Monday's Masters briefing includes a prediction from Sir Nick Faldo, plus quotes from the last man into the field - Ian Poulter.
Rose: No 2017 scars
Losing a play-off to Sergio Garcia left him "licking his wounds" for weeks, but Justin Rose believes he will not be scarred by the experience as he targets Masters glory this week.
Rose held a one-shot lead with two holes to play 12 months ago, but dropped a shot on the 17th and also bogeyed the first play-off hole as Garcia claimed a first major title at the 74th attempt.
It meant Rose had to settle for a second runners-up finish in three years and resulted in an early trip to Augusta National to exorcise any demons before the year's first major gets under way on Thursday.
Sky Bet make him 12/1 to gain redemption and win his second major championship.
"I think after losing in the play-off it was just important just to come and walk the grounds," Rose said. "Clearly you're going through memories and shots you hit and shots that didn't come off, so I just wanted to have that walk before tournament week.
"The two weeks after last year I didn't really want to play golf. I kind of was licking my wounds a little bit, but I really have positive and fond memories of last year. I hit a lot of great shots. I don't feel like it was a tournament that anybody lost, really. It was great to be a part of a Sunday exciting back nine with birdies and eagles."
Rose has actually made the most birdies and eagles of any player at Augusta since 2012, has the best greens in regulation percentage in the last five years and the best score in relation to par in the Masters since 2011.
But he is well aware that the likes of Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Bubba Watson, Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson have all won this season, while 2015 champion Jordan Spieth was third in Houston last week and a certain Tiger Woods has finished 12th, second and fifth in his last three starts.
"I'm kind of coming in with high confidence but also low expectation, in the sense that I can't control so many variables that are going to be out there this week," the 2013 US Open champion added. "But, again, my skill set should produce a chance to win if all goes well.
"I need to execute really well this week to have a chance. But I'm coming in playing as good as I've ever played, so I'm excited about that. I feel like I put a lot of work into being ready for this tournament. I don't just come here by accident and play well. There's a month or two of preparation to do it.
"And for me I always said I don't have to win it this year, I don't have to win it next year, but I would love to win it. If I keep doing that, then chances are going to continue to present themselves.
"My caddie asked me a great question last year during the practice round walking down 10. He said, if you had the opportunity to wipe the slate clean with all you achieved in the game and have another crack at it, would you do it?
"There were a few years I potentially underachieved. But given how talented players are who never breakthrough in majors, I'm not sure I would just throw that all away and say, right, okay, I'm going to go again.
"I've won at the highest level, I don't have anything to prove to anybody. But I think how I'm going to be remembered in the game is really about what happens from here onwards. If I go on to achieve some other really big championships, major championships, then my career certainly becomes more a special career than a great career."
Faldo: Woods to threaten
Sir Nick Faldo believes a rejuvenated Tiger Woods will "threaten" for a 15th major title and first in a decade in this week's Masters.
Woods, 11/1 with Sky Bet, attended the annual Champions Dinner at Augusta National last year but was in pain from leg and back injuries and did not compete for the third time in four years.
The 14-time major winner subsequently underwent spinal fusion surgery, his fourth back operation in the space of three years, but returned to action in December and is among the favourites for the first major of the season after finishing 12th, second and fifth in his last three starts on the PGA Tour.
"He's going to threaten," three-time Masters winner Faldo told PGA Tour.com.
"He has the potential. His game is amazing. I think he's ahead of schedule. He's been in there competing for the last couple of events. That's the most important thing, you've got to climb that ladder and scare yourself."
Woods, 42, finished a shot behind England's Paul Casey in the Valspar Championship and was in contention for a record ninth victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational until hooking his tee shot out of bounds on the 16th hole of the final round.
"If he really can put a finger on why that one is happening (and) erase that...wow, he will definitely be in there," Faldo added. "How he's found five more miles per hour in club head speed in his 40s after a fused back is unbelievable."
Woods last won a major in the 2008 US Open, beating Rocco Mediate in a play-off despite a stress fracture of the leg and knee injury which ended his season two days later.
Poulter eyes Ryder Cup return
Ian Poulter has set his sights on regaining his status as a Ryder Cup talisman after claiming his first win since 2012 in the Houston Open.
Poulter has been part of four winning European teams and famously sparked the 'Miracle at Medinah' in 2012, but was forced to settle for a vice-captain's role in the 2016 defeat at Hazeltine.
