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The seven golfers who won a pga tour event after turning 50, share this article.

Since January 1, 1900, more than 16,800 players have teed it up on the PGA Tour. There have been more than 4,300 official Tour events. More than 900 individual winners have grasped championship hardware.

Of those, all of seven were 50 years or older.

The only players to roll through the elderly roadblock were Craig Stadler, Fred Funk, John Barnum, James Barnes, Davis Love III, Art Wall, Jr., and Sam Snead.

Snead was 52 years, 10 months and 8 days old when he won the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open, making him the oldest to win on the PGA Tour.

Here’s a look at those seven players.

Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio contributed to this article .

Craig Stadler

Craig Stadler won the 2003 B.C. Open. Photo by Craig Jones/Getty Images

50 years, 1 month, 18 days

Became the first PGA Tour Champions winner to earn a PGA Tour victory. In 2003, he won the Senior Players Championship and then the following week won the B.C. Open, which was held opposite the British Open. Stadler became the first player 50-and-older since Art Wall in 1975 won the Greater Milwaukee Open.

Fred Funk makes a birdie putt on the 7th hole during the final round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic at El Camaleon at Mayakoba in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico on Feb. 25, 2007. Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

50 years, 8 months, 11 days

Won the 2007 Mayakoba Golf Classic, which was opposite the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship that season. Funk was the first winner of the Mayakoba event and the first to win a PGA Tour event in Mexico. He shot a course-record 62 in the second round. Funk was 50 years, 8 months and 12 days old when he won the tournament.

John Barnum

John Barnum, 50-year-old pro from Belmont, Michigan, poses in front of the PGA scoreboard at Aronimink Golf Club at Newtown Square, Pennsylvania on July 20, 1962, where he leads the field with a four-under-par 66 at the start of the second round of play in the 44th annual tournament. Photo by Associated Press

51 years, 1 month, 5 days

Was the second player to win on the PGA Tour after turning 50. He’s also the only player to ever to win his first Tour event after turning the big 5-0. His win came in the Cajun Classic Open Invitational on Nov 11, 1962. He won by six strokes over Gay Brewer.

James Barnes

51 years, 3 months, 7 days

When he won the 1937 Long Island Open, he became the first player older than 50 to win a PGA Tour event. But his career was much more notable than that. He won the first-ever PGA Championship, which was played in 1916. He won another three years later. He won the 1921 U.S. Open by nine shots, a record that stood until Tiger Woods broke it in 2000 at Pebble Beach. He also won the 1925 Open Championship. He would win again in his 50s, claiming the 1939 New Jersey Open when he was 53. It was his last victory.

Davis Love III

Davis Love III poses with the Sam Snead Trophy after winning the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina. Photo by Rob Kinnan/USA TODAY Sports

51 years, 4 months, 10 days

DL3 was 51 years and four months old when he won the 2015 Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, making him the third oldest PGA Tour winner behind Snead, who was 52 years, 10 months at the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open, and Art Wall, who was 51 years, 7 months when he won the 1975 Greater Milwaukee Open.

Art Wall, Jr.

Art Wall, Jr. and Arnold Palmer at the presentation ceremony after the 1960 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 10, 1960 in Augusta, Georgia. Photo by Augusta National/Getty Images

51 years, 7 months, 10 days

Had a storied career and in particular, a most remarkable season in 1959. That year he won the Masters as well as four PGA Tour titles. He was named Player of the Year, won the Vardon Trophy and won the money title. Credited with 45 holes-in-one in his career, Wall won his final tournament in 1975 at the Greater Milwaukee Open when he was 51 years and 7 months old.

Sam Snead in 1962 at The Walton Heath Golf Club in Walton on the Hill, United Kingdom. Photo by Don Morley/Getty Images

52 years, 10 months, 8 days

The oldest player to win a PGA Tour event. He won his 82nd and final Tour victory when he was nearly 53 years old in the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open. Snead won the inaugural event in 1938 and then won it again six more times over the years. By 1965, it had been four years since Snead won on Tour. At 52 years, 10 months and 8 days, Snead still holds the mark for oldest player to win. The 27-year stretch between his first and last win is also still the PGA Tour record.

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Masters Tournament

Augusta National Golf Club

A HISTORY OF EVERY HOLE AT AUGUSTA

EVERY HOLE AT AUGUSTA

Ranking The Field

Masters 2024: Power rankings for the entire field at Augusta

Masters Week is here, and rather than have you cram and try to do your own research on every competitor in the 2024 Masters field , we have done the work for you. Whether you're a casual or massive golf fan or interested in the below write-ups for your Masters pools or bets, you're in the right place. We are here to make you more educated about this year's participants at Augusta National.

Below you'll find power rankings for the 2024 Masters field. I have designed these rankings to be a fantastic reference tool. Take a moment to peruse the key in case any of the information below is baffling. Make great use of the list, and more importantly, enjoy the 88th Masters!

RELATED: Masters 2024 picks: The bets we made on Monday

• Age: Self-explanatory. That being said, six of the last 10 winners were in their 20s, three were in there 30s, and Tiger (2019) was in his 40s.
• Odds to win: These are the best futures odds listed for each player across multiple domestic betting boards (as of Sunday).
• OWGR/Data Golf: Let’s face the facts, the OWGR is incomplete. To give us a better top line view of player performance, I included the Data Golf rankings.
• Player trend: This list is meant to be an immediate reference tool for next week. Quite simply, what direction is a player’s game going. Up is good, down is bad.
• Masters appearances/cuts made: The number of times a player has competed in the tournament along with the number of successful cuts made.
• Best Masters finish: Again, another quick reference tool. In the last five years, all but one winner had a top-five finish of better prior to winning the green jacket. The outlier is Scottie Scheffler. Scheffler’s best finish prior to winning the Masters was T-18.
• Notes: A quick summary for each player to pique or deter your interest in their chances to win or play well in the 2024 Masters.

More Masters preview stories

We’ll first mention a few names not in our top 50 who are not likely to factor into the late weekend precedings.

Older past champions

Fred Couples, Jose Maria Olazabal, Vijay Singh, Mike Weir

It’s very unfortunate Bernhard Langer won’t be here, as he planned for this to be his final Masters. We’re sure he’ll be back. It’s a big year for Jose Maria Olaz á bal , who won his first green jacket 30 years ago—and 25 years since he earned his second Masters title. Olazabal has played three PGA Tour Champions events in 2024, finishing in the top 30 in all of them. We know not to sleep on the seniors at Augusta. Mike Weir plays actively on the PGA Tour Champions and owns 11 top-five results in his senior career.

