Gary Woodland is going to the Masters. He may not have run away with the Transitions Championships, but he was more consistent down the stretch than the rest of the contenders.

That's not to take anything away from the way Woodland played, he was long and accurate all day and dropped birdie-after-birdie on the back nine. But, it was a par putt - his first of the last nine holes - that all but sealed his victory.

After dropping a dangerous 10-foot putt from the fringe on the 18th green at Copperhead, Woodland pulled his ball from the cup and waited to see if Webb Simpson would go up-and-down to force a tie.

Simpson couldn't do it, and Woodland's ticket to the Masters was punched.

The field at the Transitions wasn't the most star-studded, far from, actually, but it continued to play out the theme of the 2011 PGA Tour: young, talented golfers making the most of opportunities.

Six of the top 10 finishers had never won a PGA Tour event before Woodland won on Sunday. It was Woodland's 33rd start on Tour, and even with Nick Watney and Justin Rose climbing the leaderboard late, he was still able to attack just enough to keep an edge.

While it's been par for the course to see European players occupying a lot of the top 5 in recent tournaments, this is the second time in 2011 that the top 6 were all Americans. It happened once before at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in February.

As players gear up for the Masters in three weeks, tournament fields will start to attract more top players and we'll get a more clear view of how good this young crop of talent is on Tour. They can compete amongst each other, posting high scores and winning tournaments, but there is always a different feel and intimidation factor when Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood are in the field.

It adds drama and takes competition to a much higher level. If the younger players who are starting to break out can win with the World's best in the field, golf fans win.

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What's Next?

PGA Tour - March 24-27: Arnold Palmer Invitational

Nationwide - Chitmacha Louisiana Open

European - March 24-27: Open Andalucia de Golf

LPGA - Kia Classic