The 90th Masters Tournament at Augusta National is set to be a thrilling affair, with a long list of realistic contenders and a cloud of beautiful uncertainty hanging over the week. The tournament is shaping up to be a fascinating spectacle, with a number of intriguing storylines and a strong field of players. Here's a breakdown of some of the key players and factors to watch out for.
The Top Contenders
Scottie Scheffler
Scottie Scheffler is the undoubted top player in the world, but he enters the week without a cloak of invincibility. He's currently 82nd and 145th in strokes gained approach and average proximity to the hole this season, but he's still an absurd 111-under-par in the majors since 2020, 55 shots better than any other player in that span. If he wins his third green jacket this week, he would be the fastest to do so, needing one fewer attempt than Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods (eight apiece).
Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy is on a decade-plus quest for the last leg of the career Grand Slam, and he's coming off a rollercoaster of a final round last year. He's not in the same enviable elite form he had a year ago, but he's still a strong contender. He's the first champion to double-bogey the first hole of the final round since Nick Faldo in 1990, and his four double bogeys and two hole scores of seven for the week are both firsts all-time for a Masters winner.
LIV Golf's Leading Men
Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm are both entering the season's first major with momentum. DeChambeau has won the last two tournaments on the circuit in Singapore and South Africa, while Rahm has a win in Hong Kong and is the league's current runaway statistical leader. Rahm's performance at Augusta National is inching closer to excellence, and his putting has improved immensely on these storied greens.
The Course
Augusta National is a course that rewards a strong approach game, with six of the last seven winners ranking in the top six that week in strokes gained approach. The field has hit better than 71 percent of its fairways each year in the last four years, with the number landing at 73.6 percent in 2025. However, the price of missing off the tee has increased, with the average penalty for missing a fairway on a par four or five at Augusta National now at 0.41 strokes.
The Players to Watch
Cameron Young
Cameron Young would love to follow in the footsteps of Scheffler and McIlroy the past two seasons, as both men followed up a Players Championship victory with a Masters win the next month. Young has taken at least two weeks off entering the season's first major, and he's coming off a record-long 375-yard missile at 18 four Sundays ago.
Justin Rose
Justin Rose has endured a unique quantity of Masters heartbreak, but he's playing some of the best golf of his entire career. He's averaging more strokes gained approach on the PGA Tour than he did in the 2013 season, when he won the U.S. Open. And since 2020, no player with a dozen or more rounds at Augusta National has averaged more strokes gained putting per round than Rose has (+1.33).
European Ryder Cup Teammates
Three European Ryder Cup teammates are on the short list of potential first-time Masters champions this week. Ludvig Åberg and Matt Fitzpatrick have both played in two Masters and contended in both, while Tommy Fleetwood has four top-10 finishes in his last five worldwide starts.
The Missing Legends
This will be the first Masters played without either Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson since 1994. The left-handed contingent is strongly represented again this year, with Robert MacIntyre and Akshay Bhatia both making their third Masters starts this week.
The Final Word
The 90th Masters has a near-impossible act to follow, but with so many intriguing storylines, it has the fuel to try and match it. The tournament is shaping up to be a fascinating spectacle, with a number of strong contenders and a strong field of players. It's sure to be a memorable event, with a lot of golf to be played and a lot of drama to unfold.
