Best Ball preview: The Masters

Tiger Woods is many things: a golfer, an icon, a husband, a father and a self-titled Cablinasian. But more than anything else, he's a trendsetter, so it's no surprise that after years of his making it clear that it's all about the majors, ESPN.com has followed his lead.

In lieu of a season-long weekly fantasy golf game, we here at the Worldwide Leader in Sports have made the decision to put all our Pro V1s in four baskets and reimagine our Best Ball Challenge format to fit the Masters, the British Open Championship, the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship. By making each tournament an island unto itself, we're able to bring rampant golf fans and occasional viewers together on an even playing field, while offering fantasy players exciting options to keep the action and trash talk going throughout all four rounds at these events. It's a new era for ESPN.com's fantasy hackers, and it all starts when the best golfers in the world tee it up at Augusta National for the Masters on April 9.

Before we talk about the quest for the green jacket, let's talk about what has stayed the same in ESPN Best Ball. The point of the game is still to put together a foursome of golfers who will combine for the best score each day using "best ball" rules. Basically, the players' scorecards are combined and you get the lowest score of any of your four players on each hole, so if three of your pros bogey the first par-3 hole and the other one drops his tee ball in the hole for an ace, you get credit for the hole-in-one. Also, your budgetary limitations remain the same, with $50 million to spend, so you can't simply load up on the four top players in the field. Like everyone else in this economy, you have a limited amount to spend and if you go over, we'll come and take all the furniture out of your living room … or just invalidate your entry. Probably the latter, now that I think about it.

But it's the things in the game that did change that you really need to pay attention to because, during each of the majors, you have the ability to switch the players on your roster out and replace them with anyone you think is playing better. If defending Masters champion Trevor Immelman looks as if he's going to miss the cut, you can swap him out for any player who has a salary that's the same or lower -- as long as you do it before the start of the next round. If Greg Norman turns on the time machine the way he did at the 2008 British Open and suddenly races up the leaderboard, you can grab him if you believe the Great White Shark has enough teeth left to take a bite out of the course. That said, there are risks associated with changing up your lineup, as well, because a great first round doesn't guarantee an even passable second. The real key to winning the game will be to start with a fabulous foursome full of big birdies and excellent value.

That's where I come in.

I'm here to tell you that at Augusta National, "birdie" (scientific name: onestrokus underparum) is going to be an endangered species. The course will be playing as a 7,435-yard par-72 layout, and it has defenses designed to befuddle the pros regardless of weather. If it's warm and wet, the fairways won't run, the rough becomes more of a factor, and only the longer players will be able to hit scoring clubs into most greens as Augusta will play long and cruel. If it's cold and dry, players will get plenty of roll, including the kind that carries well-struck drives through the fairway, and the already treacherous greens will turn into bulging pool tables. To put a finer point on it, in the past two Masters, no golfer has amassed more than 16 birdies over the course of four rounds, and there's no reason to think this year will be any different.

There's no single way to skin the cat that is Augusta National. Certainly, a few players have found a way to use length to bomb it past some of the course's defenses, as Phil Mickelson did in 2006. The past two champs, Immelman and Zach Johnson, have relied on accuracy. Both approaches led to the key stat tied to success, which is greens-in-regulation. Although it might seem obvious, the players with the best chance to make birdies are the ones who are putting for them most often. So when looking for birdie bargains, start with the pros who are denting putting surfaces most often, then give a little extra love to the guys who are leaving their approaches close because Augusta National's greens only get more undulating the farther one is from the pin.

With these thoughts in mind, here's which players I'm grabbing, which players I'm avoiding, and which players I'm using to fill out my roster when the budget gets tight.

Grip and rip

Tiger Woods: It's a bird, it's a plane, it's … Captain Obvious! His 18-point price tag is gargantuan and as of late March, when this is being written, he has finished only one four-round stroke-play tournament. However, Tiger hasn't finished worse than third at the Masters since 2004 and basically scheduled his return from knee surgery so he could get a few events under his Nike belt and be rust-free by the time the magnolias were in bloom. Really, the biggest downside to Tiger is that every time he birdies, almost everyone you know will get that birdie, too, so your other three picks will have to really distinguish themselves. Rostering Tiger also will mean you'll need a few low-price options and will have to be prepared to make changes each day to take advantage of whichever under-the-radar player steps up and starts scoring.

