The Masters is the biggest golf tournament of the year.

But let's face it, sometimes golf can be slow. As a result, the cameras tend to wander to the golfers' wives and girlfriends.

It's interesting to see how they react to their significant others' play — and they all happen to be very beautiful.

These women have gotten a ton of airtime so far, and they should get even more on Sunday.

So let's learn a little more about them.

Paulina Gretzky, Dustin Johnson's fiancee, has been the talk of the golf world recently after landing the cover of Golf Digest.

Some people didn't think she deserved the cover as much as an LPGA golfer would (we agree), but in Gretzky's defense she has done some modeling. Most recently she was in this TaylorMade commercial.

Gretzky is known for her racy Instagram feed. Here she is with Johnson and her parents, Wayne and Janet Gretzky.

Bubba Watson is leading The Masters after two rounds as he sets his sights on winning his second green jacket. That is something nobody could have even dreamed of earlier in Watson's career.

While most great golfers are playing professional golf by the time they are 20, Watson did not turn pro until he was 24 and then spent three years on the Nationwide Tour (now called the Web.com Tour), the minor league of the PGA Tour.

It was not until he was 27, in 2006, that Watson joined the PGA Tour full-time and he didn't win his first PGA Tour event until 2010 at the age of 31. This has led to a late climb in his career earnings.

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At this time last year Jordan Spieth was ranked 220th in the world.

He had played in a handful of PGA Tour events since turning pro in 2012, missing the cut four times. His best finish was second place at the not-exactly-marquee Puerto Rico Open.

Twelve months later, the 20-year-old from Texas is ranked 13th in the world.

Heading into Sunday at Augusta, he's tied for the lead at 5-under, and he's 18 holes away from becoming the youngest man to ever win the Masters.

Spieth's rise has yet to resonate in the mainstream sports world. But just look at what he has done in the last 12 months:

• 11 top-10 finishes
• Won the John Deere Classic, becoming the youngest PGA Tour winner in 82 years
• Finished 10th on the 2013 PGA Tour money list with $3.9 million in winnings

Here's a week-by-week chart of his world ranking in the last 12 months, from 220th to 13th:

Spieth has always been considered a phenom. He won the U.S. Junior Amateur twice. Tiger Woods is the only other guy to ever do that.

You simply don't see 20-year-olds playing as well as Spieth has played in the last year.

It's not like he burst onto the scene with one exceptional performance. He doesn't drive the ball 350 yards (in fact, he's one of the shorter hitters on tour), and he doesn't gamble on highlight-reel shots like Bubba Watson.

His rise has been built on consistency and a week-in, week-out steadiness that young players never have.

A Sports Illustrated profile by Alan Shipnuck last December painted him as an old soul:

"Spieth is inherently conservative ('the world's oldest 20-year-old,' in the words of his trainer, Damon Goddard). He finished 10th on the Tour money list—$3.9 million in just 23 starts—and along the way added lucrative deals with Titleist and Rolex, but so far his only splurge has been Dallas Cowboys season tickets. He dates his high school sweetheart, Annie Verret, a sophomore at Texas Tech and rolls in a 2008 Yukon with 110,000 miles on the odometer. Equipment companies threw money at him when he turned pro, but he waited until September to commit to Titleist because he didn't want to be tinkering with new sticks while he was chasing his Tour card. 'I don't really like change,' he says."

His rise has flown under the radar. That won't be the case if he wins on golf's biggest stage Sunday.

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Sometimes, when you win the biggest golf tournament of your career for a second time and take home $1.62 million, you just need some hash browns.

That's exactly what Bubba Watson did on Sunday night after winning his second green jacket at the Masters.

Champ dinner @WaffleHouse! #hashbrowns#coveredpic.twitter.com/rXuaHtXqj5

— bubba watson (@bubbawatson) April 14, 2014

A friend of Watson also took a photo of the event from the next booth.

Waffle House with the Masters Champ!  #wemadeit#twogreenjacketspic.twitter.com/bMwzPGFpWG

— Judah Smith (@judahsmith) April 14, 2014

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Despite all the headlines proclaiming that Bubba Watson won his "second green jacket," this is technically not true.

When Watson won his second Masters tournament on Sunday, he was given the same green jacket he won in 2012.

According to the Masters media guide, "multiple winners will have only one green jacket unless his size drastically changes."

