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Masters contenders as Scheffler and McIlroy look to join elite clubs at Augusta
Bryson DeChambeau, Ludvig Aberg and Xander Schauffele will also hope to mount a challenge at Augusta National.
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Scottie Scheffler will defend his title when the 89th Masters takes place at Augusta National from April 10-13.
Scheffler is bidding to become just the fourth player to win back-to-back green jackets after Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.
Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the main contenders for the year’s first major championship.
Scottie SchefflerScheffler, who won his first green jacket in 2022, was in brilliant form ahead of last year’s Masters, winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational by five shots and seven days later becoming the first player to claim back-to-back Players Championship titles at Sawgrass. The world number one has unsurprisingly not been able to replicate such heroics to date after a delayed start to the season caused by a hand injury suffered while preparing dinner on Christmas Day, but ominously returned to form with rounds of 62 and 63 and a share of second in his last pre-Masters start in Houston.
Rory McIlroyMcIlroy’s 11th attempt to win the Masters and complete a career grand slam comes on the back of a superb start to the season, including victories in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Players Championship. Immediately after the former McIlroy referenced winning at “one of the cathedrals of golf” and the other course he mentioned was, unsurprisingly, Augusta National. His recent Masters record includes a thrilling closing 64 in 2022 sandwiched between two missed cuts, while his hopes of contending last year were ruined by a second round of 77.
Bryson DeChambeauDeChambeau was ridiculed for saying in 2020 that Augusta National was a “par 67 for me” due to his prodigious hitting, only to manage a best score of 69 that year – the Masters was held in November due to the covid pandemic – to finish 18 shots behind winner Dustin Johnson. However, DeChambeau finally broke his personal par to lead after an opening 65 last year and eventually finished sixth, his first top-10 finish in eight starts. A month later he finished second behind Xander Schauffele in the US PGA and in June claimed his second US Open title after a dramatic battle with Rory McIlroy.
Xander SchauffeleSchauffele insisted the best was yet to come after narrowly missing out on the Players Championship title last year and was proved correct in stunning fashion, winning his maiden major title in the US PGA and following up with victory in the Open at Royal Troon. A tie for seventh in the US Open meant that his eighth place in the Masters was his worst finish in the majors in 2024, while he was also runner-up at Augusta to Tiger Woods in 2019 and third in 2021.
Ludvig AbergAberg was listed as a contender last year despite the fact that it was his debut at Augusta, and first start in any major, with Fuzzy Zoeller famously being the last player to win the Masters on their tournament debut back in 1979. In typical fashion Aberg defied expectations and held a share of the lead after seven holes of the final round before finishing second behind Scheffler. The 25-year-old Swede birdied four of the last six holes to win his second PGA Tour title in the Genesis Invitational in February.
