This Masters may have new look

For the last decade, the PGA Tour has been a lot of Tiger and Phil and hope for some match-play thrill.

And as the most important tournament of the season tees off Thursday, the golf world remains fixated on Woods — still searching for his swing — and Mickelson — gearing his entire year toward the Masters and properly dialed in again.

But there's been a transformation in the last 18 months while Woods has left a gap on the leaderboard, and we could be entering a memorable period in golf.

During the time Tiger-only fans weren't paying attention — which is understandable — a new generation of players has burst onto the scene and in the next few years we may be talking about this era as one of the best ever.

Ironically, much of it is due to the popularity Woods created during the greatest stretch of golf anyone has ever played.

“It's special to hear guys say that, because it's very easy for them to fall in line and play other sports,” Woods said this week at Augusta. “I always thought this was a pretty good sport, but growing up that wasn't the case. It wasn't a cool sport to play.

“But I think having other athletes play the game, like a Michael Jordan, and expose it that way, has made kids think that this is a pretty cool sport to play. They try and they are hooked, too.”

Guys like Graeme McDowell, Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan, Nick Watney, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Rory McIlroy, Johnny Vegas and Rickie Fowler, to name just a few, are good enough to win majors in the near future, and they will consistently be in the mix.

“It's pretty neat to see the game change,” Woods said. “The game has gotten taller and it has the gotten bigger. Guys are much more athletic.

“Now, every guy is 6-3, 6-4. It's a different ballgame. There are guys who flight it 320. I played with Dustin Johnson and Gary Woodland the first two days at Bay Hill. I thought Dustin was long, but he's got nothing on Gary.

“That's the new game. These guys are really good basketball players and they both (can) dunk, and then they decide to play golf instead. They are doing things no one has ever seen before.”

The line

Phil Mickelson is favored at 6-1, ahead of Tiger Woods (8-1), Lee Westwood (14-1), Nick Watney (16-1), Martin Kaymer (20-1) and Luke Donald (25-1).

Woods, Mickelson and Westwood will be in the mix, as always, but keep an eye on Watney, Dustin Johnson (20-1), Hunter Mahan (28-1) and Bubba Watson (33-1). They're all going to win majors eventually.

Short game

The Tiger Woods swing change is baffling enough, but why he's changing his short game is anyone's guess. This was the best up-and-down player and the best big-game putter in history, and to change that now is just difficult to understand.

If his putting inside 15 feet had been up to his standards, he'd have a pair of wins already this year.

Adam Dunn

It wasn't long ago that the sports hernia was the flavor of the day. Is the emergency appendectomy destined to be the injury of 2011?

Randy Wells

Shame that Randy Wells is headed to the disabled list with a forearm strain. He worked hard to find his location again after a rough 2010, and he looked in his first start to be every bit as good as he was in 2009.

Case for defense

The White Sox didn't just overcome 4 errors Wednesday, because there were several other mental mistakes.

They won the game but this has been an early trend for the South Siders and not a good sign for a pitching staff that's hardly lighting it up through five games.

Bulls and Celtics

A couple weeks ago, Thursday's game looked like it would have huge meaning, but the Bulls' run has all but ended the Celtics' chances for claiming the No. 1 seed in the East.

That could change if Boston shows up in Chicago, but will the Celtics even bother?

As old as they've looked of late and as depressed as they've acted since the Kendrick Perkins deal, the most interesting part of this game is whether the Celtics can show they still have a pulse.

BMW special

Golf fans can get a price break on tickets for the BMW Championship at Cog Hill (Sept. 15-18) with their annual “Monday After the Majors” promotion.

If any of the past BMW Championship winners — Tiger Woods, Camilo Villegas or Dustin Johnson — finish in the top 10 at the Masters, the BMW any-day tickets will be sold at a reduced rate of $33 on Monday only.

For more info, visit bmwchampionshipusa.com.

Best headline

Sportspickle.com: “UConn gets 41-second parade through downtown Storrs, Conn.”

And finally ...

Omaha World-Herald's Brad Dickson: “NFL owners adopted a rule that forbids fields from being any color other than green. Nice to see they're addressing the major issues to save football next season. Next week, they're debating whether mascots can use bigger T-shirt guns.”

brozner@dailyherald.com

Ÿ Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's “Hit and Run” show at WSCR 670-AM.