The 89th playing of the Masters is almost here. Can anyone challenge Scottie Scheffler? Which LIV golfers could be in contention for a green jacket this week? Are there any first-timers to pay close attention to?
From golfers we’ll be watching to newcomers to players who are under the radar, here are five storylines to watch this week at Augusta.
All eyes on who this week?
Mark Schlabach: Most eyes are going to be on the top two golfers in the world: Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy. A Sunday duel between Scheffler and McIlroy at Augusta National Golf Club would be fantastic for a sport that has been consumed by money and division the past few years.
Scheffler has been the most elite player in men’s golf for much of the past three years. He’ll attempt to join Jack Nicklaus (1963, 1965 and 1966) as the only golfers to win the Masters three times in a four-year span. He can become only the fourth golfer to win a green jacket in back-to-back years, joining Nicklaus, Nick Faldo (1989-90) and Tiger Woods (2001-02).
Scheffler missed the first month of the season with a right hand injury and hasn’t yet won in 2025, so you could make the argument that McIlroy has been the best golfer on the planet the past few months. Then again, there are few golfers who can put their foot on the gas like Scheffler at Augusta National.
McIlroy has already won twice on tour this season and is playing lights-out. McIlroy will try for the 11th time for a green jacket to complete the career Grand Slam, which would also end his major championship drought of more than 10 years.
Paolo Uggetti: There have been many words spoken and written about Scheffler and McIlroy at the start of this season, and understandably so. But when it comes to the first major of the year, it’s the unknown that intrigues me and leads me to gravitate toward the two LIV players who should be at the top of any favorites list: Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau.
On one hand, Rahm won this event two years ago and DeChambeau is coming off his second career major last year in the U.S. Open, plus two other top-6 finishes in majors. On paper, that’s enough. Yet three years into the LIV experiment, it’s difficult to know exactly how or when players’ performance will translate from there to the major stage. DeChambeau proved last year that he could still compete and win majors, but he hasn’t won on LIV since September 2023.
What does that mean for this week at Augusta? It’s impossible to know, but it makes DeChambeau’s every shot worth watching. The same goes for Rahm, whose worst finish on LIV this season is a tie for ninth. Though he did miss the cut at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January, his only non-LIV event, his game appears to be trending in the right direction.
First-timers to watch
Schlabach: I’m tempted to go with Thomas Detry, the former Illinois star golfer, who picked up his first PGA Tour win with a seven-shot victory at the WM Phoenix Open on Feb. 9. He tied for fourth in last year’s PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, and for 14th in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina the next month.
Detry is an above-average putter, but his iron play has been suspect, and I’m not sure he’ll hit enough fairways to contend at Augusta National.
England’s Aaron Rai is another good golfer with recent success in the majors, tying for 19th at the 2021 Open Championship and at last year’s U.S. Open. Rai ranks in the top 40 in strokes gained: total, off the tee and approach, and he’s fifth in driving accuracy (70.3%). Plus, he comes into the Masters in pretty good form, finishing in the top 15 at the Mexico Open, Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players Championship.
Uggetti: Maverick McNealy’s journey to the Masters has been seven years in the making, but he finally got here after winning the RSM Classic in November and is playing some of the best golf of his career. The Stanford alum has four top-10 finishes on tour this season and was a runner-up at the Genesis Invitational earlier this year.
This week, McNealy’s putting and approach game (both top-35 on tour) should help him stay in the mix. And if he can drive it relatively well and improve on his play around the green, I feel like this course should suit his game.
How will the course play?
Schlabach: The course was playing firm and fast over the weekend for the final round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and practice rounds Sunday. But then the skies opened up Monday, dumping more than an inch of rain.
There is plenty of time to dry the course out before Thursday’s opening round, and the club’s SubAir system, which acts like a vacuum and pulls water out of the greens and into pipes, was probably working overtime. High temperatures for the rest of the week are expected to be in the high 60s and 70s with little chance for rain outside of Friday morning.
Then there’s the damage from Hurricane Helene, the Category 1 storm that blew through the area on Sept. 27, 2024. There was extensive damage at Augusta National and the surrounding area. Trees aren’t as thick on Nos. 1 and 9. The loss of trees is mostly a visual difference for patrons who have been coming to the course for years, but it probably won’t affect golfers’ strategy. The 16th green had to be rebuilt after a tree fell across it, and Nos. 1, 8 and 15 greens were also redone, according to McIlroy.
