Brian Harman Leads 3 Lefties with Best Chances at Masters Glory

Never before have the Masters had such a proliferation of left-handed players among the entry field.

This year, eight of the 96 players will be swinging southpaw, with three of them card-carrying Green Jacket owners. That breaks the previous record of six lefty entrants set in 2008 and matched in 2018.

Of course, Phil Mickelson is the gold standard for lefties on the PGA TOUR, with three wins in 31 career starts at Augusta. I guess that goes without saying. His nickname is ‘Lefty,’ after all.

But a new batch of oppo-swingers will be taking on Amen Corner this week, including several with a good chance of competing on Sunday.

With all apologies to Mickelson, two-time champ Bubba Watson, 2003 champ Mike Weir, emerging star Akshay Bhatia and Masters rookie Matt McCarty, these are the three lefties to watch this week.

Brian Harman

There are few people on Tour playing better now than the 2023 Open champion, Brian Harman.

Harman won his fourth PGA Tour event Sunday at the Valero Texas Open. But somehow, the native Georgian who played his college golf just 100 miles away in Athens hasn’t had the success you’d expect on his home state’s premier track.

A 12^th-place in 2021 is his best finish in six starts, but the 16-year Tour vet is due for a strong week on a course that, at least on paper, suits his game well.

Robert MacIntyre

Currently the highest-ranked left-hander in the world rankings, MacIntyre was 17^th heading into last weekend’s play.

He has achieved that by having a terrific six weeks or so.

A ninth-place finish at The Players was just one of his four Top 11s in his last five tournaments. The Scotsman played primarily in Europe for his first six years as a pro, but joined the PGA TOUR last season and immediately won twice.

He hasn’t teed it up at Augusta the last two years, but in his only two starts prior to that, he placed inside the Top 25 both times. He’s got the game and all kinds of confidence needed in order to pull off a deep run this week.

Joe Highsmith

It would’ve been easy to put Bhatia or even Mickelson here, but Highsmith has been lighting the TOUR on fire in his rookie season.

After missing cuts in three of his first four tournaments of the year, Highsmith went on a run of four Top 22s in five starts, including his first PGA Tour win at the Cognizant Classic that qualified him for Augusta. Currently 22^nd in the Ryder Cup standings, the Pepperdine grad will be a fun player to watch in his first Masters this week.

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