Here's a quick ranking of seniors in the field—for your Masters pool picks (if Phil Mickelson is included in this bucket of 50-plus somethings, he's obviously the pick after his T-2 here last year):

• Vijay Singh
• Fred Couples
• Jose Maria Olazábal

Santiago de la Fuente, Stewart Hagestad, Christo Lambrecht, Neal Shipley, Jasper Stubbs

True to the legacy of Bobby Jones, five amateurs qualified for the 88th Masters. Really six, but in the most unusual of twists, the 2023 U.S. Amateur Champion Nick Dunlap won on the PGA Tour back in January. By taking his tour card, he lost his amateur spot. I wonder if he will still stay in the Crow’s Nest.

Here’s how I’d rank the amateurs in the 2024 Masters field:

• Neal Shipley
• Jasper Stubbs
• Santiago de la Fuente
• Christo Lamprecht
• Stewart Hagestad

RELATED:   The most changed hole at Augusta National

LIV players not ranked below

Sergio Garcia cemented his top spot on this list with a great showing at Doral, losing in a playoff. The 2017 Masters champion has shown some semblance of form in 2014 with a runner-up to Joaquin Niemann at Mayakoba, then the close call in Miami.

• Bubba Watson
• Charl Schwartzel
• Adrian Meronk
• Sergio Garcia

Eric Cole, Cameron Davis, Rickie Fowler, Austin Eckroat, Lucas Glover, Ryo Hisatsune, Lee Hodges, Nicolai Højgaard, Stephan Jaeger, Zach Johnson, Chris Kirk, Kurt Kitayama, Jake Knapp, Luke List, Peter Malnati, Grayson Murray, Thorbjørn Olesen, Matthieu Pavon, Adam Schenk, Sepp Straka, Erik van Rooyen, Camilo Villegas, Danny Willett, Gary Woodland

Our apologies to Zach Johnson , who is the only past champion in this group. There are some other names who could certainly make some noise and be OK selections for your final tiers in Masters pools—we like Luke List , Erik van Rooyen and Kurt Kitayama to shoot a low round or two—but we feel the below 50 players in our power rankings will be the ones to focus on come the weekend.

Masters 2024: Power Rankings

50. adam hadwin.

Age: 36 Odds to win: 220-1 OWGR: 46 Data Golf: 42 Player trend: ↗️ Masters appearances: 3 Cuts made: 2 Best Masters finish: T-24 (2018)

Hadwin’s profile is intriguing. The Canadian boasts three top-10s in 2024, including a fourth-place finish at Riviera off a red-hot Sunday round. But his major history is lacking—with just one top 10 to his name (2022 U.S. Open). He also hasn’t played the Masters since 2020, but he’s playing some of the best golf of his career.

49. Min Woo Lee

Age: 25 Odds to win: 75-1 OWGR: 32 Data Golf: 50 Player trend: ➡️ Masters appearances: 2 Cuts made: 1 Best Masters finish: T-14 (2022)

The social-media darling has become a popular figure out on tour, and his game is fun to watch. Lee’s length off the tee is in the top third of the field, but Augusta National is a second-shot golf course, and he has struggled with his irons this year. His strokes gained/approach numbers place him in the bottom third of the field.

48. Tommy Fleetwood

Age: 33 Odds to win: +5500 OWGR: 12 Data Golf: 17 Player trend: ↘️ Masters appearances: 7 Cuts made: 6 Best Masters finish: T-14 (2022)

You know the Englishman always brings his A-game to the majors, but he’s trending in the wrong direction right now. His normally reliable iron play has been quite putrid of late—losing more than eight strokes on approach in two rounds at Bay Hill and more than three strokes at The Players. He can boast just one top 10 on the PGA Tour this year (Riviera), though he did win in the Middle East in January. Normally you might trust him in a lower tier in major pools—he’s got four top-10s in the past two years at the majors, which few players can boast—but his stats will test your belief this year.

47. Keegan Bradley

Age: 37 Odds to win: 200-1 OWGR: 18. Data Golf: 52 Player trend: ↘️ Masters appearances: 7 Cuts made: 6 Best Masters finish: T-22 (2015)

It’s somewhat surprising that Keegan Bradley hasn’t finished inside the top 20 at Augusta in seven appearances given his proficiency with his irons. The putter has always held him back—and a season ranking 20th on the PGA Tour in SG/putting allowed him to earn victories at the Zozo Championship and the Travelers Championship, putting him firmly in Ryder Cup consideration. The putting has regressed big time thus far in the 2023-2024 season, as Bradley ranks 161st on tour in SG/putting. We’ll see if the giant Ryder Cup chip on his back can remain a motivating factor in 2024 and 2025 ahead of the next Ryder Cup at Bethpage, just miles away from the St. John’s campus he attended school.

46. Akshay Bhatia

Brennan Asplen

Age: 22 Odds to win: 150-1 OWGR: 34. Data Golf: 73 Player trend: ↗️ Masters appearances/cuts made: Rookie

Bhatia held off Denny McCarthy's massive back-nine birdie barrage to earn the Valero Texas Open victory and the final invitation to the Masters. Only one player in the field comes into Masters week with a win. Bhatia's performance all week was so impressive—he gained 21.15 strokes to the field at TPC San Antonio after a career-best approach week the previous event in Houston. Just an amazing story for the 2014 Drive, Chip, and Putt finalist! Bhatia’s ball-striking fits well around Augusta National; let’s just hope that shoulder remains healthy.

45. Emiliano Grillo

Age: 31 Odds to win: 250-1 OWGR: 36 Data Golf: 48 Player trend: ➡️ Masters appearances: 3 Cuts made: 3 Best Masters finish: T-17 (2016)

Notes: Three starts and three made cuts down Magnolia Lane. Grillo’s much-improved putter has led to five top 25s in 2024.

44. JT Poston

Age: 30 Odds to win: 200-1 OWGR: 44 Data Golf: 35 Player trend: ➡️ Masters appearances: 2 Cuts made: 1 Best Masters finish: T-34 (2023)

The “Postman” delivered in early 2024 with three top-10s, but since March he hasn’t even recorded a top 40. With his lack of distance off the tee, it’s tough to feel too optimistic about his chances at Augusta National.

43. Ryan Fox

Age: 37 Odds to win: 220-1 OWGR: 49 Data Golf: 126 Player trend: ➡️ Masters appearances: 1 Cuts made: 1 Best Masters finish: T-26 (2023)

I walked with Fox at WMPO in February. The New Zealand native’s long game and trajectory control are a great fit for getting around Augusta.

42. Tyrrell Hatton

Age: 32 Odds to win: 85-1 OWGR: 17 Data Golf: 12 Player trend: ↘️ Masters appearances: 7 Cuts made: 5 Best Masters finish: T-18 (2021)

It feels odd to rank Hatton so low, but it’s tough to know what version of the Englishman will turn up this week. The newly minted LIV golfer started his season off with a top 10 in Mayakoba but hasn’t finished inside the top 10 in the 48-person fields since. If he was on the PGA Tour and playing regularly, we’d have a better gauge on his play, which is typically suited well for Augusta being such a great iron player. That’s what makes his history at the Masters confounding, with only one top 30 in seven starts.

