Kocet's Corner

The Masters is my favorite tournament of the year... Which one is yours? Youknow, I've watched the tournament for so many years (about 45 to be exact) thatI feel like I know every blade of grass. Though I have never set foot on thecourse, I bet I could be a pretty decent caddy. Certainly, I know where to hitit and where not too.For instance, hit your second shot over the green at the par 5 thirteenth andyou can just about forget making birdie. Come up short with your approach shoton the ninth, and yourfourteenth hole is another one where you don't want to hit an approach shotshort or you'll wind up in that big hollow in front of the green.

And what about sixteen. There all kinds of tragedy awaits the errant tee shot.

Worst case scenario is landing in the trap to the right of the green when thepin is back right. That will be a bogey 70 percent of the time.

As far as the weather goes, it doesn't look too bad. Most of Thursday will bedry. The showers and thunderstorms in the forecast for Thursday probably do notmoving in until after 4 or 5 o'clock. A pretty good soaking is due Thursdaynight then it will clear on Friday. The rain will soften the course which oftenmeans lower scores. However, that factor will be offset by a 15 to 25 mile perhour wind on Friday. As you probably know, a windy day at The Augusta Nationalis a players nightmare.

The weekend looks simply spectacular for rounds three and four. Both days willbe bright and sunny with cool mornings, pleasant afternoons and very littlewind.

So how about my Masters Picks. They are Ernie Els, Lee Westwood, Retief Goosen,Camilo Villegas and Jim Furyk not necessarily in that order.

Story by AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist John Kocet.