Golf fans get their first look at Jordan Spieth's post-Masters game this week at the Players Championship. What should we expect from the two-time major winner at TPC Sawgrass coming off his Augusta meltdown a month ago?
And how in the world did James Hahn, after failing to reach the weekend in eight straight tournaments, turn it around and win at Quail Hollow? Our experts answer those questions and more in this week's edition of Monday Four-Ball.
1. Jordan Spieth gets back inside the ropes this week at the Players Championship. Are you expecting a Masters hangover or will he get right back to the business of being in contention?
SportsCenter anchor Matt Barrie: I fully expect business as usual for Spieth. He's young, a two-time major champion and supremely confident in his game. Spieth likely views his meltdown at Augusta as a mere anomaly rather than a symptom of game collapse. Having said that, Spieth missed the cut at TPC Sawgrass last year.
SportsCenter anchor Jonathan Coachman: I expect Spieth to be right back to normal. And I am basing that off of his recent news conference. He understands what caused the problems at the Masters. He had 10 bad minutes, and that's it. I think both Spieth and caddie Michael Greller learned a lot. Guess what: Spieth is still a two-time major champion and is seventh in FedEx Cup standings. I think he will be OK.
ESPN.com senior golf analyst Michael Collins: We've seen what vacation does for the best players in the world (Rickie Fowler, T-4 at Quail Hollow). Spieth has had even more time off, so you better expect him to be "guns-blazing" ready this week.
ESPN.com senior golf writer Bob Harig: There will be no hangover, although that is not to say he will contend at the Players. Spieth spent time last week at Oakmont preparing for the U.S. Open, and he was already at TPC Sawgrass on Sunday getting in some work. His comments suggest he is ready to put the Masters behind him, and getting to work after a deserved break seems the perfect way to put it into practice.
ESPN.com senior golf writer Jason Sobel: While I don't think Spieth is going to suffer any sort of Masters hangover, I don't believe TPC Sawgrass suits him all that well. Even though he contended here two years ago, he missed the cut last year. If he plays poorly this week, some will try to connect the dots from the Masters to the Players, but I think they're mutually exclusive.
2. How do you explain James Hahn missing eight straight cuts, then winning the Wells Fargo Championship?
Barrie: Golf. It takes only one round to find your swing.
Coachman: You know that old saying: You make 80 percent of your money in 20 percent of your tournaments. I believe it's true. And the fact that two guys outside the top 100 had a playoff in a tournament that included Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler shows just how many good players are out there. My heart burst listening to Hahn's interview because most believe that golfers are privileged millionaires. Hahn is proof that simply is not the case. This win mattered. So I don't care why it happened. I am just glad that it did.
Collins: Sometimes all it takes is for one thing to click. That's how razor's-edge close guys at this level are from missing the cut to winning. There's honestly no explanation. If you really want to freak yourself out, go back and look at Derek Ernst's record before and after his win at this event.
Harig: That is simply golf. It is crazy how the game can yield nothing and then everything so quickly.
Sobel: One word: G-O-L-F. There's no explanation for it, no making any sense of it. In almost no other athletic pursuit can a professional so quickly go from bad to good, but it actually happens pretty frequently in golf.
3. Of these contenders from Quail Hollow, who wins a tourney next: Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler or Phil Mickelson?
Barrie: McIlroy. We've seen his world-class talent in stretches. And when he's at his best, there isn't a better player on the planet. While Mickelson still has some shine left and Fowler has shown flashes -- but has yet to fully tap his potential on a regular basis -- Rory is still in his major championship prime.
Coachman: This is an easy one. Fowler. He is consistently on the front page of leaderboards almost every week. In the last year, he has learned how to finish and win. McIlroy is just making too many big mistakes right now. Although he has explosive rounds, his big numbers are causing issues. Mickelson has played well, but I will not pick a guy who hasn't won a tournament since 2013. So Fowler is my guy. And that's saying something, considering where McIlroy was not that long ago.
Collins: McIlroy. Even though I believe Fowler will win this year, I think McIlroy wins first. His game is close to clicking in a way we've seen before, where he'll win four of seven events. It might even happen this week in Ponte Vedra Beach.
Harig: McIlroy. He has had difficulty putting it all together at times, which is the only thing holding him back. Wells Fargo was another example of that, but Sunday's eight birdies ought to be a good sign. Some of his mistakes were due to rust, and McIlroy will be playing a good bit now going forward.
Sobel: None would surprise me, but I think Fowler might be closest. I've long been a proponent of close calls serving as more positive than negative, and Fowler has gotten himself into some serious contention in the past few months. At some point soon that will translate into his next win.
4. Fact or fiction: The Players Championship is the fifth major?
Barrie: Fact from a talent standpoint. Nine of the top 10 and 29 of the top 30 players from the world rankings will tee it up at Sawgrass. Fiction, in that the pressure and prestige of winning the Players doesn't carry the same cache of winning one of golf's four majors.
Coachman: It is to the players. To fans, I don't know that it is. I don't think fans understand how many perks come along with a win at TPC. On some levels the Firestone event feels bigger than this, but I know that it's not. It's a feeling thing, and when you don't have all of the best players from around the world, then I don't think fans will ever feel that this is the fifth major. However, if we have another finish like last year with Fowler, this could change quickly.
Collins: Fiction. No offense, but the only place where majors seemingly get named on a whim is the LPGA Tour. Here's an idea: Instead of the Final Four, let's make it the Final Five! We'll throw a random team in there and -- never mind, that's stupid too. No matter how badly I want to be a supermodel (I'm having T-shirts printed and everything), if you don't call me a supermodel, the only runway I'm on is in an airplane.
Harig: Fiction. There is no such thing. It's a great tournament, perhaps the best outside of the major championships. Excellent field, well-known -- and in some circles iconic -- course. It has all kinds of great things going for it. But there are four majors, and that is not changing.
Sobel: Noooooooooo. No. Nope. Uh-uh. No way. Negative. What is this, the LPGA? The PGA Tour Champions? There are four majors. That's all. To be the fifth of anything when there are only four means, by the very definition, that you aren't included. If I had an apple, an orange, a peach, a pear and a basketball, the basketball doesn't automatically become the "fifth fruit." Same goes for the Players.