41. Jason Day

Age: 36 Odds to win: 60-1 OWGR: 22 Data Golf: 37 Player trend: ➡️ Masters appearances: 12 Cuts made: 9 Best Masters finish: T-2 (2011)

The Aussie showed early in his career how nicely he got on with Augusta National—with two top-three finishes in his first three appearances. That has slowed as his game struggled over the past couple years—making the weekend only one time since 2020. Day had a nice start to 2024 with three top-10s in his first five starts, but he hasn’t finished inside the top 25 in his three most recent starts.

40. Phil Mickelson

Patrick Smith

Age: 53 Odds to win: 175-1 OWGR: 161 Data Golf: 432 Player trend: ➡️ Masters appearances: 30 Cuts made: 27 Best Masters finish: 1 (2004, 2006, 2010)

Lefty’s second-place finish last year was an amazing feat, showing his propensity for conjuring up greatness around Augusta National. He only had one top-20 in the five starts prior to 2023. He’s probably a lock for a “low senior” selection/bet (over 50).

RELATED: Phil Mickelson's greatest triumph came at the 2004 Masters. He and golf have never been the same

39. Russell Henley

Age: 34 Odds to win: 120-1 OWGR: 23 Data Golf: 15 Player trend: ➡️ Masters appearances: 7. Cuts made: 6. Best Masters finish: T-4 (2023)

It’s been a respectable year for Henley with four-place finishes at the API and Sony and a strong showing at the Valero. Henley has only four rounds in the 60s in 26 rounds at Augusta National Golf Club, but he had his best-ever finish last year (T-4).

38. Si Woo Kim

Age: 28 Odds to win: 130-1 OWGR: 45 Data Golf: 26 Player trend: ↗️ Masters appearances: 7 Cuts made: 6 Best Masters finish: T-12 (2021)

He doesn’t have marquee finishes, but Si Woo has been sensational this year. He’s gaining an average of six strokes on the field in his past five starts, one of the best marks in the field. Si Woo’s ball-striking is primed for a top 10 Masters finish.

37. Tiger Woods

Age: 48 Odds to win: 130-1 OWGR: 950 Data Golf: none Player trend: ❓ Masters appearances: 25 Cuts made: 24 Best Masters finish: 1 (1997, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2019)

Tiger will make the cut. Once he gets to the weekend, enjoy the roars amongst the pines as he finishes top 40. Woods has completed 96 rounds at Augusta National Golf Club and 51 were under par (53 percent).

36. Nick Taylor

Age: 35 Odds to win: 160-1 OWGR: 25 Data Golf: 49 Player trend: ↗️ Masters appearances: 1 Cuts made: 1 Best Masters finish: T-29 (2020)

With two wins since the 87th Masters, Taylor is one to keep your eye on. His approach game and putting are both ranked in the top eight of this field.

35. Byeong Hun An

Octavio Passos

Age: 32 Odds to win: 150-1 OWGR: 42 Data Golf: 32 Player trend: ↗️ Masters appearances: 4 Cuts made: 1 Best Masters finish: T-33 (2017)

An is getting a fresh start at ANGC. It’s his first start here since 2020, An has been solid to start 2024. The Players was a small misstep, but overall, An has played elite golf especially in signature events.

34. Taylor Moore

Age: 30 Odds to win: 280-1 OWGR: 53 Data Golf: 53 Player trend: ↗️ Masters appearances: 1 Cuts made: 1 Best Masters finish: T-39 (2023)

Moore is one player I’m interested to see return. Twelfth at Valspar and runner-up in Houston, Taylor’s well-rounded skillset fits the ANGC test quite well.

33. Brian Harman

Age: 37 Odds to win: 66-1 OWGR: 8. Data Golf: 22. Player trend: ↗️ Masters appearances: 5. Cuts made: 2. Best Masters finish: T-12 (2021)

Is Augusta National too long for the Open champion? Harman might be the least successful lefty to play the Masters five times. He is on another level compared to past appearances, so we’ll see how the former Georgia Bulldog fares. He won the 151st Open by six strokes, finished runner-up at The Players last month and then missed the cut at the Valspar: tread lightly.

RELATED: Masters 2024 picks: Our 13 best bets right now for Augusta National

32. Harris English

Age: 34 Odds to win: 180-1 OWGR: 40 Data Golf: 30 Player trend: ➡️ Masters appearances: 4 Cuts made: 3 Best Masters finish: T-21 (2021)

Why doesn’t Harris English play better at the Masters? The Georgia alumni drives it great, has a calm demeanor and incredible putter. Well, he should, but the fact is in 14 rounds played Harris has only broken par four times.

31. Bryson DeChambeau

Andrew Redington

Age: 30 Odds to win: 40-1 OWGR: 208 Data Golf: 21 Player trend: ➡️ Masters appearances: 7 Cuts made: 5 Best Masters finish: T-21 (2016)

Bryson’s best finish at the Masters was his first as an amateur. The last two starts were missed cuts. I guess the gods of Augusta National won’t let the “par 68” comment go.

RELATED: How Bryson DeChambeau broke an unwritten rule of Augusta

30. Justin Rose

Age: 43 Odds to win: 130-1 OWGR: 56 Data Golf: 94 Player trend: ↘️ Masters appearances: 18 Cuts made: 16 Best Masters finish: 2 (2015, 2017)

A missed cut at API and a missed cut at The Players, Rose needs a trip down Magnolia Lane to reset. This venue has been very good to him (especially on Thursdays), and right now he needs a change in trajectory.

29. Sungjae Im

Age: 26 Odds to win: 110-1 OWGR: 39 Data Golf: 56 Player trend: ➡️ Masters appearances: 4 Cuts made: 3 Best Masters finish: T-2 (2020)

It’s tough to find much positives with Sungjae’s start to the season. His iron play has been atrocious. Im has lost strokes on approach in seven of his past eight events. He only breaks the top 30 because Sungjae has an incredible short game and solid history at Augusta National.

28. Collin Morikawa

Age: 27 Odds to win: 44-1 OWGR: 16. Data Golf: 7. Player trend: ↘️ Masters appearances: 4. Cuts made: 4. Best Masters finish: 5 (2022)

I started my ranking with 25 names—players I have seen this spring out on tour and those we know from LIV. Morikawa wasn’t on it. One of the best iron players in the world, he has lost strokes on approach in three out of his past four starts. Unfortunately, the driver is not much better. The two-time major champion has higher than usual odds for a reason.

27. Tom Kim

Age: 21 Odds to win: 100-1 OWGR: 21 Data Golf: 38 Player trend: ➡️ Masters appearances: 1 Cuts made: 1 Best Masters finish: T-16 (2023)

Tom Kim had a similar mediocre lead into Augusta last year and finished top 20. For Kim, that just might be the ceiling at the Masters with a need for length off the tee and a below average flatstick. Full Swing 2 gave us plenty of insights into the young superstar, but why he has seven starts and only one top 20 this season was not one of them.

