bobbyjonesWant a piece of golf history? If you've got at least $100,000 lying around, you could be the proud owner of a Masters green jacket. While the coveted jacket has gone on sale before, they've never fetched anywhere close to this much money in the past.

So why the sudden bump in the potential selling price? Well, this jacket just so happens to have been worn by golf legend Bobby Jones, making it a once-in-a-lifetime piece of golf memorabilia.

Heritage Auctions will reportedly put the jacket on sale in August, and has noted that it could go for upwards of $100,000. As the Augusta Chronicle reported, the coat has the "ANGC" (for Augusta National Golf Club) on the left breast of the jacket, and Jones' initials "RTJ" on the inside.

The auction house claims the jacket was given to the artist that painted a portrait of Jones that currently hangs in Augusta National's clubhouse (see the portrait in this video), and that the jacket apparently dates to 1937, when members at the club first started

117449775 yaniI once asked Natalie Gulbis who the best person she's ever seen hit the ball was. Her answer, as most would expect, was Tiger Woods. She said it sounded different than anyone else in the game, and this is coming from a lady that has played golf with some of the best in the world.

That might be expected, but what you probably didn't expect was for someone on the LPGA to come along that resembled Woods in his prime.

That person is 22-year-old Yani Tseng, and on Thursday, she will set out to complete the career Grand Slam at the Women's U.S. Open, and if she does so, she will become the youngest man or woman to win all four of the big ones. Who does one of her fellow competitors compare Yani to at this point in her career? Yep, you guessed it, Tiger Woods.

"I knew when I first saw her that she was going to be something of a force," Christina Kim said. "She is in a great place with all aspects of her life and she seems to really enjoy herself again. She's in a place we saw back in the

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One of the lasting memories most golf fans will have of the 2011 Masters is the opening shot of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player being introduced on the first tee during Wednesday's par-3 contest. It was an incredible sight, golf's original "Big Three" playing together in the same group during a memorable nine holes the day before the first round.

With the exception of a couple events a year, the golfing public rarely gets a chance to see these legends together in one place. But thanks to the green coats at August National, we'll get a chance to see the trio together more often at the 2012 Masters, after the club announced Player would be joining Nicklaus and Palmer as an honorary starter for next year's tournament.

Nicklaus joined Palmer as honorary starters starting in 2010, and now Player will be joining the group as well. Between the three, they have an incredible 13 green jackets, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were three of the best to ever step foot on

tractorSo in an attempt to inject a bit more life and interest into tournaments, and because we're both inveterate gamblers who are one bad card from being out on the streets, Shane Bacon and I are playing a golf version of a football suicide pool: We each pick one golfer per tournament and see how they do against each other, straight up. Victory over the other guy gets one point, victory in the tournament gets three points. (Double for the majors.) And when we burn a golfer, he's done for the year. We head to the bearded one's tournament this week, with the AT&T National.

Bacon: I can't believe I haven't picked him yet, but I will do it right now and be completely happy about it. Steve Stricker is my man this week, since he's won the event the last two years and is still playing some great golf. The good news is, even if Stricker doesn't win, he shouldn't be that far behind; in his 10 stroke play events this season, Stricker has finished out of the top-18 just once.

Busbee: Solid

117137264 yaniThe biggest major of the year on the LPGA is upon us, and as we've seen in weeks past, that means the Yani Tseng train is pulling into town. Just 22 years old, Tseng needs a win here to become the youngest ever, man or woman, to snag the career Grand Slam. While the length of the golf course plays into Yani's hands, here are four players with the best shot at dethroning her at the Broadmoor.

Brittany Lincicome -- Already a major winner and winner in 2011, Lincicome can lean on her driving distance as a hefty advantage this week in Colorado, where the course will play over 7,000 yards (Lincicome tweeted last week that she was practicing on a 7,200-yard golf course to get her ready). If Lincicome can get the putter going, she might just walk out of here a champion.

Cristie Kerr -- Yes, Yani might be the big story this year, but Kerr has quietly put together a very consistent season, finishing second-second-second-third in her last four events. She won this event back in 2007, and

112280477It's time for our own golf ranking system for the top players on the planet. Why? That's easy. The one used now isn't good enough. For one thing, it evaluates golfers over a two-year period. Two years! A lot can happen in two years. (Ask Tiger Woods.) For another, the current system gives too much credit to players who prevail against less competitive fields halfway across the globe.

Therefore, every week between May 31 and September 27, two days after The Tour Championship, Yahoo! Sports will unveil the new rankings of players Nos. 1 to 10, using lists submitted by many of the game's most knowledgeable observers. We will use a simple statistical formula for the lists we receive — the top player getting 10 points, the second, nine points, and so forth. We will then add up all the points to produce our list of the top 10.

We've asked voters to tell us who they believe are the top 10 players right now. Over time, we expect to add more voters to the list. We hope you enjoy it, and please

118101074 nickWelcome to Teeing Off, where Devil Ball editor Jay Busbee and head writer Shane Bacon take a day's topic and smack it all over the course. This week, Jonathan Wall steps in for Jay. Suggest a future topic by writing jay.busbee@yahoo.com, or hit us on Twitter at @jonathanrwall and @shanebacon. Today, we discuss Nick Watney, and his value in the golf world both as a top player and as a top American.

Wall: Not sure if you're aware of this or not, but Nick Watney won his second tour event of the season over the weekend. Dude is so quiet I almost forgot he was in the field until he hoisted the trophy on Sunday evening. I'm kidding, of course, but it seems like Watney's nickname should be the "Silent Assassin" for the way he continues to sneak up on the competition. He's now ranked in the OWGR top 10 and continues to play solid golf almost every week. Yet we rarely talk about him as a top player. Seriously, is there a more underrated golfer in the game right now than this guy?

Bacon: There

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Want to know why the best golfers in the world are so good? They spend hours upon hours working on their short game. But while most guys on tour head out to their respective courses to work on their game each day, Rory McIlroy might be the only guy, next to Tiger Woods, with a backyard practice facility that would make any golfer drool.

During a recent interview with the BBC, McIlroy took the crew around for a tour of his massive practice area at his Northern Ireland home, replete with bunkers designed from all over the world, including a replica of the "Road Hole" bunker at St. Andrews.

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McIlroy said he's been spending a lot of time in that one recently, gearing up for the Open Championship and the pot bunkers he'll face at Sandwich. Aside from the multiple bunkers, he has a number of different putting greens that vary in speed, depending on the next tournament he's playing. And did we mention the sand in the bunkers happen to be from Royal Portrush Golf Club?

Seriously, this