Here is a list of the top six finishers in the last six Masters championships.

Note how often the names have come up of Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els (both 5 times in  six years) and Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and David Duval (each 3 times in the 6 years).

Other top-level golfers with more than one top-six finish during this period are Jose Maria Olazabal, (2), Davis Love III (2), Nick Price (2), Bernhard Langer (2) and Jim Furyk (2).

And the six winners during this period?

They were Mickelson in 2004, Mike Weir in 2003, Woods in 2002 and 2001, Singh in 2000 and  Olazabal in 1999.

Els was second twice, once to Singh in 2000 and once to Mickelson last year, but he has yet to win at Augusta.

Will it be three times lucky in 2005?

2004: 1 Phil Mickelson 279; 2 Ernie Els 280; 3 KJ Choi 282; 4 Sergio Garcia, Bernhard Langer 285; 6 Paul Casey, Fred Couples, Chris DiMarco, Davis Love, Nick Price, Vijay Singh, Kirk Triplett 286

2003: 1 Mike Weir 281; 2 Len Mattiace 281 (lost play-off); 3 Phil Mickelson 283; 4 Jim Furyk 284; 5 Jeff Maggert 286; 6 Vijay Singh, Ernie Els 287

2002: 1 Tiger Woods 276; 2 Retief Goosen 279; 3 Phil Mickelson 280; 4 Jose Maria Olazabal 281; 5 Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington 282

2001: 1 Tiger Woods 272; 2 David Duval 274; 3 Phil Mickelson 275; 4 Mark Calcavecchia, Toshi Izawa 278; 6 Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Bernhard Langer, Kirk Triplett 279

2000: 1 Vijay Singh 278; 2 Ernie Els 281; 3 David Duval, Loren Roberts 282; 5 Tiger Woods 284; 6 Tom Lehman 285

1999: 1 Jose Maria Olazabal 280; 2 Davis Love 282; 3 Greg Norman 283; 4 Bob Estes, Steve Pate 284; 6 David Duval, Carlos Franco, Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood, Nick Price 285