26. Corey Conners

Age: 32 Odds to win: 80-1 OWGR: 47 Data Golf: 25 Player trend: ↗️ Masters appearances: 6 Cuts made: 4 Best Masters finish: T-6 (2022)

Three straight top 10s until a missed cut in 2023 at the Masters. Conners builds confidence at Valero before heading to Georgia. Eighteenth at API, 13th at The Players, Corey will come back to positive DFS and Masters pool returns in 2024.

25. Sam Burns

David Cannon

Age: 27 Odds to win: 55-1 OWGR: 20. Data Golf: 14. Player trend: ➡️ Masters appearances: 2. Cuts made: 1. Best Masters finish: T-29 (2023)

Sam Burns figured out his driver to start the season and racked up four straight top 10s. Since that run, the results keep getting worse. The driver has become inconsistent, and the short game is no doubt a concern coming to Augusta National. Burns would have loved to play this tournament a month ago.

24. Dustin Johnson

Age: 39 Odds to win: 38-1 OWGR: 327 Data Golf: 40 Player trend: ➡️ Masters appearances: 13 Cuts made: 11 Best Masters finish: 1 (2020)

DJ has a win already this year and is currently ranked third on LIV’s player leaderboard. Only Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann are ahead of him. I like Johnson this week with so much attention on others.

23. Max Homa

Age: 33 Odds to win: 50-1 OWGR: 10 Data Golf: 11 Player trend: ➡️ Masters appearances: 4 Cuts made: 2 Best Masters finish: T-43 (2023)

Max Homa has missed the cut in eight of his past 15 majors. That’s a tough record to swallow entering the year’s most predictable setting. Tenth in the world rankings, he sits outside the top 20 on my list. I just need to see more than two rounds under par in 12 tries going around Augusta National.

22. Patrick Reed

Age: 33 Odds to win: 80-1 OWGR: 107 Data Golf: 77 Player trend: ➡️ Masters appearances: 10 Cuts made: 8 Best Masters finish: 1 (2018)

Love him or hate him, Patrick Reed has three top 10s in his past four Masters. The guy just knows how to navigate Augusta National. Unlike many of his LIV counterparts he continues to play non-LIV events to gain OWGR points. Reed has made eight straight cuts in major championships, and I really expect another top 20 (or better) finish this year at Augusta.

21. Viktor Hovland

Age: 26 Odds to win: 31-1 OWGR: 6 Data Golf: 5 Player trend: ⬇️ Masters appearances: 4 Cuts made: 4 Best Masters finish: T-7 (2023)

Hovland is one of the biggest question marks coming into the 88th Masters. What happened to FedEx Cup champion Viktor Hovland? After ending 2023 among the top four in the world, Hovland has just one top 20 in 2024. His famed around-the-green improvement has completely gone away, and he’s losing strokes tee to green. In his past five starts, Viktor is losing an average of 1.4 strokes T2G. It’s tough to watch at times, and we all cannot wait for Hovland to rediscover his happy place. I remember sitting through his press conference at API and listening to his struggles. Hovland is in the top 25 on this list based upon talent alone, but getting much closer than that on Sunday will take a serious turnaround.

20. Shane Lowry

Age: 37 Odds to win: 50-1 OWGR: 33 Data Golf: 27 Player trend: ↗️ Masters appearances: 8 Cuts made: 5 Best Masters finish: T-3 (2022)

Shane Lowry has four straight top 25s at the Masters. The last time Lowry looked this good coming into Magnolia Lane, he finished third. Shane is gaining over five strokes on the field tee to green (in his past five starts) and has been positive with his putter in three of those past five starts. In the middle tier of competitors, Lowry can go low at the Masters.

19. Cameron Young

Douglas P. DeFelice

Age: 26 Odds to win: 60-1 OWGR: 13 Data Golf: 19 Player trend: ↗️ Masters appearances: 2 Cuts made: 1 Best Masters finish: T-7 (2023)

Even with a seventh-place finish last year, Cameron Young’s stroke average at Augusta National is over par. What his result depends upon: Can a below-average putter win a green jacket? Young is a gifted ballstriker, but losing so many strokes on the greens against the best players in the world keeps him from winning. If we see a change with the putter performance on Thursday and Friday, you better believe Cam is a very viable live betting option!

18. Adam Scott

Age: 43 Odds to win: 120-1 OWGR: 52 Data Golf: 31 Player trend: ↘️ Masters appearances: 22 Cuts made: 20 Best Masters finish: 1 (2013)

Adam Scott has not missed a Masters cut since 2009. Scott started 2024 on a serious heater. The ball-striking was close to his peak. In recent weeks, he missed the cut at API and finished 45th at The Players. He’s another player who probably wished this tournament took place a month ago. Outside of another cut made, Adam needs to turn his tee-to-green play around if he plans to contend for a second green jacket.

17. Sahith Theegala

Age: 26 Odds to win: 55-1 OWGR: 15 Data Golf: 13 Player trend: ⬆️ Masters appearances: 1 Cuts made: 1 Best Masters finish: 9 (2023)

A debutant’s top 10 at the Masters catches everyone’s attention. Sahith Theegala is doing everything right early in his career. The former college player of the year at Pepperdine possesses a world-class short game and putter. To complement that amazing scoring ability, Sahith has gained an average of four strokes tee to green in his past five starts. He is on a short list of names above 50-1 who could actually win.

16. Matt Fitzpatrick

Age: 29 Odds to win: 40-1 OWGR: 11 Data Golf: 16 Player trend: ↗️ Masters appearances: 9 Cuts made: 8 Best Masters finish: T-7 (2016)

Matt Fitzpatrick has improved his finish in each of the past four years. A top 10 last year and a U.S. Open win in 2022 catches my attention. Fitzpatrick’s start to 2024 was mediocre at best, but an equipment change with his driver quickly produced great results at The Players (top 5). Hitting fairways puts Matt in a place to score. His ball-striking and attention to detail are tailored for a green jacket someday. There’s no doubt his record at Augusta and in the majors should place him in the conversation.

15. Ludvig Åberg

Age: 24 Odds to win : 29-1 OWGR: 9 Data Golf: 6 Player trend: ⬆️ Masters appearances/cuts made: Rookie

This might be a name the casual golf fan isn’t familiar with, as Ludvig Åberg is not only playing in his first Masters but his first major—despite already playing on a winning Ryder Cup team. Ludvig’s game is perfectly suited to donning a green jacket, but we have to pump the brakes. Yes, Åberg is the best player to have never competed in a major to date, but this is Augusta and the last debutant to win was Fuzzy Zoeller 45 years ago. Do I believe Åberg will give us a Sam Bennett-esque story this year? Yes, I do. A top 10 is well within his reach. Keep your expectations there, and you won’t be disappointed.

