There Isn't A Shortage Of Storylines Going Into The Second Round Of The Masters

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed every second of all four majors last year and there is nothing I love more than sitting down on a Sunday and watching the final round of a golf major to crown a major champion. However, there was something missing last year that kept me from being overly excited looking in retrospect about the 2011 majors.

Maybe it was the fact that at the U.S. Open, a tournament that prides itself in its difficult setup and the inability of players to put up low scores, Rory McIlroy finished at -16 and practically had the tournament wrapped up after the second round when he led by 6 strokes over Y.E. Yang.

Even when the 2011 PGA Championship went into a three hole play-off, it was a battle of two mainly unknown commodities with Keegan Bradley and Jason Dufner.

It was also a great story when Darren Clarke won the 2011 Open Championship at Royal St. George's Golf Club nearly five years after his wife died of breast cancer but the Open left me with a sour taste in my mouth.

I, like many others, was hoping for a Phil Mickelson comeback run on the final day after he shot a 30 on the front nine, his lowest nine hole score in a major. However, Phil faltered down the stretch as he bogeyed 11, 13, 15, and 16, which put him out of contention of the title and left many, including myself, disappointed.

Finally, whether you like him or dislike him, Tiger Woods is a story every time he walks on the golf course. If Woods is in contention at a major, everybody is going to be watching and he brings a tremendous amount of buzz to the golf game. The pressure and intensity of a major is only amplified when Tiger Woods is lurking at the top of the leaderboard.

However, last year Tiger made very little noise at any of the majors. Although he finished tied for 4th at the Masters, his third round 74 shot him in the foot and put him too far back of the leaders. Tiger was forced to miss two of the majors, the U.S. Open and the Open Championship, due to knee and achillies injuries. When he returned to the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club, Tiger looked like a shell of himself. He shot a 77 in the first round and then followed that up by a 73 in the second to finish at 10-over par and he missed the cut. It was just the 3rd time in 56 major appearances since 1997 that Tiger failed to make the cut at a major and he wasn't around for the last two days of the final major or the year.

However, there is a certain vibe around the Masters that has everybody excited for this years first major. The lure of Augusta National and its historic tradition leaves people craving to see golfers attack Amen Corner and play the course they have become so accustomed to seeing.

After the first round at Augusta National, there is a wide array of interesting stories to keep on an eye on as this year Masters rolls along.

Before Phil Mickelson finally broke through in that memorable 2004 Masters, he was often tabbed as the greatest player to never have won a major. Lefty had a ridiculous 17 top ten appearances from 1993 to 2003 without ever cracking the winners circle including 8 finishes in the top 3 in that time span.

Since Mickelson has gotten rid of the that title, Lee Westwood has assumed it. Westwood's close but no cigar results at majors have looked much like Mickelson's when he was a younger golfer. Westwood has had 12 top 10 appearances in majors since 1997 and he has finished in the top 3 in 6 of the last 14 majors he has played in. Despite being near the top of the leaderboard so often, Wetwood has been unable to break through.

However, Westwood, who finished 2nd in the Masters two years ago in 2010, is at the top of the leaderboard after the first round of golf at Augusta. Lee birdied 5, 6, 7, and 8 to put up a front nine 32 before he finished out the round by shooting a 35 on the back to complete his first round 5-under par 67.

Westwood sits in a perfect position after day 1 to capture his first ever major championship. He said, "I've come close [to winning a major]. I've won all there is to win other than a major championship. That's my primary focus and it's been a long time coming around since the PGA last year... I have been in this position a lot recently, in contention. I've had a lot of top-3's, so I've obviously been there. If I sit down at the end of my career and there's no major championship wins, I'll be disappointed. If there's five or six, I'll be delighted." With an early lead at the Masters, Westwood has an edge to get that first major championship that has been alluding him for such a long time.

Since his 2008 U.S. Open victory at Torrey Pines, Tiger Woods has been stuck at 14 major championships. He remains 4 major victories shy of Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 major wins. A record that most people assumed Tiger would break and the question was not would he surpass Nicklaus, but when would he do it and how many would he end up with, is a record that looks like it may stand now. Due to his infidelity scandal and numerous injuries including the 2008 ACL surgery he received on his left knee and the knee and achillies injuries last year, it looks suspect if Tiger can regain his championship level form and win a major.

