – N. Ireland, Louis Oosthuizen – S. Africa, Martin Kaymer – Germany)
• Paul Casey and Justin Rose are left off of the Euro Ryder Cup team by Colin Montgomery (at least in part due to the fact that they play primarily in the US)
• Europe barely wins the Ryder Cup
• Lee Westwood takes over the #1 ranking from Tiger
• Anthony Kim is denied a medical exemption to keep his European Tour Card:  He only played 7 events but was 48th on the money list
• Rory McIlroy & Martin Kaymer decide not to be PGA Tour members for 2011 (Westwood said “no” as well but that was already expected).  They don’t like the FedEx cup format (who can blame them?)
• PGA Tour waves a big stick, threatening to limit PGA Tour events for McIlroy for the next 5 years if he drops membership
• Ian Poulter suggests he may have to rethink his tour membership choice

So where does that leave us?  We have the top professional golf tour in the world getting involved in a standoff with some of the best golfers in the world.  Ultimately I suspect that cooler heads will prevail and the desire to make money will allow all of the involved parties to reach agreements that keep everybody happy.

McIlroy may or may not follow through with dropping his tour membership.  But even if he does, the Tour will likely come up with a way to allow him to play all of the big events (like they do with Westwood).  Poulter will keep his Tour card.  The money in the US is too good and who wants to move from Florida to England?

What will be the impact on the PGA Tour?  Not much.  The Tour needs players more than they need the tour, but a few European players walking away isn’t going to have a dramatic impact on sponsors/attendance.  And if the money keeps flowing, not much will change.  If we get really lucky, this might cause some proactive thinkers at the tour offices to think about how the FedEx Cup could be revamped to be more understandable for the fans and less taxing on the players.  I’m not holding my breath though.

At the end of the day, the PGA Tour is still where the best golf in the world is being played and the biggest checks are being cashed.  That’s not going to change anytime soon.  However, we’re seeing the emergence of the European and Asian tours as legitimate alternatives rather than stepping stones.  We now have more opportunities to see great golf being played all over the world.  And to me, that’s never a bad thing.

(image: Flickr/Keith Allison)