Everything you need to know as PGA Tour and LIV Golf stars descend upon Augusta National for The Masters.
The 2024 Masters should be as rife with storylines as azaleas. Tiger Woods has been prowling around Augusta National Golf Club. Rory McIlroy gets his 10th crack at the career Grand Slam. LIV Golf League stars, including defending champion Jon Rahm, will test their might against PGA Tour regulars, most notably World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.
The relatively small field for the 88th Masters features 89 golfers — a mixture of PGA Tour stalwarts, marquee LIV defectors, and a smattering of past champs, amateurs, and special invites. The top 50 scorers (plus ties) after 36 holes will make the cut.
The prize money payout and exact purse are yet to be announced (Rahm took home $3.2 million of the $18 million purse in 2023). 750 FedEx Cup points will be awarded to the winner should he hail from the PGA Tour.
In addition to a green jacket and a name etched in history, the Masters champ earns a shiny bust of the clubhouse, lifetime eligibility, and the challenge of topping Rahm’s Champions Dinner menu.
Phil Mickelson (min. 100 rounds), Tiger Woods (75-99 rounds), and Rory McIlroy (50-74 rounds) own the lowest scoring averages in tournament history.
If we’re being honest, the Masters hasn’t produced Sunday drama since Tiger in 2019, though part of that has been weather-related. As of now, the forecast calls for rain and wind on Thursday.
Here’s what else to know ahead of the Masters.
2024 Masters Preview
Course notes
Augusta National, a par 72, was elongated to 7,555 yards this year, thanks to the tee box at the par-5 2nd being moved back and to the left by 10 yards (the only substantial course alteration). Traditionally, the 2nd and the 545-yard Par-5 13th have played as the venue’s easiest holes.
Augusta’s signature stretch is Amen Corner, comprised of the par-4 11th, the par-3 12th, and the par-5 13th, bisected by Rae’s Creek.
The 12th is probably the most recognizable par-3 in golf. It’s only 155 yards, but the wind and pressure create a stiff precision test. It’s the only hole that has never seen its yardage change.
In terms of style, Augusta, by design, rewards experience, creativity, and strategic aggression. Second-shot/approach accuracy supersedes power.
The favorite: Scottie Scheffler (+450 outright, per FanDuel)
Scheffler will make his first start since his putt on 18 at the Texas Children’s Houston Open lipped out, depriving him of three straight victories. (Scheffler dominated the Arnold Palmer Invitational and overcame neck pain to close the Players Championship.)
Nobody is sniffing Scheffler at the moment. He leads the PGA Tour in 2024 in Strokes Gained (SG): Total and SG: Approach, and he’s fourth in SG: around the green. He won the Masters in 2022. He has top-10s in eight of his last 11 majors.
Assuming he strikes the ball as usual, Scheffler can contend at Augusta without putting great — he ranks 99th in SG: putting — but he’ll need to execute at least a handful of timely rolls. If so, he’ll be borderline impossible to beat. Keyword: borderline.
Picks!
Hideki Matsuyama, outright (+2200): Matsuyama’s Sunday 62 at the Genesis Invitational remains arguably the most impressive round on the PGA Tour in 2024. Matsuyama also contended at the API and Players. He’s coming off a T7 at the Valero Texas Open.
The 2021 Masters champ has been a mainstay in the top 20 at Augusta throughout his career.
Si-Woo Kim, Top 10 (+450): At 28 years old, Kim already has a wealth of Augusta experience: Eight starts, seven made cuts. He’s 9-for-9 on cuts in 2024 and contended at TPC Sawgrass.
Brian Harman, Top 10 (+500): The reigning Open champ has been solid in 2024, factoring into the Sentry, API, and Players. The Georgia Bulldog hasn’t missed a cut since July, and will surely want to contend in his home state.
Russell Henley, Top 20 (+150): Henley flies under the radar but he’s amongst the steadiest competitors on the PGA Tour. Henley is elite with his irons, contributing to a T4 at ANGC last year. He rarely misses a cut.