14. Justin Thomas

Age: 30 Odds to win: 34-1 OWGR: 28 Data Golf: 23 Player trend: ↗️ Masters appearances: 8 Cuts made: 7 Best Masters finish: 4 (2020)

Only one player in the last 20 years has won a green jacket and missed the cut the year prior; Patrick Reed (2018). Justin Thomas is playing much better than a year ago. Unfortunately, his recent results combined with a questionable caddie change the week before Augusta gives us all pause. Here’s the important question you need to ask yourself before you take JT this week. Is Thomas the Ernie Els (six top 10s at Augusta) of this generation or Phil (three wins) at the Masters? Justin is still young, but with all of this unrest leading up to the tournament, he may have to wait to contend for a green jacket another year.

13. Tony Finau

Age: 34 Odds to win: 44-1 OWGR: 26 Data Golf: 24 Player trend: ➡️ Masters appearances: 6 Cuts made: 6 Best Masters finish: T-5 (2019)

Tony Finau’s putter continues to hold him back. In his last five starts, Finau is gaining an average of four strokes/tee to green on the field. A perfect cut record at Augusta succinctly displays Tony can putt the greens of Augusta National, but only once was he coming in putting this poorly, and that was 2022 when he finished T-35. That was Finau’s second-worst Augusta appearance (worst T-38 2020). You don’t have to be a great putter to win a green jacket, but you cannot give strokes back to this elite field and expect anything better than a top 20.

12. Jordan Spieth

Age: 30 Odds to win: 22-1 OWGR: 19 Data Golf: 20 Player trend: ⬇️ Masters appearances: 10 Cuts made: 9 Best Masters finish: 1 (2015)

How about this factoid: Jordan Spieth has two wins on the PGA Tour in the past seven years! What concerns us all is the ball-striking. Spieth has lost significant strokes on approach over the past year. The trend is difficult to ignore even with Jordan’s incredible Augusta history. At the top of the betting board, many players are trending downward in 2024. Of course, Spieth has six top-four finishes in 10 Masters. If anyone can resurrect their game down Magnolia Lane, Spieth is our best candidate.

11 . Joaquin Niemann

Age: 25 Odds to win: 27-1 OWGR: 91 Data Golf: 9 Player trend: ⬆️ Masters appearances: 4 Cuts made: 3 Best Masters finish: T-16 (2023)

In four LIV events this year, Joaquin Niemann has two victories, a fourth-place and a 30th. He leads the individual season-long points list, and as you can see by his rankings, has caught the attention of avid golf fans. Some wonder if LIV is a real test, but with stronger players like Rahm and Hatton in these fields this year, he has gained respect—so much so that Augusta National offered him a special invitation (also by virtue of his Australian Open win) into this field. All that being said, Joaquin has never threatened the top of the leaderboard at the Masters. In three weekends, he has one round under par and a scoring average of 74 in six rounds. With his trajectory control and impressive start to 2024 he has my attention. Just not all of my attention.

10. Patrick Cantlay

Age: 32 Odds to win: 32-1 OWGR: 7 Data Golf: 8 Player trend: ↘️ Masters appearances: 7 Cuts made: 5 Best Masters finish: T-9 (2019)

Patrick Cantlay has lost strokes/tee to green in four of his past five events. Is he distracted by everything going on off the course as the head of the PAC? Cantlay leads the PGA Tour in Round 1 scoring average this season. Patrick ranks number 179th in final-round scoring average! Take a look at last year’s Masters. Cantlay’s round scorecard read 71-71-68-75. I keep Cantlay near the top because his major championship record has been much better in recent years. Patrick has five top 15s in his past six major starts. I believe LaCava’s experience will help. Cantlay continues the trend, and he will contend here again.

9. Cam Smith

Age: 30 Odds to win: 32-1 OWGR: 62 Data Golf: 45 Player trend: ↗️ Masters appearances: 7 Cuts made: 7 Best Masters finish: T-2 (2020)

The toughest part about handicapping the Masters is predicting LIV players’ success. All we have is five LIV events this season, and the Aussie WD’d last week in Doral. But he also lost in a playoff in Hong Kong the start before and had another top 10. The captivating Australian should be strongly considered to contend again at Augusta. Smith still hits less than 50 percent of his fairways, but he is third in birdies on LIV, and on a very short list of best putters in the world. Only three other players in his odds range have even won a major (Wyndham Clark, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas). Cam has proven he can close and just might do it again.

8. Wyndham Clark

Age: 30 Odds to win: 30-1 OWGR: 4 Data Golf: 10 Player trend: 🔥 Masters appearances/cuts made: Rookie

What more can be said about Wyndham Clark? He is now ranked fourth in the world and seems to be built in the Brooks mold—raising his baseline in big-time situations. We have an incredible class of debutants this year, and he is the cream of the crop. Clark has competed in eight major championships and won the 2023 U.S. Open. His driver, putter, and short game definitely fit Augusta National. The approach game can get shaky, but in his last five starts he’s gaining an average of two strokes on the field. Rookies continue to get closer every year (Zalatoris runner-up 2021, Theegala T-9 2023). If any rookie in recent years can break the 45-year trend, I believe Clark can.

7. Will Zalatoris

Age: 27 Odds to win: 35-1 OWGR: 30 Data Golf: 60 Player trend: ↗️ Masters appearances: 2 Cuts made: 2 Best Masters finish: 2 (2021)

When Will Zalatoris walked away a year ago for back surgery you know this week was circled on his calendar. Zalatoris is built for Augusta National. An impeccable ballstriker, Will’s new putter completes the complement of skills needed to win a green jacket. One of the (very) few elite players who has improved in 2024, watch Will put on another show. Six of Will’s eight career rounds at Augusta National have been under par. Even when the driver faltered at The Players, his approach game still remained. Give us the putter he showed us in February, and Rahm will give him the green jacket.

6. Rory McIlroy

Age: 34 Odds to win: 12-1 OWGR: 3 Data Golf: 2 Player trend: ↘️ Masters appearances: 15 Cuts made: 12 Best Masters finish: 2 (2022)

Rory McIlroy is the greatest driver of the golf ball I have ever seen. That career-long advantage has accumulated a plethora of wins. When Rory comes to an iron game affair like Augusta National, he is susceptible. Over McIlroy’s last six starts, he is losing an average of one stroke on approach to the field. If Rory is to overcome all of the major expectations, his iron game must improve. McIlroy looked better at the Valero, but this is a rocky approach run, and I need more than one week to bet Rory at 12-1 against this field.