The 42-year-old's chances of making Thomas Bjorn's team as a player looked slim when he appeared to have lost his PGA Tour card last year, but, after being handed a reprieve due to a points recalculation, he finished second in the Players Championship at Sawgrass.
And Sunday's dramatic play-off victory not only secured a place in the Masters, but it lifted Poulter to 29th in the world and 20th in the FedEx Cup.
He's 45/1 with Sky Bet to secure back-to-back victories by landing the Masters.
"To be 20th in the FedEx Cup points, that's huge for me," Poulter said. "To be able to reschedule tournaments now for the next couple of seasons is really big.
"I can plan my whole schedule now and that's really important to be able to do that. To be able to go back across the pond to play some European Tour events obviously with the Ryder Cup in mind in September, this now allows me to be able to do that as well.
"The win just doesn't mean getting into Augusta, there's a lot bigger things on the horizon. It's been a long road the last couple years with injury, questioning whether I've got a PGA Tour card or not, and then obviously having some form and not quite finishing off in the past.
"So to get my first stroke-play victory (in the United States) is a big one, to get the exemption is a big one, to move up in the world ranking points is a big one and to tell Thomas Bjorn, 'Hey, I'm here, my game's in shape'."
Day eyes Augusta breakthrough
16/1 chance Jason Day is not exaggerating when he refers to his coach Colin Swatton as a "father figure," but the Australian believes ending their player-caddie relationship could help him win the Masters.
Swatton was the golf instructor at the Kooralbyn International School in Queensland when Day, aged 12, arrived shortly after his father's death.
He went on to become Day's coach and caddie and helped him win the 2015 US PGA and reach number one in the world, but after a winless 2017 Day decided to make a change and hired his friend Luke Reardon instead.
Reardon has since encountered visa problems, but Day turned to another friend, Rika Batibasaga, and the pair won their first event together, the Farmers Insurance Open, in January.
"Col was great for the 10 years that we had and he is still my coach. He's here," Day told his pre-tournament press conference at Augusta National.
"But to a certain degree I think when you have your coach on the bag, you kind of think, 'Well, he's going to say something about this shot after the round, so I better not play that shot'.
"I think that it always comes down to the line of me trying a shot on the last hole to win the Masters and [if] it ends up failing, I would much rather fail in front of millions instead of failing in front of nobody. And if I can pull it off, then great.
"Having Rika on the bag this week I think hopefully will make things a little bit more light out there for me and a little bit more fun, because over the last few years it's been more of a grind trying to get that win because a lot of people have come up to me and said, 'This is your year, this is your year, you're going to win one'.
"And that can add a little bit more pressure. So hopefully I have my good close buddy out there with me and we can make things a little less stressful and go out there and have fun."
Bubba hoping for Augusta classic
Bubba Watson is hoping less is more as he attempts to join some of the greats of the game who have won three or more Masters titles.
Watson, who defeated Louis Oosthuizen in a play-off in 2012 and won by three shots from Jordan Spieth and Jonas Blixt two years later, is 14/1 for the year's first major with Sky Bet after arresting his slide down the world rankings with two wins this season.
But the unorthodox left-hander will not be spending hours on the course or practice ground at Augusta National before play gets under way on Thursday, despite having the chance to join the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods and Gary Player in the history books.
"The difference this time around is energy," Watson said. "I asked a few people, older gentlemen in our golfing lives, 'What do you need to work on and how do you recover from a stressful day?', because mentally, physically you're going to be exhausted.
"So the change in preparation is less golf, not playing 18 holes. I've played Augusta (enough times) now, I can sit back and only play nine holes a day. And that's what I did today. I played nine holes and I hit some balls and putted.
"That's the difference in the strategy and that's what I did different from the two times that I won here. I'm looking for nine holes tomorrow and then the only golf I'll play on Wednesday will be the par-three (contest)."
One of the "older gentlemen" Watson took advice from was 47-year-old Phil Mickelson, who won his first title since the 2013 Open earlier this season and is seeking to surpass Jack Nicklaus as the oldest Masters champion.
Mickelson is just one of a host of star players in good form and Watson added: "Yeah, the storylines are amazing. There's so many people that are playing well right now. It's a challenge so we've got to be on top of our game to force the Sunday charge to put on a green jacket.
"That's what we want. We don't want an asterisk by it and to say everybody played bad so you won.
"We want everybody to play their best. I'm hoping everybody gets the media attention and I just kind of sneak through the back nine roars there and somehow pull out a victory."