Rory McIlroy and defending champion Scottie Scheffler eye history at Masters
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler shake hands after the final round of The Genesis Invitational 2025 on Feb 16.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
AUGUSTA – If it is supposed to be hard to win the Masters, no one told Scottie Scheffler.
The world No. 1 claimed his second Masters at age 27 in 2024, at the outset of a thoroughly dominant season. He has yet to win a tournament of any kind in 2025, but Scheffler could join Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win three Green Jackets in four years when the first Major of the season tees off in Augusta, Georgia.
“At the end of the day, when I tee it up on Thursday, I start the tournament even par just like everybody else... Let’s say I get off to a bad start on Thursday, and I can use some stuff that I’ve done here the past few years as confidence to kind of turn things around,” Scheffler said.
“But, at the end of the day, when I step out there on Thursday, we’re at even par and it’s a totally new golf tournament.”
The American’s chief competitor, whether you base it on the betting markets, talent on paper or recent form, is Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irishman is off to something of a dream start this season, winning both the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Players Championship.
Once again, he arrives at Augusta National Golf Club aiming to both end his 11-year Major championship drought and complete the career Grand Slam, something only Tiger Woods, Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen accomplished.
The 35-year-old is known to tinker with how he prepares for the Masters year to year. This season, he tied for fifth at the Houston Open before taking last week off.
“Definitely you’re going to face particular shots on this golf course that you don’t really face any other week of the year,” McIlroy said of Augusta, a par-72 that was lengthened to 7,555 yards in 2024.
“So coming up here a couple of times, doing a little bit more preparation on some of those shots on the golf course, I think is important.”
Statistically, the best golfer on tour this season not named Scheffler or McIlroy has been Collin Morikawa, though the 28-year-old American does not have a win to show for it yet. He played in the final Sunday pairing with Scheffler in 2024 and stumbled to a final-round 74.
Morikawa also lost the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, a few holes after Russell Henley overtook him with a chip-in eagle.
“You keep knocking at the door. Look, I’m not giving up tomorrow. I hope to play a long, long time. You’ve got to learn how to lose and you’ve got to learn how to win. It’s just part of it,” the two-time Major champion said.
Twelve members of LIV Golf are in the field, led by 2023 Masters champion Jon Rahm. The Spaniard had a disappointing Major season in 2024, something he is eager to prove was a fluke and not related to his US$350 million (S$469 million) move to LIV.
“I think last year the state of my game was being unfairly judged based on how I played here and at the PGA compared to how I really played throughout the whole year. While I understand why, I don’t think it was the most fair state of my game,” said Rahm, who has top-10 finishes in every LIV event in 2025.
The field of 95 has no shortage of recognisable names, including recent Major winners Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman (all Americans) and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, plus a host of top players vying for their first Major.
Bernhard Langer of Germany (1985 and 1993 champion) will make his 41st and final Masters start at age 67.
Argentina’s 55-year-old veteran Angel Cabrera (2009 champion) will compete for the first time since 2019 after serving two years in prison for assault on two ex-girlfriends. REUTERS