5. Xander Schauffele

Age: 30 Odds to win: 20-1 OWGR: 5 Data Golf: 2 Player trend: ⬆️ Masters appearances: 6 Cuts made: 5 Best Masters finish: T-2 (2019)

Xander Schauffele is currently the most well-rounded player not named Scottie Scheffler. Schauffele has six top 10s in eight starts this year. It has been 32 events since his last win in 2022, but he did have three wins that season. He switched coaches in the offseason and put the work in. The results show, and even though his closing rate isn’t better, Schauffele’s career stroke average at Augusta National is under par. The Masters asks you to do everything at a high level, and that is Xander’s MO. If Rahm doesn’t repeat and Hideki’s health comes into question, Schauffele is your best bet to beat Scottie Scheffler.

4. Hideki Matsuyama

Age: 32 Odds to win: 25-1 OWGR: 14 Data Golf: 18 Player trend: ⬆️ Masters appearances: 12 Cuts made: 11 Best Masters finish: 1 (2021)

Hideki Matsuyama gained over 14 strokes/tee to green on the field at The Players! Granted Scheffler gained 15 strokes, but at least we know Matsuyama can keep up. Heading into Masters Week, Matsuyama is statically the best around-the-green player in the field. His short game and specifically his pitching is what won him a green jacket in 2021. Injured or not, all of that health talk gets shoved aside when he heads down Magnolia Lane. The trend is our friend for Hideki with both his history at the Masters and his recent form. His odds should be lower.

3. Brooks Koepka

Age: 33 Odds to win: 20-1 OWGR: 31 Data Golf: 44 Player trend: ↗️ Masters appearances: 8 Cuts made: 6 Best Masters finish: T-2 (2019, 2023)

You know about his major prowess, so here’s a peak at his 2024 LIV results: A fifth-place, two 12ths and a 28th. Though we know nothing measures Koepka’s capabilities much like a major championship, he did enter last year with a win at LIV Orlando en route to holding the 54-hole lead in the Masters. He is a very tough guy to ignore down Magnolia Lane. His last three “healthy Masters,” Brooks finished second, seventh and second. But Koepka fans beware, Brooks is far from an automatic top 5 in every major over the past two years. Outside of his win at the PGA Championship and runner-up finish here a year ago, Koepka’s next closest result was a 17th place at the 2023 U.S. Open.

2. Scottie Scheffler

Sam Greenwood

Age: 27 Odds to win: +430 OWGR: 1 Data Golf: 1 Player trend: 🔥🔥🔥 Masters appearances: 4 Cuts made: 4 Best Masters finish: 1 (2022)

You might be alarmed Scottie Scheffler is not first on this list. Allow me to explain. Scottie Scheffler has 16 rounds played at the Masters and 12 of them are under par. In 15 career major championships, he has one win and nine top 10s. He’s by far the best ball striker on the planet and opens the week at the lowest betting odds we have seen in a major championship since Tiger Woods. Well Scottie, heavy is the head that wears the crown. The last betting favorite to win the Masters was Tiger Woods in 2005. In fact, he’s the only betting favorite (Woods) to win the Masters this century. The similarities in ball striking are warranted, but the comparison of winning isn’t close. Outside of API, Scheffler continues to win with just ball striking and that’s not enough this time at Augusta.

1. Jon Rahm

Manuel Velasquez

Age: 29 Odds to win: 14-1 OWGR: 3 Data Golf: 4 Player trend: ↗️ Masters appearances: 7 Cuts made: 7 Best Masters finish: 1 (2023)

Some bulls are attracted to red; Jon Rahm gets fired up when he sees green—Masters green. Among contenders, Rahm is the strokes-gained leader at Augusta National by a mile (63.6 career strokes gained total). Zalatoris has a higher average in two starts, but in Rahm’s seven he’s gaining nine strokes on the field per start. Yes, that’s higher than Scheffler’s four starts (on average). Rahm has five top 10s in those seven starts. Jon Rahm has four LIV starts: third, eighth, fifth and eighth. Above all else, Jon holds the jacket. He is the defending champion. No recent champion has finished inside the top 10 following their win, but these are unbelievable times. Spanish spirits flow in Rae’s Creek, and I predict Rahm’s return will bring back another jacket for Spain.

RELATED: Masters 2024 DFS picks: Why I love Jon Rahm this week

More From Golf Digest

Keith Stewart is a five-time award-winning PGA professional, a betting contributor and content partner with Golf Digest and founder of Read The Line, the premier on-site live golf betting insights service covering the LPGA and PGA TOUR. Subscribe to Read The Line’s weekly newsletter here and raise your golf betting acumen. Keith's winning content can also be found on Sports Grid, Bleacher Report and The Sporting News. Follow him on Twitter @readtheline_ .

Players Championship 2024: The 50 people who mattered the most in the event's 50-year history

From the visionary pga tour commissioner to the players who made the moments, the players championship was built and sustained through contributions big and small.

Deane Beman was the visionary — about the tournament, the golf course and the home base for the PGA Tour. 

But the former Tour commissioner who launched The Players Championship nearly 50 years ago at the Atlanta Athletic Club on a stifling hot Labor Day weekend had help. 

Members of his small staff back then, local golf enthusiasts from the First Coast business scene who had already helped the Greater Jacksonville Open become a staple on the PGA Tour's Florida Swing, developers who saw the potential for the Ponte Vedra area as the home of The Players and the Tour, one mad scientist of golf course architect, the best players in the world, the fans who have watched them and an army of volunteers -- they've all done their part in making the tournament one of golf's biggest worldwide events.

It was one thing to bring The Players Championship to the First Coast. It was another thing to sustain it.

And here it is: The Players Championship is being played for the 50th time, March 14-17 at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass with the strongest top-to-bottom field among PGA Tour events, playing for the richest purse in golf, and in front of a worldwide TV audience that reaches more than 200 countries.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of The Players, here are 50 people who made a difference, in bringing the tournament to the First Coast, keeping it here, and building it into the iconic sports event and week that it has become:  

The commissioners 

Beman was the second PGA Tour commissioner since the players broke off from the PGA of America in 1968. The four major championships were operated by other entities and he believed the PGA Tour should have a championship it could call its own: The Players. 

"I saw no reason why the PGA Tour, one of the most important organizations in the game, should not have its own significant championship," Beman said. "It would represent the Tour's contributions to building golf in the world." 

The tournament rotated the first three years, from Atlanta to Fort Worth to Fort Lauderdale. Beman believed that March would be the ideal time — allowing The Players to be the first huge event of the year — but wanted a permanent site, as Augusta National is for The Masters. 

Beman retired in 1994 and Tim Finchem took over. Finchem continued building on the legacy his predecessor established, bringing in the World Golf Ranking as a criterion, which increased the pool of international players in the tournament and was unafraid of bold moves, such as taking the tournament to May for 12 years. 

Current Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has solidified the tournament and the PGA Tour headquarters as First Coast fixtures, presiding over the completion of the PGA Tour's Global Home, the move of The Players back to March, and bumps in the purse to ensure it will be the richest prize in pro golf.

It's also personal for Monahan: He was the executive director of The Players from 2008-2010.