In addition, Watson does not actually get to keep the jacket.

Watson will get to hold onto the jacket for a year and then will return it to Augusta National Golf Club prior to next year's tournament, where it will remain unless he wins the tournament again.

Watson does get to keep a replica of the Masters trophy, which includes the names of every winner and runner-up, as well as a 3.4-inch-diameter gold medallion.

SEE ALSO: Golfers' wives and girlfriends took over the Masters

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Bubba Watson won the green jacket for a second time, but the 2014 Masters will also be remembered as the coming out party for 20-year-old Jordan Spieth.

Spieth finished tied for second, three strokes behind Watson. However, after one amazing 26-hole stretch, it looked like Spieth might win on his first appearance at Augusta National.

After the 17th hole in the second round, Spieth was 2-under and 6 strokes behind Watson. Spieth then birdied the final hole of that round, to start a string of 26 holes that he played 6-under to take a 2-stroke lead over Watson.

Unfortunately for Spieth, things unraveled and he played the final 11 holes at 3-over par. But for 26 holes we saw that it probably won't be long before Spieth wins his first green jacket.

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Here is something John Daly posted on Twitter while the rest of the golf world was watching the Masters.

He hits a tee shot off a woman's mouth while someone else keeps her still.

Terrifying:

The full video (via Devil Ball Golf):

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Bubba Watson's post-Masters celebration at Waffle House was joyous for everyone involved, including the waiter.

Bubba left a $148 tip according to Meg Mirshak of the Augusta Chronicle.

It's unclear how much Bubba's bill was. There were around seven people there with Bubba (per his selfie), and Mirshak reports that the Masters champion ordered a double grilled cheese and hash browns. 

Considering Waffle House's prices (around $10 a person for the type of meal Bubba ordered), it's fair to say seven people would have a difficult time ordering enough food to rack up a huge bill.

"It was above and beyond what would have normally been shared," the manager told the Chronicle. "Bubba was just so gracious about everything."

He said three employees split the tip.

Good job, Bubba, you put your $1.6 million in Masters winnings to good use.

SEE ALSO: Golf Wives And Girlfriends Took Over The Masters

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One week after a fifth-place finish at the Masters, Matt Kuchar broke through in improbable fashion at the PGA Tour's RBC Heritage event in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Kuchar was four strokes back of Luke Donald at the start of the final round. He had worked his way back into contention when things seemingly fell apart on the final two holes. He made bogey on 17, and hit an approach shot that landed in the bunker on 18.

If Kuchar could have gotten his bunker shot close for a par putt, he had a good shot at forcing a playoff. But he did one better.

Kuchar, who is ranked fifth in the world, had a great reaction to sinking the shot that guaranteed him his fourth straight top-5 finish.

But Kuchar had to wait more than 30 minutes to find out if he won as four groups were still on the course. Kuchar watched in the clubhouse with his wife and sons as Donald still had a shot to force a playoff on the final hole.

The tournament came down to one shot on the 18th hole by Donald, who could have forced a playoff if he could sink his third shot from just off the green. It nearly went in.

Kuchar celebrated with his family.

The RBC Heritage's jacket isn't green, but Kuchar will take it.

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Tiger Woods hasn't won a major since he returned to the PGA Tour after resurrecting his career from a personal scandal. However, he has regained the top spot in the world rankings. He's also — love him or hate him — a huge money generator for all of golf, not just his sponsors like Nike.

The $15 billion problem

Josh Sens of golf.com pegs the cost of a missing Tiger at 30% of the $68.8 billion golf industry — or $15 billion. However, it's just a guess based on the impact of Tiger's absence at golf events throughout the years, which usually causes about a 25% to 30% drop in televisions ratings, according to Brad Adgate of Horizon Media.

One thing is certain — the drop-off is real and it's significant. Online ticket broker Stubhub reported a 20% drop in Masters' ticket prices one day after Woods announced the major was a no-go. Another ticket reseller, TiqIQ, saw an over 60% decline of sales of first-day badges in the secondary market due to Tiger's injury.

Nike wants Tiger back

Marketing research firm Repucom estimated that Nike would lose more than $3 million of "media value" due to Woods' absence at the 2014 Masters. In 2013, he was featured on air for approximately 50 minutes, which translated into $3.8 million in "media value." Without him, Repucom says the sportswear giant will only get about $700,000 of exposure.

