BY MIKE CORMACK
sportsnet.ca

Had enough Tiger talk already? Don’t worry. Ernie Els' mission at Augusta is just one of several other storylines this week to follow.

Renaissance man

With two wins in his past three starts, there’s no hotter player in the world entering The Masters than the 40-year-old South African.

There’s also perhaps no one putting more pressure on himself to produce a victory this week and rain on Tiger’s comeback parade.

The Big Easy is in the midst of a surprising late-career renaissance and he has gone on the record saying The Masters is the tournament he wants to win the most.

There are multiple reasons why.

First, a win would give Els a fourth major championship, separating himself from three-time winners and contemporaries Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington and Vijay Singh.

It would also complete some unfinished business.

Beginning with a runner-up finish to Vijay Singh in 2000, Els entered the final round of the next three Masters with legitimate chances to win but could finish no better than T5. Then came 2004.

After posting a brilliant final round 67, Els practiced on the driving range in anticipation of a playoff but could only watch as Phil Mickelson birdied the final hole to beat him by a shot.

And speaking of tough losses, has anyone been victimized more often by Woods heroics than Els?

In addition to their on-course rivalry, the once-friendly Woods and Els have exchanged some verbal barbs in the press of late. In Sept. 2009 Woods raised eyebrows when he suggested Els “could have worked a little bit harder,” on his knee rehab coming following ACL surgery.

In February, Els called the timing of Woods’ press event on the Friday of the Accenture Match Play Championship “selfish.”

One has to imagine that Els is chomping at the bit over the opportunity to write his own storybook ending.

The Roaring 20s

Tiger, Ernie and Phil will get most of the headlines in the early part of the week, but no one should be surprised if one of the following young stars under the age of 25 make some major noise this weekend.

This week represents the last chance for Rory McIlroy to eclipse Tiger Woods and become the youngest winner of The Masters. At 20 years and 11 months, the Northern Ireland prodigy would best Woods record by five months. A back injury has somewhat slowed McIlroy`s progress in 2010, but he was an impressive T20 in his Masters debut a year ago and he recently spent three days in Augusta, coming away feeling good about his chances.

South African Charl Schwartzel, 25, currently tops the European Tour’s Race to Dubai thanks to early season back-to-back wins and an impressive runner-up finish to boyhood idol Els at the CA Championship in March. As impressive as he’s been in 2010, the fact that only one man has won The Masters in his first appearance (Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979) and his best career finish in a major is T22 at the 2006 British Open, it might be asking too much of Schwartzel to contend this week.

German Martin Kaymer isn’t flashy, but all he does is win. The 25-year-old is one of the best putters in the world and his five career European Tour victories by the age of 25 put him in rare company with Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia. Kaymer’s sixth place finish at last year’s PGA Championship and his impressive win earlier this year in Abu Dhabi, suggest he's ready to compete for the game’s top prizes.

Which Anthony Kim will show up at Augusta? The one who a year ago rattled off a Masters record 11 birdies in his second-round 65, or the one who closed with rounds of 72 and 74? Kim’s aggressive iron play and bold putting style lead to a lot of birdies, but they also lead to the occasional big number, something every hole at Augusta is capable of producing. The 24-year-old was so impressive on the greens en route to his win at the Shell Houston Open last week that it`s hard not to imagine him in the mix on the weekend.

What's wrong with Phil?

Phil Mickelson closed 2009 with a bang; back-to-back wins over impressive fields at the Tour Championship and the HSBC Champions event in China, the latter while paired with Tiger Woods on the final day.

The consensus heading into 2010 was that Mickelson could rack up multiple early season victories and possibly surpass Woods in the world rankings with a win at The Masters. But after a poor start to 2010 that has included just one Top-10 finish in six starts (T8 at AT&T), Mickelson is looking like a long shot this week despite being the second favourite with most bookies.

Curiously, a quick glance at Mickelson’s 2010 statistics vs. a year ago reveal almost identical numbers in key categories such as driving accuracy, greens in regulation and putting averages, making an obvious culprit tough to identify.

Then again, Mickelson has had his share of off-course issues to deal with over the past year with his wife and mother having been diagnosed with breast cancer.

So whether the problem is mental or physical, being able to suddenly flip the switch on at one of the world’s most demanding courses might be too tall a task.

England’s major drought

It’s hard to believe it’s been 14 years since Nick Faldo steamrolled Greg Norman to win his sixth and final major. What’s even harder to believe is the generation that followed Sir Nick -- arguably the deepest and most-talented generation of English golfers ever –- has failed to produce a single major champion.

Lee Westwood, Paul Casey, Ian Poulter, Luke Donald and Ross Fisher have contended on Sunday at majors, but none have been able to seal the deal.

With apologies to Steve Stricker, the best player without a major is Lee Westwood. The 37-year-old is in his prime golfing years and has three Top 3 finishes in the past six majors, including the past two.

“I don't see any reason why I shouldn't win a major championship,” Westwood told pgatour.com last week. “I drive it well enough, hit my irons well enough. Short game is coming up to a standard where it's starting to look like I ought to contend week in and week out, really.''

Not too long ago Ian Poulter was in danger of being better known for his clothing and obsessive Tweeting, than his golf. But following his runner-up finish to Padraig Harrington at the 2008 Open Championship the 34-year-old has been steadily climbing up the world rankings, reaching a career high No. 5 following his win at the Accenture Match Play Championship in March.

Paul Casey, the man Poulter defeated in the Match Play final, won three times last year and owns and impressive record at Augusta finishing T20-T11-T10-T6 in four appearances.

The course set-up might be too long for Donald to contend, and Fisher has struggled thus far in 2010 after a strong 2009.

The most likely of the bunch to come away with the green jacket is Westwood, but don’t just take our word for it, British bookmaker Will Hill has installed him as the fourth favourite at 14-1 behind Tiger Woods (4-1), Phil Mickelson (10-1) and Ernie Els (10-1).