master jumps

year's Masters is uncertain. The anticipation building for this year's tournament is not so much who will win, but how.

"You've got to really play well now to break 70," Ernie Els said. "If we have a little bit of weather come through ... you could see even par winning if it's really tough."

Augusta still blends the majestic beauty of its azaleas and dogwoods with the most frightening putting surfaces on earth, so slick and severe that sometimes a player has to putt with his back to the hole if he winds up in the wrong spot.

Now, imagine trying to hit into those contoured greens with longer clubs.

"If I hit a good drive, I had a wedge to a front pin. Now it's a 6-iron, so that should tell you something," 2000 Masters champion Vijay Singh said about No. 11, already one of the toughest par 4s at Augusta before an extra 35 yards stretched it to 490 yards.

The fairway bunkers on Nos. 1 and 18 were nothing more than a nuisance for the big hitters. Now, getting over them requires a drive that goes more than 300 yards in the air.

The most significant change might be No. 18, where the options off the tee on the uphill, 465-yard hole are simple -- stay away from the double bunker on the left side, without getting too close to the pine trees on the right side.

No wonder Woods thinks the course will play one or two shots harder -- worse if there is a lot of wind, and there usually is at Augusta.

"I don't think the scores will be as low," Woods said. "Instead of making birdies and eagles on a lot of the holes, I think what you're going to find is par can be a good score."

Woods set the 72-hole record in the Masters when he won in 1997 at 18-under-par 270, despite a 40 on his opening nine holes. He completed his own version of the Grand Slam last year at 272 to defeat David Duval and Mickelson.

Despite only one victory this year, Woods will be the favorite to win his third green jacket and join Nicklaus and Nick Faldo as the only repeat champions of the Masters.

As for the other favorites, some believe the list is short.

"If you're not considered a long hitter, you've got no chance -- I mean, no chance," Stuart Appleby of Australia said. "Otherwise, you'd have to be almost perfect, and Augusta doesn't let you stay perfect for four days."