The polarizing effect of Tiger

Here's an interesting thing about Woods. Research by Celebrity DBI, Repucom's sports-marketing research division, shows Woods is one of the most recognizable (98% in U.S. and 80% in the world) and least trusted (bottom 5%) celebrity product endorsers. Adam Scott, who won the 2013 Masters, leads the golfing endorsers, winning the trust of nearly 88% of people in the U.S., followed by Phil Mickelson (86%), who did his part to add to this year's Masters' rating woes by missing the cut. Masters' runner-up Jordan Spieth (85%) garnered great exposure for Under Armour and came in ahead of Nike's other golf pitchman, Rory McIlroy (81%), as a trusted endorser. 

People may not trust Tiger enough to buy a product from him, but they sure like to watch him play the game of golf. Whether he wins or loses, drains a long putt or hooks a drive, pumps his fist or slings an expletive, he's good television and he keeps viewers in front of their sets — and that's good for all of the companies that advertise with and sponsor golf.

Why every advertiser wants Tiger back

This year the weekend coverage of the "Tiger-less" Masters had its worst showing in 20 years, averaging an audience of 8.6 million viewers in 6.4 million homes. The final round had a 7.8 rating, the lowest since 2004, even with future star Spieth vying for Woods' record as the youngest golfer to win a Masters championship. That's a 24% drop from Sunday's numbers in 2013 (10.2 rating) when Scott won and a 35% drop from 2012 (12.0 rating) when Mickelson put on the green jacket. 

Not all of that was due to Tiger's absence, but hardly anybody would argue it had a huge impact. In a sense, every company that moves its brand through golfers and golf should be paying some kind of royalty to Woods, or at least praying he has a speedy recovery. Woods is the only golfer who can move the needle on ratings and that's good for companies across the board.

A foolish argument

You may not like Tiger. You may not trust him. But even a fool can't argue the fact that he's great for the business of golf. In fact, all other "trustworthy" endorsers' value increases about 30% when Woods steps on the course, as he attracts and keeps 30% more eyeballs glued to the television set.   

SEE ALSO: Before And After Photos Show What Golf's Biggest Stars Looked Like Before They Were Famous

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It has been two years since Anthony Kim, a now 28-year-old golfer who was once the most promising young player in the sport, has played a PGA Tour event.

John Hawkins of the Golf Channel spoke to Kim's agent, and his quotes don't give you a ton of confidence that Kim will be back any time soon.

In fact, he's not even playing golf for fun anymore.

From Hawkins' story:

"In search of something resembling context, I asked [Kim's agent] if Kim was playing any golf, even recreationally.

"'No.'"

Kim vaulted to the top of the golf world in 2008 by winning at Quail Hollow and the AT&T Championship. He made $4.6 million and finished the year ranked 11th in the world.

His game started to crumbled in late-2010, though, and in May of 2012 he picked up the first of two major injuries — the second of which was a torn Achilles.

He hasn't played since.

He's now ranked around 1,500, with no apparent signs of staging a comeback.

His agent told Hawkins that he's alive and well in Texas:

"He’s not living under a bridge, he’s not living in a box. I’m going to go see him [in Texas] in a few weeks, and at that point, I’ll get a better definition of where he stands."

It's a strange story. Kim was supposed to be the next big thing at age 22. Six years later, he's not even playing the sport.

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Phil Mickelson has finished second at the U.S. Open six times including the 1999 tournament at Pinehurst Resort, when he had a one-stroke lead with three holes to play before losing to Payne Stewart.

With this year's U.S. Open back at Pinehurst No. 2 and Mickelson still looking for his first career win at the tournament, it might be a good idea to play a few practice rounds to re-familiarize himself with the course.

There is only one problem: Mickelson can't get a tee time.

"I've tried to get down there three times now, and the course has been booked all three times," Mickelson told Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press. "So I don't know when I'll get down there."

In a weird way, this is a big reason why many golf fans love Mickelson.

Despite winning five majors and nearly $75 million in his career, Mickelson seems just like the Sunday hacker at the local country club.

It is hard to imagine Tiger Woods would take "no" for an answer if he wanted to get in a few practice rounds at a certain course.

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It has been two years since Anthony Kim, a now 28-year-old golfer who was once the most promising young player in the sport, has played a PGA Tour event.