Corey Conners, Top 20 (+190): Based on his ball-striking ceiling and statistical profile, Conners is a reasonable pick for every PGA Tour stop, and the Masters is no exception. Outside of two Valeros, however, his putting has kept him out of the winner’s circle. Ideally, his iron play will create makeable putts this week.
One and Done — Matt Fitzpatrick (+4000): Fitzpatrick’s PGA Tour season has been random. The 2022 U.S. Open champ missed cuts at the Genesis and API, then pulled out a back-door fifth place at TPC Sawgrass. In February, he realized he had been using the wrong weight on his driver for months.
The 29-year-old Englishman has a strong track record in majors, including two top-10s at Augusta. Nobody would be stunned to see Fitz atop the leaderboard.
Collin Morikawa (+250), Justin Thomas (+270), Jordan Spieth (+370) to miss the cut:
I want these major champions on the course this weekend, and I’m certainly not expecting all three to come up short. I just can’t trust them right now.
Since turning pro in 2020, Morikawa has ranked in the top three on the PGA Tour in SG: Approach. Not coincidentally, his track record at Augusta has been strong, with a pair of top 10s before an MC in ’23. This season, though, he’s 80th on approach. His last three results? A missed cut at the API, T45 at the Players, and T75 at the Valero.
Thomas seemed to be emerging from his year-long fun, until missed cuts at Riviera, Sawgrass, and a T64 at Innisbrook. His approach game ranks sixth, but his putting ranks 174th. Parting ways with a prolific caddie the week before the Masters doesn’t exactly engender optimism.
Spieth will always have the short-game chops to win green jackets. That said, 2024 has been a roller-coaster for the 2015 Masters champ — best evidenced by his recent adventure at TPC San Antonio.
Other plausible contenders: Nick Taylor, Sam Burns, Taylor Moore, Shane Lowry, Bryson DeChambeau
Key storylines
At this stage of Rory McIlroy‘s career, nothing matters besides the Masters. He missed the cut in 2021 and 2023 but was T2 in 2022, and has finished top-10 in seven of his past nine majors overall. He’s been plagued by giant mistakes in 2024, and his elite driving has been wiped out by erratic approach performance. But, Rory is coming off his first top-1o of the year, at the Valero — where his approach game was elite — and a reassuring pilgrimage to swing guru Butch Harmon. The pressure will be immense.
Jon Rahm has four top-10s in four LIV appearances. He’s finished top-10 in five of his last six Masters starts. Rahm will be joined by 12 LIV mates — seven of whom own green jackets. Fortunately, thanks to last year’s tournament, we know that LIV players can show up to Augusta and hang. We know it won’t lead to audience growth for LIV. And, we know that once the golf starts, that’s all anybody will be focused on — at least for four glorious days.
Cameron Smith is the LIV player I’m most intrigued by. He’s finished T2 and T3 at Augusta, thanks to a short game tailor-made for the hallowed venue. The 30-year-old Aussie has already won a Players and an Open. His inconsistent health has rendered his LIV results tricky to gauge, and he withdrew from last weekend’s LIV Miami due to illness.
Brooks Koepka will be laser-focused on avenging his 2023 second-place. Koepka, openly indifferent to non-majors, is one of the most prolific major participants ever: 17 top-seven finishes, five wins.
In total, 18 green jacket winners are in the ’24 field: Tiger, Phil, Spieth, Scheffler, Rahm, Matsuyama, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Jose Maria Olazabal, Fred Couples, Vijay Singh, Mike Weir, Zach Johnson, Danny Willett, Charl Schwartzel, Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed and Adam Scott. DJ set the tournament scoring record in 2020 (20-under 268).
Can Max Homa, Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau, Viktor Hovland, or Patrick Cantlay get serious? At least one of these top-20 guys has to break through a major … right? The PGA Tour would surely love a few of its stars not named Scheffler to make a grand statement. Schauffele has a case for the tour’s second-best player in 2024, with six top 10s in eight starts.
I’m pumped to watch Sahith Theegala and Will Zalatoris. Theegala finished ninth in his Masters debut in 2023 — highlighted by an electric chip-in on Sunday. The 24-year-old has since won his first PGA Tour event (Fortinet Championship) and registered three top 10s in 2024. Theegala is of the Bubba/Spieth/Phil/Burns ilk — casually creative, bold, and inventive. In other words: just what Augusta is looking for.
