This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, CBC Sports’ daily email newsletter. Get up to speed on what’s happening in sports by subscribing here.
It’ll be hard to top last year’s Masters.
Desperate to finally complete the career Grand Slam after years of frustration at Augusta National and a decade without a major title, Rory McIlroy blew his final-round lead to a surging Justin Rose, missing a five-foot putt for the win on 18. But the endearingly vulnerable Northern Irishman responded with a dramatic birdie in the ensuing playoff to capture his elusive green jacket and join legends Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen as the only players to win all four majors in men’s golf.
The afterglow of McIlroy’s cathartic victory was just as delightful. Displaying an incredibly raw mix of emotions after he sank the winning putt and greeted a stream of family, friends and other well-wishers along his long stroll to the clubhouse, McIlroy looked as if he’d just simultaneously won the lottery, been elected mayor of Augusta and walked away from a 100km/h car crash. Even by the lofty standards of the Masters’ most iconic victories — young Tiger in 1997, old Tiger in 2019, even older Jack in 1986, hometown boy Larry Mize’s playoff chip-in in ’87 — this was about as good as it gets.
So, where do we go from here? Does McIlroy have more magic in him? Can world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler recapture the green jacket? Will a brand-new champion emerge? Let’s go over some key storylines for the first (and best) golf major of the year.
Rory hasn’t been the same.
Since his career-defining victory, McIlroy has won only one individual tournament, and that came against a pretty soft field at the European Tour’s Irish Open in September. He also helped Europe to an emotional Ryder Cup victory over the United States in front of a nasty crowd at New York’s Bethpage Black, but he wasn’t really in contention at the other three majors in 2025, and even missed the cut at the Canadian Open.
In his four PGA Tour starts this year, McIlroy has just one top-10 finish — a tie for second at Riviera in February. Two weeks later, he withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational after hurting his back while warming up for the third round and then tied for 46th at the Players Championship in mid-March.
He hasn’t competed since, but it seems the time off has really helped McIlroy’s body, which he declared “100 per cent” healthy yesterday. The 36-year-old star also said he feels “so much more relaxed” at Augusta this year after finally getting the monkey off his back. If he’s truly feeling as good as he claims, physically and mentally, Rory is certainly a threat to become the first repeat Masters champ since Tiger nearly a quarter century ago.
Scottie is off his game too.
The 2022 and ’24 Masters champ dominated the sport again last year, winning six tournaments — including his first PGA Championship and British Open titles, bringing his career major total to four — and finishing the year atop the world rankings for the third straight time. Scheffler, 29, started the current season in top form, opening with a victory at the event formerly known as the Bob Hope Desert Classic before tying for third at the Phoenix Open and fourth at Pebble Beach.
But he has not cracked the top 10 in his three starts since then, and he finished outside the top 20 in his last two tournaments (the Arnold Palmer and the Players Championship) while experiencing a troubling decline in his iron play — normally the backbone of his game and a key to success at Augusta.
Like McIlroy, Scheffler hasn’t played since the Players — but not due to injury. Rather, his wife recently gave birth to their second child, and Scottie took some time away before arriving at Augusta on Sunday with his nine-day-old boy in tow.
As any parent knows, a newborn in the house is not super conducive to crushing it at work, notwithstanding the small army of nannies, cooks, cleaners and other domestic helpers that a man who made an estimated $50 million US on the course last year could afford to employ. But those suddenly shaky irons, even more than a lack of sleep, could be Scheffler’s biggest obstacle this week.
Is the green jacket up for grabs?
Contrary to the last two years, when McIlroy and Scheffler each won the prestigious Players Championship as part of a red-hot stretch leading up to their Masters victories, there’s no obvious front-runner this time.
Yes, according to the betting odds, Scheffler is a big favourite over the rest of the field. But the American’s lacklustre results of late, combined with McIlroy’s back issues and the rise of some fresh contenders, have this looking like a relatively wide-open tournament.
Among those vying to prevent Scheffler and McIlroy from winning their fourth combined green jacket in five years are 2023 champion Jon Rahm of Spain and two-time U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau of the United States — both from LIV Golf. They’ve won three straight events on the rebel tour (the last two by DeChambeau) and are currently the No. 2 and 3 betting favourites for the Masters. The Data Golf ratings (more trusted by gamblers than the official world rankings, which only recently began counting LIV results) have Rahm and DeChambeau as the No. 2 and 11 players in the world, respectively. And, based on their past success at Augusta, Data Golf gives them the second and fifth-best odds of winning the Masters, with McIlroy and American Xander Schauffele sandwiched between.
Schauffele rose to No. 2 in the world in 2024, when he won a pair of majors, before struggling with a rib injury last year. But he looks much better now, including a third-place finish at the Players, and has a great track record at Augusta, where he’s finished as high as second and is currently on a run of three straight top-10s.
Another impressive (though much shorter) Augusta resumé belongs to Ludvig Aberg, who has finished second and seventh in his two Masters appearances. The 26-year-old Swede blew a three-shot lead going into the final round of the Players, which would have been the biggest victory of his career, but has finished in the top five in three consecutive starts. Ascendant American Cameron Young stole the Players for his biggest win to date and is a trendy pick this week after cracking the top 10 in two of his first four Masters.
Others to watch include Players runner-up Matt Fitzpatrick of England, who won the following week’s tournament and was the 2022 U.S. Open champion; two-time major winner Collin Morikawa of the U.S., who’s been hampered by a bad back; and young American Masters rookies Chris Gotterup and Jacob Bridgeman, who have combined for a surprising three wins and seven top-10s so far this season. The last debutant to win the Masters was the late Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.
Also keep an eye on Americans Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed, who both recently ditched LIV to return to the PGA Tour. Reed, who’s toiling on the Euro tour until he can rejoin the big league in the fall, is a proven Augusta performer who won the Masters in 2018 and placed third last year, while Koepka is a five-time major winner with a pair of runner-up finishes at Augusta.
Two stars you won’t see out there among the azaleas are Woods and Phil Mickelson. Tiger is dealing with the fallout from his latest DUI-related arrest (and, at 50, is probably not physically capable of contending anymore anyway) while the 55-year-old Mickelson withdrew due to what he called a family health matter. This is the first Masters since 1994 that will not feature at least one of them.
Three Canadians will tee it up on Thursday.
The 91-man field includes Canada’s Corey Conners (38th in the Data Golf rankings), Nick Taylor (41st) and Mike Weir. The 55-year-old from Brights Grove, Ont., has made the cut just once in the last 11 years, but he earned a lifetime entry with his historic victory in 2003, when he became the first and still only Canadian to win the green jacket.
Last year, Conners had a real shot to join Weir at the next champions dinner. He started hot and entered the final round in sole possession of third place — four shots behind McIlroy and two behind DeChambeau. But a three-over 75 on Sunday sent Conners down to a tie for eighth place, matching his second-best finish at Augusta. Four of his six major top-10s have come here, including a career-best tie for sixth in 2022.
Taylor will forever be cherished for his victory at the 2023 Canadian Open, where he nailed a 72-foot eagle putt to beat England’s Tommy Fleetwood (another guy to watch this week) on the fourth playoff hole to become the first Canadian to win the men’s national championship in 69 years. Taylor has won two more tournaments since then, giving him five career titles on the PGA Tour. But he has not been a good major performer, missing the cut in 10 of his 12 starts over the last four years.
Here’s more on the Masters, including key pairings and tee times for the opening round along with some other news and notes.
Source link