John Hawkins of the Golf Channel spoke to Kim's agent, and his quotes don't give you a ton of confidence that Kim will be back any time soon.

In fact, he's not even playing golf for fun anymore.

From Hawkins' story:

"In search of something resembling context, I asked [Kim's agent] if Kim was playing any golf, even recreationally.

"'No.'"

Kim vaulted to the top of the golf world in 2008 by winning at Quail Hollow and the AT&T Championship. He made $4.6 million and finished the year ranked 11th in the world.

His game started to crumbled in late-2010, though, and in May of 2012 he picked up the first of two major injuries — the second of which was a torn Achilles.

He hasn't played since.

He's now ranked around 1,500, with no apparent signs of staging a comeback.

His agent told Hawkins that he's alive and well in Texas:

"He’s not living under a bridge, he’s not living in a box. I’m going to go see him [in Texas] in a few weeks, and at that point, I’ll get a better definition of where he stands."

It's a strange story. Kim was supposed to be the next big thing at age 22. Six years later, he's not even playing the sport.

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Tiger Woods has been off the map since undergoing back surgery in March.

He didn't go to the Champions' Dinner at the Masters, and he didn't go to the White House correspondents dinner with his girlfriend Lindsey Vonn.

Today he published a long blog post about what he's been doing for the last six weeks or so.

The post doesn't inspire a ton of confidence that he'll return anytime soon. He says he's only chipping and putting at his home in Florida. He hasn't taken a full swing yet and he doesn't know when he'll be back.

But the best parts of the post have little to do with golf.

He tells an anecdote about almost losing a putting contest to his five-year-old son while on vacation in the Bahamas. He refuses to let his kids win:

"I have my greens running about 13 on the Stimpmeter every day, so your feel has to be a little better. When we were in the Bahamas, the greens were much slower and he almost beat me. If Sam and Charlie beat me, they're going to earn it. That's how Pop was with me, and I think that's how it should be."

The other good tidbits from the post.

1. He said he watched the Masters because Freddy Couples was in contention, but got bored once he fell out of it on Sudnay.

2. He didn't mourn for the Eisenhower Tree because he hits it so far: "Guys who hit the ball as long as I do didn't really worry about the tree."

3. He has been talking to Tony Romo, who has the same back surgery as him last winter.

4. He wrote this fantastic sentence about the band OneRepublic, which will perform at his charity event in Las Vegas: "They have a lot of hits and are very hot right now.

5. He explained why left-handers have an inherent advantage at the Masters, with a hint of disdain:

"It sets up perfectly because it's so much easier to cut the ball than it is to turn it over on No. 10. On No. 13, it is much easier to cut it and carry it; if you try to carry it with a draw, it's not going to stay in the air as much as it would with a cut. Same thing with No. 14. I think that's one of the reasons Phil [Mickelson] and Bubba have done so well there is because they both fade the ball really well for lefties."

We hope this is a first of many posts from Tiger.

Read the whole thing here >

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Martin Kaymer sank a 28-foot curving putt on the famed 17th hole's "Island Green" of TPC Sawgrass to hold his lead and eventually win The Players Championship by one stroke over Jim Furyk.

Kaymer, who led after all four rounds, appeared to be cruising to an easy win with a 3-stroke lead with just four holes to play. But on the first hole after a weather delay, Kaymer hit his approach shot on the 15th hole into the rough and followed that up by hitting his next shot into a bunker on the way to a double-bogey.

Two holes later, Kaymer nearly hit his tee shot into the water and then chunked his chip shot onto the green to leave a long putt for par. Just when it looked like he was going to blow his lead, Kaymer sank the long putt.

Kaymer knew how big that putt was.

Here is the full video.

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Tiger Woods has been limited to just four PGA Tour events this year and as a result, his year-long reign at the top of the World Golf Rankings could come to an end as early as this weekend.

The rankings, which use a weighted average of points earned in events over the previous two years with emphasis placed on more recent events, has seen Woods consistently lose about 0.2 points each week while he has been out.

Adam Scott (7.95 avg. points) now sits just 0.1 points behind Woods (8.05 avg. points) even though he has also been sliding in recent months. Henrik Stenson, who is currently third with 7.83 average points, could also pass Woods in the next few weeks.

