Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods injuries and superstar struggles make 2014 Masters wide open

It’s almost Masters week and the group skipping out on the Shell Houston Open will begin arriving in Augusta over the next four to six days. But unlike recent years when there’s been a set of clear-cut favorites who were playing well and had a history at the season’s first major, the 2014 edition of the Masters is wide open. Several of the biggest names and players at the top of the world rankings are either hurt, not playing well, or haven’t inspired confidence with recent Sunday struggles to become the favorite at Augusta.

Here are some of the players that are the usual favorites, and all the questions or red flags surrounding them.

The four-time winner is notoriously guarded about publicly confirming, denying or clarifying anything regarding his health, but he said last week that it was too early to say whether he’d be able to go at Augusta. It was startling to hear Woods even bring the Masters up when he released his statement that he was withdrawing from the Arnold Palmer Invitational two weeks ago. Just an acknowledgment of the Masters on the schedule seemed to imply the injury, previously described as back spasms, was much more serious and threatening to his season:

Over the next 10 days, there will be never-ending speculation on whether Tiger will play the season’s first major. It’s hard to see him not at least giving it a try and wincing his way around the course, like he did at the Honda Classic and Doral during the Florida swing. But if Tiger does play, it will be just his fifth start of the year (and he’s only finished two of those four events so far), and it will be with form far from the momentum of last season. As I noted with Woods at Doral, we have no idea what to expect with the world No. 1 anymore, but it probably won’t be his best stuff if he plays.

The second-biggest draw in the world of golf is also beset with back problems this year, but he stated an oblique muscle pull is what forced him out of the Valero Texas Open this weekend. Mickelson has traditionally started hot during the first quarter of the year, picking up a win or two on the West Coast swing and even winning the week before Augusta. The three-time winner tweaked his back in his 2014 debut in Abu Dhabi, and then withdrew at Torrey Pines with the same back issue. He played one week later in Phoenix, and then again at Pebble Beach, and we haven’t heard much about that early-season issue since.

Mickelson didn’t seem to think this injury in San Antonio was a major concern, with the oblique pull apparently coming from too hard a swing on the first hole Saturday. However, his playing partner in the third round, Stuart Appleby, said Mickelson told him he thought “something was going on with his back” when he said he was going to call it quits. Whether it’s a muscle pull or back injury, Phil will arrive at Augusta with a multiple injuries in the first quarter and an unusually spotty early-season record.

The Aussie was probably going to be the bettors favorite at the Masters. It’s been a common opinion for a couple years that Day will finish his career with a green jacket, and he’s come close with a second- and third-place result in two of the last three years. Despite all the talent and his impressive work at the majors (six top-10s, four top-5s in just four years), Day had only one career win on the PGA Tour … until this year. The victory, at a loaded WGC event no less, only confirmed that Day would once again be a force at this year’s majors.

That momentum, however, was derailed by a thumb injury that forced Day to WD from Doral and Bay Hill. He said the injury first cropped up in Arizona at the WGC-Match Play, but we had heard nothing of it until just a few hours before his first-round tee time at Doral. Now he’s just as questionable as Tiger after more than a month off -- a stretch where he’s also been sick:

So throw the likely betting favorite in with the top two superstars in the game as total unknowns for Augusta -- a difficult turn for Day after the win in Tucson just over a month ago.

The defending champ has thrown away two chances to become the No. 1 player in the world the past month, most egregiously with a Sunday gag at Bay Hill. After Day’s injury, Scott was going to be the favorite if he won at Bay Hill last week, but he could not maintain a seven-shot 36-hole lead and a three-shot advantage at the start of the final round. The Masters win got all of the publicity, but Scott was just as good at the end of the year and finished 2013 as the best player on the planet. He hadn’t made much noise this year until Bay Hill, but we again saw the shaky work with the putter up on the greens Sunday. He doesn’t have the injury issues of the first three, but that final round wasn’t an ideal way to roll into a title defense and quickly changed the pre-tourney narrative around the Aussie. Will we get the British Open collapse edition or last year’s Masters edition, and will we ever be able to fully trust his putter?

McIlroy is in decidedly better shape than last year, when he played the first quarter of the season with new Nike equipment and unraveled from his No. 1 spot in the world rankings. He is back contending again, as opposed to being a non-factor or just quitting as he did at last year’s Honda, but he has not converted year. He should have at least one win, and probably two, by now, but he’s been unable to finish. Augusta seems like a venue where the talented Ulsterman will eventually win, but much like Scott at Bay Hill, his multi-shot Sunday giveaway at the Honda Classic didn’t inspire confidence:

In addition, until he wins, he’ll be dogged and asked constantly about that 2011 implosion while playing in the final pairing on Sunday. That never makes for a fun couple days of reminiscing before teeing it up at the first major of the year.

Just like Tiger, Phil and Day, here’s another golfer who will come to the Masters after withdrawing in his preceding start. But unlike Tiger, Phil and Day, Bubba’s WD was due to an injury that’s probably less threatening to his ability to start at Augusta -- allergies. The 2012 Masters champ cited his allergy problem as the reason for pulling out of Bay Hill after 18 holes, but his opening-round 83, including three balls in the water for an 11 on one hole, and his dead last position on the leaderboard were almost certainly the reason Bubba walked off at the API. He had been playing his best golf since that 2012 Masters win, so it’s likely a one-hole blip for the temperamental Georgia Bulldog.

When last year ended, it was assumed that Stenson would be a favorite at the Masters and people were already discussing his chances at a first-career major at Augusta. But since that ridiculous cash-stacking sweep of both the PGA and Euro Tour playoffs, the No. 3 player in the world lumbered through an apathetic first quarter of 2014. He’s made tons of money over the past 12 months, but Stenson hasn’t maintained the form that made him the best player in the world last fall.

Last year’s U.S. Open winner is currently No. 6 in the world, but he’s spent much of 2014 either on the DL or in the middle of the leaderboard. A top-10 at the Valspar Championship, which didn’t exactly have a loaded field, is his best result. Rose started his year late after sitting out with a shoulder injury from throwing a golf ball, and he backed out of the Honda Classic when that issue persisted after a couple starts on the West Coast swing. He missed the cut in his last start at Bay Hill, so Rose, my pick to win the Masters last year, is another guy at the top of the world rankings who is not playing well and may not be totally healthy. He’s talented enough to make some noise, but he’s been all over the place in recent months.

Not as big a name, and not a favorite, but Mahan is one of America’s best players and a likely Ryder Cup team member. He also played in the final pairing in back-to-back majors last summer, and has been considered a major championship caliber player for several years now. Mahan has three top-15 finishes in the last five years at Augusta, but he’s another player who had to WD on Sunday at Bay HIll. He’s dealing with a hip injury.

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These are just the more notable names with questions heading into the season’s first major. We’re still a week away from it officially becoming Masters week. But these red flags for the game’s best players aren’t going away, and the list is longer than the normal one-off superstar who may have hit a snag early in the year.

Scott and Rory are in the best shape despite those two Sunday collapses in Florida. With so many superstars who would be expected to contend at Augusta, the door is open for a guy who’s never won a Masters or a major championship. Someone like Matt Kuchar or … gasp … Sergio Garcia?