Masters not a two-man race between Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy

In view of the abundance of elite golfers in the game today, the headline in Sports Illustrated’s Masters Tournament preview was particularly jarring.

“Two Man Game: Tiger Woods versus Rory McIlroy is the only story in golf.”

Really?

That must come as some surprise to world No. 1 Luke Donald, who stole the crown back off of McIlroy’s head three weeks ago in Tampa, Fla.

That has to be news to three-time Masters winner Phil Mickelson, who kicked sand in Woods’ face in a one-sided Sunday duel at Pebble Beach in February.

That must be a little disconcerting to top-ranked Yank Hunter Mahan, whose two wins in the past two months included a Match Play victory over the aforementioned McIlroy.

What golf tour is SI covering these days? There are more stories in golf these days than ever before.

In fact, the high anticipation for this year’s first major championship rests on the reality that this Masters might be more wide open than ever before. The days when only a limited pool of contenders would determine who dons the green jacket are a thing of the past.

“I think times have changed,” said Jose Maria Olazabal, a two-time winner who used to swim in the shallow pool of Augusta National hopefuls. “I think the competition is very close now. You see that week after week. ... That’s why you see a bigger group of players with a chance to win. I think that’s the beauty of the game right now. You still have obviously the usual suspects in the field like Tiger but you also have the young kids in the field like Rory and Jason Day and all those guys who’ve proven they can beat anybody on any golf course.”

Clearly the media, whose overwhelming sentiment is that this week will come down to a two-man duel between Tiger and Rory, didn’t learn anything from last year’s Masters. There were 10 players coming down the back nine on Sunday with an arm halfway down the sleeve of a green jacket, and that pool ranged from established superstars such as Woods, to emerging talents such as McIlroy and Charl Schwartzel, talented rookies such as Jason Day and rank-and-file pros such as Bo Van Pelt.

How can you see a show like that and declare golf a two-man game?

That’s probably music to the ears of a man such as Donald, who has proved he can play with the big hitters at Augusta with ball striking and a short game that anyone would envy. Donald very nearly buried the Par-3 jinx last year when he rallied from a dreadful start to tie for fourth along with Woods and Geoff Ogilvy.

The last eight consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour have yielded a winner from among the world’s top 16 players. Since Padraig Harrington’s back-to-back major wins at the end of 2008, the past 12 majors have been won by 12 different players.

Do you really think there’s only one story in golf?

“There’s too many guys (who can win),” said Adam Scott, a runner-up along with Masters first-timer Day last year. “But someone can come up and surprise, and hopefully that’s me.”

There have been more surprise winners than favorites in the past five years at Augusta, with Zach Johnson, Trevor Immelman, Angel Cabrera and Schwartzel flying in from below the radar to take the green jacket. With Tiger and Rory dominating the conversation, that leaves a lot of contenders coming in with varying degrees of stealth.

“I’m worried about my radar and not anyone else’s,” said Ian Poulter, who is about as far off the monitor as you can get for someone who contended into the weekend two years ago.

Woods and McIlroy deserve their status as co-favorites this week. With Woods fresh off his first victory in more than two years and McIlroy riding a streak of fine form around the world that briefly earned him the No. 1 ranking, they are on everybody’s short list.

But you shouldn’t be too upset settling for Mickelson or Donald in your office pool.

“I think the people who say there’s only a half-dozen or a dozen guys who can win are you guys,” Johnson said of the media. “My year is a perfect example. I was not one of the dozen guys that anybody thought would win. I think that every week. There’s probably 80 guys that have a legitimate chance of winning this golf tournament.”

Eighty might be a reach, but 40 isn’t. Along with the recent champions with proven experience, a growing list of young major winners and a wide range of golfers who have painted the leaderboards in recent years, you have a cast of first-timers like Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson, Sang-moon Bae and Kyle Stanley who have every chance to be the next Day or Fuzzy Zoeller.

“There are a lot of other guys who have been playing well this year,” said Scott, who seems as ready as Lee Westwood or K.J. Choi or Nick Watney to be the next host of the Champions Dinner.

Woods is confident he will win for a fifth time. McIlroy is hungry to finish what he started last year. Both are as primed as anyone to get it done.

But if you think they’re alone, you’re missing a beautiful big picture.