The Masters - (If I were in a tourn. pool)

This is one of my favorite weeks of the entire year, all because of sports. The NCAA Final Four finishes this week. As a Tar Heel basketball fan, it's been a fun week for me over the years for that reason alone. Major League Baseball starts and now there's something on TV I like just about every night between now and October. And the Masters is this week. It's the best golf tournament of the year. I got to go in 2002, the opening round. I saw Phil Mickelson chip in for birdie from way off the green on No. 11. I'll probably never get to go back, so that was a great day - and it didn't cost me a cent. If my wife loved me, she'd figure out a way to get us tickets to a future Masters TOURNAMENT (NOT PRACTICE) round one year.

I heard about a Masters pool yesterday where you pick one of the three favorites:

1. Tiger Woods

2. Rory McIlroy

3. Phil Mickelson

and then you pick any 6 other players. I didn't hear how the winner of the pool was determined, but the simple way is to add up the final score of your 7 players and the lowest total score wins.

Here's who I'd pick:

1. Phil Mickelson - because he's my favorite golfer. Can't stand Tiger Woods. I've never heard of an athlete as selfish, arrogant, (you can keep filling in blanks) as that punk. Rory McIlroy is pretty arrogant himself, but not to the Tiger level. It was a pleasure watching him blow the Masters on the back 9 last year.

2. My six picks from the rest of the field:

Bubba Watson - he's my next favorite golfer, and because of how he's boldly proclaimed Jesus the past couple years, I'd probably rather he win than Phil. I don't "tweet" but I do have a Twitter account and I keep up with what Bubba says. He and his wife just adopted a 1-month old boy. Go Bubba.

Keegan Bradley - This is his first Masters and there hasn't been a Masters rookie winner since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979, so it's not likely. But he's playing well and he did win the last major.

Lee Westwood - He's played well at Augusta in the past and seems to always be on the leaderboard at majors.

Luke Donald - The current number 1 player in the world (whatever that means). He'll win a major sooner or later b/c he's too good not to.

Adam Scott - Too good never to have won a major. Almost won last year.

Bill Haas - Had to pick a seventh guy. He won in a playoff over Mickelson and Bradley earlier this year.

If you're a golf fan, who would you pick?