Don't get me wrong, he is still Tiger Woods, one of the greatest golfers to have ever played the game, but winning four majors to tie Nicklaus and winning five to surpass him is no easy task. Winning 4 or 5 majors is a Hall of Fame career for most other golfers. Byron Nelson and Seve Ballesteros won 5 majors in both of their careers, while Phil Mickelson has won 4 majors in his carrer. Tiger is trying to accomplish what these guys did in their entire career towards the end of his own career, which is a difficult task.

Tiger, who hasn't won a Masters since 2005, looked like he was going to put up a very solid and impressive first round score. However, he bogeyed both 17 and 18 and squandered an opportunity to finish under par. Although those final two holes put a damper on a relatively well played round of golf for Woods, he is by no means out of the picture after a finish round even-par 72.

Woods, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational before the Masters, which was his first win on the PGA Tour since he won the BMW Championship in September of 2009, is still in contention in this tournament. Although he had some horrible swings in the first round, especially off the tee, Tiger didn't shot himself in the foot and needs a solid score in round 2 to put himself right in the thick of things and spice things up at Augusta National. Anytime Tiger is looking to make a run to rise near the top of the leaderboard, it quites a tremendous amount of interest.

We all remember Rory's McIlroy's final round collapse at Augusta National last year. After having a comfortable four stroke lead after 54 holes, he faltered in the final round, as he felt the pressure of leading the Masters with just 18 holes remaining. Rory was 7 over par on the back 9, as he had a three hole stretch from hole 10 to 12 where he triple bogeyed 10 (on that infamous tee shot), bogeyed 11, and double bogeyed 12. McIlroy's final round 80 was the worst round by a third round leader at the Masters since Ken Venturi in 1956. The four stroke lead that McIlroy squandered was the biggest of a third round leader at a major that didn't end up winning the tournament since Jean Van de Velde lead by 5 strokes after three rounds of the 1999 Open Championship.

After destroying the field at last year's U.S. Open at Congressional in Bethesda, Maryland and taking home his first major victory, McIlroy was ready to move past his 2011 Masters meltdown.

A double bogey on his first hole back at Augusta since his debacle on the back nine the previous year, did little to help Rory move totally past his downfall in 2011. However, he regrouped to shot a solid first round 1-under par 71, as he was able to birdie both 17 and 18 to close out a solid opening round of golf.

McIlroy says he has moved on from that unfortunate day, especially from that memorably awful tee shot on the 10th hole that went way left of the fairway. In the first round of this year's tournament, when Rory was approaching the 10th tee  he said, "I wasn't going left that's for sure. I tried to play it differently, playing a 3-wood off the tee and tuning it. It didn't quite turn enough but I made a good solid four and moved on."

We will see if Rory has really forgotten all about that 10th hole if he gets an opportunity to step up to the 10th tee with the lead once again on the final day of the Masters.

Finally, we will see if Phil Mickelson can use some of his magic to climb up the leaderboard on day two of the Masters. Phil, was is a three-time Masters winner and the winner of the green jacket two years ago in 2010 and a fan favorite, will need to shot a low round in round 2 to get back into contention.

Phil, like Rory McIlroy last year, unraveled on the 10th hole. Lefty needed 3 birdies on the back nine to rebound from his triple bogey on the 10th hole just to bring his round back to a 2-over par 74.

With difficult weather conditions expected for the second round, it should be very interesting to see the storylines that unfold heading into the weekend.

Challengers To Rory McIlroy If He Begins To Fall

Rory McIlroy's first two rounds of golf at Congressional were as close to perfection as you could come by in a major. He hit 32 of 36 greens in regulation and played bogey free golf until the 18th hole in his second round when he hit his second shot into the water and settled for a double bogey. Rory followed up his 6-under par, 65 first round with a 5-under par, 66 second round. McIlroy first two rounds at Congressional were record breaking. McIlroy is the youngest leader of the U.S. Open after two rounds since Walter Hagen led the U.S. Open in 1914 at the age of 21. His total score of 131 is the lowest two-day score in U.S. Open history breaking Rick Barnes's record of 132 in 2009 at Bethpage. Rory's six stroke lead over Y.E. Yang after 36 holes ties a U.S. Open record for the largest lead after two rounds with Tiger Woods when he was leading the field at Pebble Beach by 6 strokes in 2000. However, McIlroy is just 22 years and has only won 2 professional tournaments in his short career. It will take two low rounds from another golfer and McIlroy to come back to the pack in order for other golfers to get into contention for the championship. Crazier things have happened before though. Here is a list of challengers that could cause McIlroy trouble if he begins to get into trouble.