The First Coast connections  

Beman settled on the First Coast as a site for the tournament largely due to the success of the Greater Jacksonville Open, which was played from 1965-1976, at Selva Marina, Deerwood and Hidden Hills.  

The Players Championship would need strong attendance, local sponsorships and hospitality and a vibe, a sense in the community that it was a can't-miss athletic and social event. The GJO proved it. 

John Tucker and John Montgomery were Southern Bell executives and members of the San Jose Country Club. Along with San Jose member Wes Paxson Sr. and Timuquana members Jack McCormack (Atlantic Bank CEO) and Lester Varn Jr., Florida Publishing Company president Bob Feagin and Seaboard Coastline Railroad CEO Prime Osborn (which later became CSX and owned the Florida Times-Union), they were the dreamers and the money men that got the GJO off the ground and thriving. 

When Beman played in the GJO and later attended the tournament as commissioner, he realized the area was hungry for big-time sporting events and would be supportive of his notion to bring The Players and the PGA Tour headquarters to the First Coast. 

"It's my guess that if John Tucker and his friends hadn't started the GJO, we would have never come here," Beman said.  

The developers

The first person to see the potential of the Ponte Vedra area was James Stockton Jr., who broke ground for what became the Sawgrass Country Club and its surrounding residential development in 1972. The golf course was built in 1974 and three years later was targeted by Beman, who wanted to buy the course and use it as the Tour's permanent home for The Players. 

Beman couldn't work out a deal with Atlantic Bank, who by then had taken ownership of the property. 

In retrospect, Beman said being rejected by Atlantic Bank was for the best. 

"In the end, the alternative was the better deal," Beman said. 

Enter Paul and Jerome Fletcher, who had purchased more than 5,000 acres on the west side of A1A. They developed part of it, with some modest homes and a golf course called Thousand Oaks but when Beman couldn't buy Sawgrass, they stepped in and sold 417 acres to the Tour for $1 — retaining the development rights. 

The rest was history. Beman got his course and site for both The Players and the Tour headquarters and the Fletchers made a fortune off development. 

It was one of the best deals for a buck on both sides in history.  

Pete Dye designs a classic  

Beman had an idea for a spectator-friendly golf course. While playing in The Masters and other courses as an amateur and PGA Tour player, he noticed how difficult it was for many people in a gallery to see the golf. 

He had an answer: "Stadium Golf." 

It was revolutionary and involved moving a lot of dirt to make spectator mounds on almost every hole for people to get good vantage points. 

For such a revolutionary design, the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, Beman called on a revolutionary architect, Pete Dye.  

Beman had already seen what Dye did with a coastal property that was heavily wooded, with wetlands and marshes. Dye designed the Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island, S.C., which quickly became one of the favorite stops on the PGA Tour. 

"Our property and the Hilton Head property were very similar," Beman said. "Pete designed a fantastic golf course there and I believed he could do the same for us." 

Dye saw the potential and discovered, much to everyone's delight, a vein of sand buried under the muck and mud. The sand formed the foundation for the spectator mounds and was especially abundant around the 17th green. 

Dye's wife Alice, a two-time U.S. Women's Senior Amateur champion, suggested the area around the green be filled with water. Hence — the Island Green. 

Also instrumental in the construction of the property were project manager Vernon Kelly and construction supervisor David Postalwaith who at the time was an independent contractor who worked with Dye before. 

"When I saw the property my first thought was that Pete lied to me," said Postalwaith, who is retired and living near Raleigh, N.C. "He said it was just a flat piece of land with a lot of sand. The woods were so thick and the property was so wet that it was one of the hardest projects I ever worked on. The place was thick with snakes, moccasins and rattlers. I had a new Jeep that we drove through there and I came back with both mirrors ripped off and it was almost totaled." 

Postalwaith became the first director of agronomy at the TPC Sawgrass after it was built, left after two years and helped build eight more TPC courses.  

The Tour support staff were unsung heros

The PGA Tour staff in the late 1970s numbered around a few dozen. Beman declined to single out the ones who made the biggest impact in the move to Ponte Vedra Beach, saying they all worked equally hard to make The Players and the move to the First Coast happen.

But several were the most prominently mentioned by their peers and observers at the time. 

The TPC Sawgrass was not only the home of The Players but the facility and others in the TPC Network to follow are considered the home courses for Tour members. Pete Davison , a life member of the PGA of America, was the first general manager and head professional at the TPC Sawgrass and later became the head of Tournament Players Clubs worldwide.

The TPC Sawgrass couldn't survive on one tournament a year. It was a resort course but needed private membership. The man who was charged with making that happen was former PGA Tour player Bob Dickson, who was the first director of marketing.  

Dickson went to countless meetings of service clubs such as the Rotarians, Elks and Kiwanis, plus other golf clubs and head pros and GMs to talk about the vision the Tour had for the TPC Sawgrass the other 51 weeks of the year. 

The best players in the world were going to demand the best conditions in the world. The longest-tenured TPC Sawgrass director of agronomy was Fred Klauk, who nurtured the fairways and greens for 25 years until his retirement in 2008. Klauk not only had to keep private members and resort guests happy but 144 PGA Tour players every year — some of whom were convinced every divot in the fairway had their name on it.

Among the Players Championship executive directors, Matthew Rapp took the hospitality and social scene to another level when he held the position from 2010 to 2016. Rapp downplayed the "fifth major" designation often assigned to The Players, once saying, "We don't want to be like four other golf tournaments ... we want to be the Kentucky Derby, the Daytona 500, the Indianapolis 500, a week of activities surrounding an athletic event."

Rapp brought food trucks to the course, expanded the food and beverage choices in other venues and ensured that most of the high-end hospitality areas sold out well in advance of the tournament.

The players: Jack Nicklaus with the kick-start

The money attracted the PGA Tour elite to The Players. That ensured the field would be elite year after year. 

But they had to perform for the tournament to take off. 

Jack Nicklaus helped by winning the first Players in 1974 at the Atlanta Athletic Club, then in 1976 at Inverrary, and in 1978 with the second Players held at the Sawgrass Country Club. He still holds the record for the most Players titles and winning three of the first five gave the tournament instant cachet. 

When the tournament moved to the Stadium Course, Jerry Pate, with his fabulous shot-making (with his orange Wilson ball) and his leap into the pond at No. 18 — after pushing Beman and Dye in — kickstarted that era. Hal Sutton and Fred Couples won the next two, showing that the Tour's young stars had the nerve for Dye's devilish design. Sutton and Couples would go on to win one more Players each. 

Sandy Lyle of Scotland became the first international winner and the first to win in a playoff at the Stadium Course in 1987 and the following year, Mark McCumber captured the hearts of local fans when a native-born kid from the Westside set the scoring record to win. 

