Masters preview: Is it finally Rory's year?

Jesse Campigotto · CBC Sports

· Posted: Apr 09, 2025 5:04 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

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Happy Masters week to those who celebrate! The archetypal (and best) play large of the twelvemonth is 1 of the definite signs of spring, and this year's tourney amid the blooming azaleas astatine Augusta National features immoderate absorbing storylines. Here's immoderate worldly to travel arsenic the pursuit for the greenish overgarment tees disconnected connected Thursday.

Scottie Scheffler really seems beatable.

2024 Scottie was the closest happening we've seen to premier Tiger Woods. With a caller putter helping to destruct the lone weakness successful his game, the ball-striking savant won 9 tournaments — including his 2nd Masters rubric successful 3 years, his archetypal Olympic golden medal and his archetypal season-ending Tour Championship.

But past came the Christmas Day massacre. While preparing homemade ravioli (bravo) for a vacation meal, the world's No. 1 golfer sliced his close hand on a wineglass helium was utilizing to carve retired his dough.

The wounded was atrocious capable to necessitate surgery, and Scheffler missed the archetypal period of the play earlier returning astatine Pebble Beach successful precocious January. Through six events, he's inactive looking for his archetypal triumph of 2025, though helium did decorativeness successful the apical 3 astatine the big-money Genesis Invitational successful mid-February and tied for 2nd astatine past week's Houston Open.

Is this the twelvemonth for Rory McIlroy?

The world's second-ranked subordinate has won 4 large championships, 28 PGA Tour events and much than $100 cardinal US successful prize wealth during his career. And yet, the 35-year-old Northern Irishman has go the astir tortured psyche successful play since winning his past large successful 2014.

Over the past decade, McIlroy has had 11 top-five finishes successful the majors, including 4 seconds. His latest runner-up, astatine past year's U.S. Open, was particularly achy arsenic McIlroy took a two-stroke pb to the 14th tee astatine Pinehurst connected Sunday earlier blowing it with a brace of atrocious putts.

Meanwhile, the greenish overgarment remains McIlroy's achromatic whale. The Masters is the lone large he's ne'er won, contempt 7 apical 10s implicit the past 11 years. That includes a backdoor 2nd to Scheffler successful 2022, erstwhile McIlroy holed retired from a greenside bunker connected 18 to necktie the Masters final-round grounds with an 8-under 64.

His decennary of large misses aside, it feels similar this could yet beryllium McIlroy's clip astatine Augusta. With Scheffler moving his mode backmost into form, McIlroy has already won 2 of the PGA Tour's lucrative "signature" events this season — astatine Pebble Beach successful February and a fewer weeks agone astatine the Players Championship, wherever helium blew distant seasoned J.J. Spaun successful a three-hole playoff to triumph the Tour's richest event.

Watch retired for the LIV guys.

Here's a shocker: Donald Trump has failed to resoluteness the complex stalemate between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf aft boasting helium could broker a bid woody in less than 15 minutes. So, astir 2 years aft the rival leagues reached a "framework agreement" that suggested a merger, immoderate of the apical golfers successful the satellite are inactive disconnected cashing the Saudi sovereign wealthiness fund's insane paycheques portion popping into superior events conscionable 4 times a twelvemonth astatine the majors.

As annoying arsenic the continued beingness of LIV is, a fewer of its guys stay among the champion connected the planet. The official satellite rankings are nary assistance successful identifying them due to the fact that they don't grant points for LIV events, truthful let's crook to Data Golf's ratings. They person 2023 Masters champ Jon Rahm astatine No. 4 (he's 80th successful the authoritative rankings), reigning U.S. Open champ Bryson DeChambeau 10th and young Chilean Joaquin Niemann 11th. 

In presumption of their odds of winning this Masters, Data Golf puts Rahm 3rd (behind Scheffler and McIlroy) and DeChambeau 5th (behind two-time large victor Collin Morikawa). Niemann is ninth, down 2021 Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama, two-time PGA Championship victor Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay, who's ne'er won a major.

Corey Conners is Canada's apical contender.

Four Canadians were invited to Augusta this year, including Nick Taylor, who earned his 5th vocation PGA Tour triumph astatine January's Sony Open; Taylor Pendrith, who got his archetypal trophy past year; and Mike Weir, who's nary longer a superior contender astatine property 54 but owes america perfectly thing aft his iconic Masters triumph successful 2003.

But the 1 with the champion accidental of slipping connected the greenish overgarment is Conners, who has climbed to 21st successful the satellite rankings and 13th connected Data Golf's database with an fantabulous past month. In his past 4 events, the 33-year-old from Listowel, Ont., has placed nary worse than 18th and has 3 top-eights. That includes a third-place showing astatine the large Arnold Palmer Invitational, wherever helium pocketed $1.4 million, and a necktie for sixth astatine the Players, which was worthy implicit $840K.

Conners' way grounds astatine Augusta is besides solid. He's made the chopped successful 5 of his six appearances since turning pro and had a tally of 3 consecutive top-10s from 2020 done 2022, topping retired astatine a necktie for sixth. Last year, helium tied for 38th.

Conners has ever been precise bully from tee to green, particularly erstwhile it comes to driving accuracy and attack shots. The quality for him this twelvemonth has been improved enactment astir the greens and with his putter, which hap to beryllium 2 of the keys to occurrence astatine Augusta.

Here's much connected the 95-man field for this year's Masters, including groupings and tee times for the archetypal 2 days.