Y.E. Yang: Normally when you are 5-under par at a U.S. Open through two rounds, you are sitting in a very, very good position. This year is not a normal year. With Rory McIlroy's unbelievable first two rounds, Y.E. Yang finds himself six strokes behind the leader in second place. This is not unknown territory for Yang though. In 2009 at the PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club, Yang was 1-under through two rounds and six strokes behind the leader, Tiger Woods, who was at 7-under. Yang got to within two strokes after the third round and then won the tournament over Woods by three strokes the next day. There are similarities between Hazeltine and Congressional as well. Hazeltine at 7,674 yards was the longest course that a major was ever played at. The 7,574 yards of Congressional make it the third longest course in major history. Yang has come from way behind before to win a major, so he has that experience to provide him confidence that it can be done. The guy has also played some pretty good golf himself. He has been able to minimize his mistakes and scramble to save pars on some big holes. Yang has shown that he has the focus to forgot about Rory and worry about his own game. When asked about playing with McIlroy in the third round, Yang said, "I'm not going to chase anyone. I'm just going to play my game... Anything can happen in golf.  know it's a different level of golf, but anything can happen." If there is one hole that Yang needs to try and salvage a par on, it is the lengthy 11th hole. The 494-yard monster of a par 4 has caused Yang trouble for two days and he has bogeyed the hole twice in his first two rounds. Out of the 11 par 4's, the 11th hole has the highest average score at a 4.45 and there has been a course low 17 birdies on the difficult hole.

Matt Kuchar, Zach Johnson, and Sergio Garcia: These three highly regarded golfers are all sitting in third place at 2-under par and 9 shots behind McIlroy. Although it will be very difficult for these guys to catch McIlroy, if one of them can shoot a crazy number like a 66 or a 67 on Saturday, that would put them in contention to catch McIlroy on Sunday. Kuchar's first round of 72 was all over the place but he showed in the second round that he can play well at this golf course with a 3-under par 68. The sixth ranked player in the world finished tied for 6th in last year's open and began to catch fire in the second round. He will have to continue to play well on the par 5's as he has done in the first two rounds. On the 6 par 5's of the golf course, Kuchar had 5 birdies and a par. Zach Johnson and Sergio Garcia have had two pretty solid rounds. Zach shot a 71 on Thursday, while Sergio shot a 69 and then the two flip-flopped scores on Friday with Zach shooting a 69 and Sergio shooting a 71. Of the three golfers, Zach Johnson is the likeliest to not play a good third or fourth round. He has never played well at the U.S. open with his best finishing coming in 2007 when he finished tied for 45th. Zach's 69 on Friday was his first round under par in his career at the U.S. Open. His average yards per drive of 274.1, ranks 177 out of 187 PGA tour golfers and that doesn't help on the extremely long golf course of Congressional. Sergio has played well at the U.S. Open before and could mount a comeback. He finished in the top ten three years straight from 2001 to 2004 and from 2005 to 2007. Sergio left open the possibility of getting into the hunt when he said, "Overall I think it was a nice round to start with. There's still a long way to go. We haven't done anything yet."

Brandt Snedeker and Robert Garrigus: These two golfers are both ranked outside of the top 45 but are dangerous players if they begin to hit their stride. Snedeker and Garrigus had two solid early rounds, as both of them shot 1-under in both of their first two rounds. Like Kuchar, Johnson, and Garcia, they sit at 2-under par and 9 shots behind Rory. Snedeker knows that he will need some help from McIlroy in order to be in contention for the title. He said, "If he keeps playing the way he’s playing, we’re all playing for second place. That many shot lead going into the weekend, if he keeps playing the way he’s playing, it’s going to be impossible to catch him. You’re trying to shoot the lowest number you can. I personally won’t look at the leaderboard all weekend because there’s no point.” Snedeker has struggled on the par 3, 13th hole. He bogeyed the hole on Thursday and had a double bogey on the hole on Friday. Garrigus has voiced the same opinion as Snedeker. He said, “You can’t be aggressive out here, only in super green-light situations, because there are only a couple of flags you can even shoot at. Even with the greens soft, it’s just stupid to do that.” Garrigus won't be overly aggressive and fire at every pin to try and catch McIlroy. He will "do the same thing" and hope that McIlroy falls back into the pack. Robert Garrigus can really hit the ball off the tee. His average driving distance of 308.5 is the third longest on the tour, which is suited very well for the extremely long golf course of Congressional.