Uggetti: When Xander Schauffele played the back nine at Augusta National on Sunday, he couldn’t help but notice the missing trees on the par-3 16th hole and elsewhere around the property.
“It almost felt like I was playing the back nine for the first time,” Schauffele said. “When you’re walking down 10 you can see half the course. It’s pretty crazy to sort of see how many — it’s sad, too, to see how many trees have fallen.”
As Schauffele explained, the trees at Augusta have served as aiming points for players off multiple tees. Now, some of those are gone, but he doesn’t anticipate the course playing that much different than it has because of it.
“For the most part, I think the course is going to play the exact same as before,” Schauffele said. “You may have a target you can’t aim at. Like over the 11th green, there’s those three trees, but you can just use the bridge as a reference now if you’d like.”
McIlroy echoed Schauffele’s observations.
“From a tee shot perspective, there are a couple tee shots that are maybe a little less visually intimidating,” McIlroy said. “There’s a couple overhanging trees that aren’t there anymore. But really, apart from that, I think it’s pretty much the same. But definitely a couple of tee shots that look a little bit different.”
What do you expect from LIV golfers this week?
Schlabach: There are a dozen LIV players in the field, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there are two or three in the final top 10. That being said, I’m not exactly sure who that will be, because the usual suspects have played inconsistently so far in 2025. Last week’s tournament at Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami was the first big-boy course they’d played in a while, and many of the biggest names struggled on the weekend.
DeChambeau was still tweaking his game heading into Miami. He carded a 3-over 75 on Sunday and finished fifth. Rahm, the 2023 Masters champion, posted a 2-over 74 in the final round and tied for ninth. Cameron Smith has a good track record at Augusta, and Patrick Reed always seems to play well there. I could see them cracking the top 10 again.
Uggetti: Like I noted above, LIV should come with a disclaimer: “Past performance is not indicative of future results,” and that goes both ways. Even though we haven’t heard too much from players such as Brooks Koepka this year, it wouldn’t surprise me if he once again turned it on at a major and competed at Augusta. The same goes for Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed and Smith, who all have games that fit the course well.
All of that being said, there is one LIV player I expect something from this week, and that’s Joaquín Niemann. The Chilean has two wins on LIV this season plus a win at the PIF Saudi International in December and has been playing like a top-10 player in the world as of late. (Data Golf ranks him at No. 11.) Niemann’s talent is undeniable, but he is also being propped up by some — like Mickelson — as a contender for the best player in the world right now, although his major record isn’t exactly stellar: In 22 tries, he has never had a top-10 finish. Given the way he has been playing, this is as good a week as any for Niemann to put together a competitive finish.
An under-the-radar player or story we’ll be talking about at the end of the week
Schlabach: I don’t know if I’d describe a five-time winner on the PGA Tour as being under the radar, but Russell Henley sure isn’t getting much credit for being the No. 7 player in the world. He earned his fifth tour victory against a loaded field at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on March 9, one of his four top-10s in seven starts this season.
Plus, if a Masters winner has to find fairways and execute second shots, there aren’t many golfers in the field better than Henley. He’s third on tour in greens in regulation (72.8%) and 11th in driving accuracy (66.2%), and he’s one of the better putters out there, too.
Henley broke through in the majors the previous two seasons, finishing in the top 15 in four of eight starts. He tied for fourth at the 2023 Masters. Henley grew up in the state, attended the University of Georgia, and probably dreamed of slipping on a green jacket.
Uggetti: I feel like no one is talking about Collin Morikawa. That’s not actually true, but relatively speaking, it appears the No. 4 player in the world (No. 3 on Data Golf) and the current leader in strokes gained: approach is flying under the radar this week. The two-time major champion hasn’t won since the 2023 Zozo Championship, but he’s been knocking at the door for a while, including coming within a sliver of winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational this year.
Last year, Morikawa had a shot to win heading into Sunday but wilted as Scheffler ran away with it. This year, his game is arguably in better shape, his putting is much improved and much like McIlroy, he has plenty of motivation to end a drought. I wouldn’t be surprised if, come Sunday, he’s right back at the top of the leaderboard again.
If we want to go deeper down the odds list, take a look at Akshay Bhatia. After getting his debut here out of the way last year, Bhatia is now one of the 25 best players in the world and, had it not been for a shaky putting week at the Players, he likely would have been in the playoff alongside McIlroy and J.J. Spaun. If the putter gets hot, look for Bhatia to have a good week.
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