Geoff Ogilvy: The name of the game in ESPN Best Ball is birdies and, through the WGC-CA Championship at Doral, no one is making more of them per round than Geoff's mark of 4.85. For the past few years, everyone on tour has known that the Aussie has as much talent as anyone in the game not named Eldrick, but Ogilvy has gone through stretches when he hasn't shown it. 2009 has been a year when his ability has been front and center. Ogilvy has made the cut at the Masters three years running, and if he repeats his 16-birdie performance from 2007, he'll return plenty on your $14.7 million investment.

Paul Casey: In 2005, the Englishman missed the cut at the Masters. That's a big deal because the other three times he has played at Augusta National, Casey has finished no worse than a tie for 11th. He is one of those players who raises his game when facing a world-class field, as evidenced by his second-place finish at the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship in February. In fact, if you look at the majors, the WGC events and The Players Championship for the past five years, Casey has 11 top-10 finishes on those demanding courses, playing against the best in the world. Casey will make some bogeys, but he also will earn you plenty of birdies for $13.9 million, a price below some of the very biggest names.

Retief Goosen: The Goose hasn't had a great run the past few years overall, but his smooth putting and even keel always seem to succeed at the Masters. He has made the cut seven years running and, in that time, has notched four top-10s and never finished lower than 17th. With that kind of pedigree, all he needs is a lukewarm putter to make birdies and reward your $14.4 million investment.

Chunked flops

Trevor Immelman: After winning the 2008 Masters, Immelman proceeded to have more missed cuts (4) than top-15s (3) the rest of the way. In 2009, through the WGC-CA Championship, he hadn't finished in the top 20 and certainly would have flirted with several more missed cuts if he hadn't been playing mostly in events that had no cut. Immelman is above average in terms of greens-in-regulation, but his putter hasn't woken up -- he ranked 170th in putting average after Doral -- and Augusta is a tough place to go as a defending champ when your game isn't in sync. $12.2 million is too expensive to risk on a rebound.

Aaron Baddeley: There is no reason a player as talented as Badds should be as "bad" as he has been at the Masters, but the record speaks for itself. In four trips to Augusta National, Baddeley has made the cut only once, with a tie for 52nd. In his first five tournaments of 2009, Badds has been thoroughly mediocre, including being DQ'd for signing an incorrect scorecard after a strong second round at Doral. He has one of the lowest greens-in-regulation percentages among any full-time member of the PGA Tour through mid-March, so there's simply no reason to invest $10.8 million on him.

Sand saves

Sean O'Hair: I'm a little embarrassed at how excited I am to pick O'Hair at the Masters this year. In 2008, he entered the final round tied for seventh before losing focus and slipping out of the top 10. But he still tied for second in terms of greens-in-regulation for the week and, in the process, showed that the course and the hoopla aren't too big for him. His first six tournaments of 2009 all resulted in top-25s, including three top-10s. At $11.6 million, this is a case of paying a middle-of-the-road price and getting a top-tier talent.

Rory McIlroy: The young Northern Irish phenom, who won't even turn 20 until several weeks after the Masters, has had quite a 2009. Not only did he win the Dubai Desert Classic and post a quartet of top-5s in his first six starts on the European Tour but he also tied for fifth at the Match Play and followed it up with a tie for 12th at the Honda and a tie for 20th at Doral. Obviously, it's scary to pick anyone playing in his first Masters, but McIlroy is the exception in many ways.

Boo Weekley: Boo hasn't had a strong 2009 so far, having yet to contend for a title through mid-March, and he certainly isn't a "tradition like no other" kind of guy. He has yet to find a course he couldn't play when he's feeling it, however, and is sure to be a crowd favorite, so for a mere $9.9 million, I'll take a guy who tied for 20th at the Masters a year ago, knowing that I can swap him out for a hot, low-rent option if necessary.

There is plenty of time to see who gets hot in the next few weeks, but if you look for players who offer value and stay poised to make the right moves after each round, there is no reason you can't earn your very own ESPN Best Ball green jacket … in the metaphorical sense.

Shawn Peters covers fantasy golf for ESPN.com fantasy games.