Cory Tell All Sports

Welcome to my blog, Cory Tell All Sports! Before you begin to read my posts and my sports analysis and opinion, you should know a little about me and the teams who I live and die with. Helping me on the blog with all my articles and expert analysis will be my brother Rory. (We seldom have the same opinions). You can follow my blog by joining the fan page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cory-Tell-All-Sports/201558063212620 or by following me on twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/ctallsports.

My love for the Colts goes back to their days in Baltimore where they won three championships in 58, 59, and 68 and one super bowl in 71. My dad and his father were die hard Colts fans when they lived in Baltimore. My dad also went to school down in Baltimore at Maryland Dental School. When my dad was only nine years old on his birthday on January 12, 1969, he had to watch Broadway Joe Namath and come through on his guarantee to defeat the heavily favored Colts in Super Bowl II with the New York Jets. Although I got my super bowl in 07 and the monkey off the back of Peyton, I had to go through the anguish of a super bowl loss to the Saints in 2010.

When I was a little kid, I went to Boston three times a summer on the way up to my camp in Maine. Each year I went to a Red Sox game and I have just fallen in love with Fenway Park. In 2001 when the Red Sox only finished three games over .500 I felt like the curse may never be broken. Not winning a championship since 1918 isn't the easiest thing for a young kid to handle. I've had so many great memories with the World Series in 04 and then again in 07. I remember the cake that my mom wouldn't let me eat although the Sox were up three games to zero and the score was 3 to 0. I also remember the happy birthday wish on the big screen at the Red Sox game for my 11th birthday. I can say that I have seen my beloved Sox's win two world series and not lose one world series game. After next season that record in World Series will hopefully be 12-0. My obsession over the Red Sox has also helped me outside of baseball. For example, I know that France declared war on Austria to begin the French Revolutionary Wars on April 20, 1792 because on the same day 20 years later Fenway Park opened.

My dad went to Lafayette undergraduate school and although I love my Leopards and hope they beat Bucknell in the Patriot League championship game to get into the tourney, my dad's dental school and the Maryland Terps is the team that I have followed since I was young. I was pretty lucky to be alive for the final four in 01 and the national championship in 02. Although since the title we have only had one sweet 16 appearance in 03, I am looking forward to having a run in the ACC tournament this year. The Maryland football team has somewhat had the same kind of story as the basketball team. In 2001, we only lost two games all season to Florida St. and then to Florida in the Orange Bowl, after going 5-6 the previous season. We haven't won any ACC championships since then but we are looking forward to Randy Edsall coming to the program.

I love the Devils because I know most of the players and coaches as many of them live in my town. The former coach of the Devils John Maclean is my dads friend and I know Brodeur and his kids. Although I was disappointed over the firing of Maclean and their early season struggles, I am happy they are beginning the play well and are only eight points out of the final playoff spot.

When I was in London with my family, I begged my parents to take me to a soccer game. There were no games in London at the time because of the international break but since there was no game I wanted a shirt. There were Chelsea shirts everywhere in the city and I fell in love with the Chelsea blue. Little did I know that Chelsea was owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. I feel like I am Chelsea's good luck charm as they have won the league three times since my trip to London in 04-05, 05-06, and 09-10. They also reached the Champions League final in 2008 and I think we all have seen Terry's slip in the penalty shoot-out vs who else but Manchester United.

My love for sports doesn't end there though.

I love James Blake as I have read his auto biography and fallen in love with his story. He overcame a broken neck, his father's death, and shingles, to be ranked as high as number 4 in 2006. He currently is ranked 164 in the world.

I have never been a big Tiger fan and I love to see the underdog stories at the majors. What is better than Y.E. Yang outplaying Tiger on the final day of the 2009 PGA championship or Louis Oosthuizen just destroying the field at the 2010 Open championship? I have always loved lefty, Phil Mickelson as well.

Although I don't have one favorite NBA team, I love to watch the association. I am not a LeBron hater (sorry) and I have love Stephen Curry ever since his days at Davidson.

Now you know all you need to know about me. By the way, don't worry I am not crying in the locker room after writing this post (Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra)