Can Tiger and Phil still beat the new generation of golf greats?

This Masters field is deeper than it has been in a long time. With all of the stars in the field, will the young guns or the seasoned vets come out on top?

For the first time in a long time, the unpredictability of who will win the Masters is at an all-time high. With Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson playing the best they have since 2013 when Woods won five times and Mickelson took home the Claret Jug. They may be playing well, but so is the next generation: Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Speith. In a battle of the generations, who will come out on top?

When it comes to experience, it does not get much better than Woods or Mickelson. They both have won this tournament seven times a piece and have countless top tens between them. The one determining factor for both of them is that they are both playing very well, registering good performances throughout the entire season. Woods is coming back from his fourth back surgery from under a year ago. People were expecting him to never bring back any of the skills that made him so great for so many years. But he has proved the doubters wrong so far, recovering from the chipping yips, and showing that his good old flatstick hasn’t left him yet. Tiger should be at or near the top of the leaderboard on Sunday at the Masters.

Mickelson is another one to bet on to play very well at a course that he has had a lot of success on. With his win at the WGC tournament in Mexico, Mickelson defeated one of those young guns, Justin Thomas, in a playoff, and proved to all of those naysayers out there that he could still win. Mickelson has historically made a lot of noise at the Masters, and you should expect nothing but the same for Mickelson this week.

Every sport has to have a passing of the torch from generation to generation. In golf, the torch has not passed to one player, it has been a group of players that have taken over as the dominant forces in the game. Justin Thomas, Jordan Speith, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson have been the most consistently dominant players to come out of that group.

One thing that the new generation has over the old is the driving distance. The main theme out of the new generation is the driving distance that they generate. The clubs these days aim for one thing over everything: distance. Distance drives everything in golf these days. Courses have become longer because you find another three hundred yard driver coming out onto the Tour. Even at the Masters, if you can drive the ball long and straight, you will have a distinct advantage over anyone because you will have shorter clubs in your hands then your opponents will. In terms of experience, Rory and Jordan have the edge out of this group because Jordan has won it before and Rory has played well here multiple times.

The flatstick is one of the most important clubs for you to do well at The Masters. That will be the determining factor in who will put on the green jacket on Sunday afternoon. Tiger and Phil will use that club to their advantage this week, and with the combination of their driving distance and distinct advantage with the putter, either Tiger or Phil are going to be tough to beat this weekend in Augusta, Georgia.

Sure, the game of golf seems to be getting younger and younger, but this is the one tournament where it seems just timeless. Anyone can win this tournament, but experience will be a premium this week, and the older generation will likely take over the new young guns who have come onto the scene.

Next: 10 best shots in The Masters history

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