Zalatoris’ T2 at Riviera was hugely encouraging post-back-surgery, though his putter has since let him down. The 27-year-old boasts a sterling track record in majors, with six T8s or better in nine starts. Willy Z has already banked a runner-up and T6 at the Masters. He’s an absurd ball-striker who can win any golf tournament with half-decent putting.
Three players received special invitations from ANGC: Joaquin Niemann (for his work in non-LIV tournaments), Thorbjorn Olesen, and 2023 DP World Tour Rookie of the Year Ryo Hisatsune, the 21-year-old from Japan. Considering Niemann’s well-publicized efforts to earn a place in the field, his dominance on LIV (two wins this season), and his triumph at the 2022 Genesis — Riviera success correlates to Augusta — all eyes will be on the talented 25-year-old Chilean this week.
Amateurs in the field: Jasper Stubbs, Neil Shipley, Santiago De La Fuente, Stewart Hagestad, Christo Lamprecht. The 6-foot-8 Lamprecht, a senior at Georgia Tech, is the top-ranked amateur in the world. He led the 2023 Open Championship after Round 1. An amateur has never won a green jacket, though Sam Bennett began Saturday in the penultimate group last year.
Akshay Bhatia secured the final spot in the field — and his first Masters appearance — with his thrilling playoff win over Denny McCarthy at TPC San Antonio. (The 22-year-old prodigy will become the first Drive, Chip & Putt finalist to start at Augusta.) Bhatia will have to navigate the shoulder injury he suffered fist-pumping on the 18th green at the Valero. “I’m hoping my shoulder should be good, but I might be a little scared to hit some shots, and we just have to find out tomorrow,” he said Monday. McCarthy, meanwhile, will hope his putter stays historically hot through the drive down Magnolia Lane.
Wyndham Clark, Ludvig Aberg, Grayson Murray, Lee Hodges, Adam Schenk, Nick Dunlap, Peter Malnati, Adrian Meronk, Nicolai Hojgaard, Matthieu Pavon, Byeong-Hun An, Stephan Jaeger, Eric Cole, Austin Eckroat, and Jake Knapp will also be making Masters debuts.
Aberg, 24, is already ranked No. 9 in the world. He hasn’t even played in a major, yet has a Ryder Cup, a PGA Tour win, and two 10s in 2024 Signature Events. His positive across-the-board stats align with the aesthetic beauty of his swing. Is he ready?
Clark went from journeyman at 29 to No. 2 player in the world at 30. He’s coming off runner-ups at Bay Hill and TPC Sawgrass, though recently tweaked his back. He possesses the iron game, shot-crafting, and refined mental approach to win a jacket. He ranks 10th in approach, ninth in tee-to-green, and second in total SG in 2024. Only three players have won in their first appearance at Augusta, and none since 1979. However, it’s unprecedented to have two players this accomplished making their debuts.
Tom Kim explained to me why he loves the Augusta locker rooms (once he found them), so hopefully, that helps him find his game, too. Fellow Full Swing subject Rickie Fowler — making just his second appearance since 2020 — has also struggled in 2024.
Luke List has missed every cut since his T2 at Riviera, though he does live in Augusta. Smart man.
Phil Mickelson is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his first of three Masters wins. Somehow, Lefty ended up with a back-door runner-up in 2023, thanks to an out-of-nowhere Sunday 64. On the course, the 53-year-old has been largely irrelevant on LIV.
Finally, Tiger Woods is vying for a record 24th consecutive Masters cut. He’s also hoping to complete four rounds of a PGA Tour event for the first time since February 2023. The 15-time major champion may not agree, but at this point, sticking around through the weekend would count as a hugely successful result for the 48-year-old.
“He played great today,” Zalatoris said Monday about Woods. “He outdrove me a couple times, so there was some chirping going on. He looks great. He’s moving as well as he can be.”
Expectations have literally never been lower for Tiger Woods at the Masters, and that’s a good thing.