Woods, who has been on top of the rankings since last March, has held the top ranking for a record total of 683 weeks in his career.

Meanwhile, the two hottest golfers in the world are Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar, currently fourth and fifth in the rankings. Those two golfers have had big surges recently and now sit less than a point behind the top three.

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It's that time of the year again when Wall Street starts leaving the trading floor for the golf course. 

We combed through the latest handicap data of some of the Street's biggest names on GHIN—a website run by the U.S. Golf Association— to see how they stack up against each other on the fairway.

Some of these golfers are very, very talented, while others could use a bit more practice. Take Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein for instance. He seems to find shooting low scores a difficult endeavor.

Keep in mind, the higher the handicap number, the worse the player is in comparison to others with lower handicaps.

Also, JPMorgan's CEO Jamie Dimon doesn't golf. His two predecessors at JPMorgan were members of the prestigious Augusta National Golf Club though. 

Lloyd Blankfein (Handicap: 23.4)

Firm/Title: Goldman Sachs, CEO 

Where He's Played: Blind Brook Club, East Hampton Golf Club, Sebonack Golf Club and Manhattan Woods Golf Club

Last Golf Outing: August 2013

James Gorman (Handicap: 21.6)

Firm/Title: Morgan Stanley, CEO

Where He's Played: Millbrook Golf & Tennis Club, Blind Brook Club and Winged Foot Golf Club.

Last Golf Outing: May 2014

Source: GHIN

David Tepper (Handicap: 18.5)

Firm/Title: Appaloosa Management/founder

Where He's Played: Crestmont Country Club

Last Golf Outing: May 2014

Source: GHIN

Certain golf courses are known for challenging holes that can frustrate even the most talented golfers.

Pop Chart Lab— the Brooklyn-based graphic design studio that created a whiskey taxonomy poster and a map of New York’s best bars for cocktail snobs— has a new print, this time featuring 72 of the most notable golf holes in America.

The hand-illustrated drawings some of the most formidable fairways, including at the #18 at the Augusta International and #14 at The Coeur d’Alene. The greens and gullies span 26 states and 54 courses, and each drawing includes the courses’ yardage, teeing ground designation, and par.

The print is on sale at Pop Chart Lab for $29. Double click to zoom in on all the different courses below (mobile users can click here to see a larger image of the map).

SEE ALSO: The 10 Best Golf Courses In The US

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In 1999, Payne Stewart won his final major at the U.S. Open, just months before passing away in a plane crash. Fifteen years later, the U.S. Open has returned to the Pinehurst resort.

Rickie Fowler, well known for his radical fashion choices on the golf course, has decided to honor Stewart in the most perfect way possible. Fowler will play the first round wearing knickers, just like Stewart.

Like Fowler, Stewart often pushed fashion boundaries on the golf course.

Here is Stewart's famous punch after sinking his final putt to win the 1999 US Open, which is now a statue at the Pinehurst Resort.

The image is also on the flags this week.

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American Ken Duke was making a nice run early in the second round of the U.S. Open, birdying three of the first four holes to get back to 2-over par and a good shot at making the cut.

But as will happen, Pinehurst No. 2 struck back.

First Duke bogeyed the eighth hole. Then, despite hitting what appeared to be a nice tee shot on the par-3 ninth hole, the ball bounced away from the green and ended up right next to a big chunk of wire grass, which appeared to be put in that spot for the sole purpose of gobbling up unsuspecting golf balls.

If the ball had landed about six inches to the left, he probably has a short putt for birdie. Instead it ended up in the worst possible spot. Now Duke is facing a bogey or worse.

The clump of wire grass stopped the ball from rolling into the bunker. But now the grass is directly behind the ball. Both announcers were in agreement that the only choice at this point was to take an unplayable lie and drop the ball elsewhere. They joked that even their wives would scold them for even thinking about not taking a drop in this situation.

Duke actually toyed with the idea of trying to hit the ball with his putter, but eventually thought better of it. What was clear was that he did not want to drop the ball despite there being no advantage to pushing the ball left or right.

After several minutes of pondering what to do, Duke used the toe of his putter and pushed it into the bunker. He apparently preferred being in the bunker over dropping near where his caddie was standing.

And now we see why. Now in the bunker, Duke had the ninth hole right where he wanted it converting one of the more daring pars you will see this week at Pinehurst.

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