Greg Norman set the 72-hole scoring record in 1994 that stands to this day (24-under 264), Couples in 1996 and Davis Love III in 2003 share the record for the lowest final-round score by winners with 64s, and in between David Duval joined McCumber with a Westside product winning his hometown tournament in 1999. 

Since Tiger Woods burst on the scene in 1996, any tournament he won got more credibility and he captured Players Championships 12 years apart, in 2001 and 2013.

Love said competing in The Players was a matter of pride.

"When Jack Nicklaus wins it the first time ... there is a desire for other players to win it," said Davis Love III. "When I saw Fred Couples win it, I wanted to win it. Now, everybody wants to win it." 

The media saw the potential, then told the stories

At the time the PGA Tour was considering moving to Ponte Vedra and morphing the GJO to The Players Championship, media support was important. 

The Tour already had the backing from the upper echelons of the Florida Publishing Company with Feagin (Tucker later left Southern Bell to replace Feagin and later was hired by Beman to be The Players executive director) but support on the ground came from Times-Union managing editor Fred Seely, sports editor David Lamm and columnist Greg Larson.  

Beman didn't always agree with their takes and opinions. But Jacksonville was trying to land an NFL team at the time and getting the PGA Tour and The Players was seen as having the same impact to getting a pro sports franchise. 

"I think we had a pretty good balance of not being a bunch of homers but we did recognize that having The Players and the Tour here was going to be great for the community," Seely said. 

 Seely and Lamm came from golf writing backgrounds in North Carolina and Larson was an avid golfer. 

"We had all been around the PGA Tour and we all understood what a great tournament looked like," Lamm said. "The Players was going to be tremendous for the area as a whole." 

ABC aired The Players in the early years, followed by CBS. NBC has been the rights holder since 1988. Two of the most innovative sports producers in history, World Golf Hall of Fame member Frank Chirkinian with CBS and Tommy Roy at NBC, instantly recognized that Dye's golf course, with 18 scenic holes winding through Florida marshes, pines and oaks, would always be the star of the show. 

Production values at the par-5 16th hole, the Island Green at No. 17 and the brutal par-4 18th created memorable moments — the great shots and the intense pain when the shots weren't so great, or even disastrous. 

The announcing talent also helped boost the tournament in the public eye, led in the CBS days by legendary duo Pat Summerall (who had a home nearby at Marsh Landing) and Hall of Famer Ken Venturi.   

After NBC took over, the classy, smooth Dick Enberg was the first lead announcer, with the equally polished Dan Hicks inheriting the role in 2000 to the present. Johnny Miller gave caustic but accurate commentary on the nerve-wracking experience players went through at the Stadium Course and Gary Koch gave the tournament its iconic call with his "Better Than Most" on Tiger Woods' putt at No. 17 in the third round of the 2001 tournament.  

The volunteers labored behind the scenes

John Tucker didn't want one person serving as the tournament chairman for long periods. Recognizing that there were many organized hard-working people in the business community who loved golf, he set the tone by serving as the GJO chairman for the first year in 1965, then turned it over to Paxson, who yielded to Montgomery and so on, a process that has continued to this day. 

The theory: installing a new chairman every year, drawing from the First Coast business community, meant a new set of clients, contacts, business partners and friends who could be urged to buy tickets and corporate hospitality. 

Their year served, they joined the Honourable Company of Past Chairmen, or the "Redcoats," known for their red blazers. They also form the committee to determine The Players' charitable recipients and then scatter across the area every fall to present the checks. 

With more than 2,000 volunteers annually helping stage The Players, and 66 men and women who have served as chairs, it seems impossible to single out one. But one family can be singled out: 2024 Players Chairman Lee Nimnicht follows his mother Anne Nimmicht (1997) and his uncle Ed Nimnicht (1978) in leading the volunteer force which has made The Players among the most organized and best-run tournaments on the PGA Tour. 

Anne Nimnicht has also been a past chairman for the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in 1998 at the World Golf Hall of Fame and the Korn Ferry Tour's Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open. She is believed to be the only person to chair events on the PGA Tour's three major circuits.  

Others in supporting roles ... 

Billy Detlaff , a former director of golf at the TPC Sawgrass, also was the first tournament director for the Junior Players Championship when it became part of the American Junior Golf Association schedule in 2007.

Players champions Justin Thomas and Scottie Scheffler and stars such as Patrick Cantlay, Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth got their first exposure to the Stadium Course at the Junior Players and numerous younger pros have cited the Junior Players as whetting their appetite to one day compete in The Players. 

"You go into that locker room, you see all the memorabilia and you're like, 'Man, I really want to get to The Players and try to achieve some of those same things," said Will Gordon, who competed in his first Players Championship last year. 

Detlaff also founded the TPC Storytellers, a group of volunteers who offer fans tours of the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse and the Stadium Course.

Paul Mahla was the barber to the stars. When the tournament was at the Sawgrass Country Club, players gathered around his chair for a haircut and to shoot the breeze. His chair later became iconic because in the 1979 Players, when wind resulted in only two under-par scores on the weekend, pros sat in the barber chair to rehash the carnage. Today the chair sits in the players-only locker room at the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse.

Country superstar Tim McGraw performed at the first Players Championship Military Appreciation Day in 2010, starting a tradition that has become the highlight of the week until the competition begins on Thursday. McGraw was originally going to do a set of only several songs, but stayed onstage for more than double that, and chatted, signed autographs and posed for pictures with members of the military and their families before and after the gig. McGraw also has ties to Jacksonville — his mother went to Parker High School. 

The Weatherman — whether it's your favorite TV or radio news meteorologist or the PGA Tour's staff meteorologists, they are a key part of every Players week. Last year was the 38th time there has been a weather delay at The Players, with a mix of rain, storms, fog and freezes delaying the start of a round or interrupting it. When that happens, invariably a round is suspended because of darkness.  

There have been eight Monday finishes in tournament history, the last in 2022.  

When The Players arrives, everyone, from fans to the Tour stars, has one eye on weather reports. 

And the 50th person to make a difference in the success of the Players: any random First Coast fan, representing those who have flocked to the tournament since 1977, creating legendary traffic jams on A1A, clogging parking lots and watching the best players in the world.  

The Tour hasn't released attendance figures since 2013, when more than 173,000 fans were there for all or part of the week, but based on that figure, close to 8 million fans have come to The Players in the 46 years it has been on the First Coast. 

Take a bow if you've bought a Players ticket. It wouldn't be a party without you. 

Best players in Masters field? LIV golfers, Tiger Woods, favorites and more

Who is in the 2024 masters field looking at the best golfers playing at augusta national this week, including odds-on favorites, liv players and tiger woods..

From Tiger Woods to LIV golfers, the 2024 Masters field is loaded with stars as expected. 

Who are the best golfers in the 89-player Masters field?

It’s easy to say Scottie Scheffler , the world’s No. 1 ranked golfer and 2022 Masters champion, who has won twice this season. He’s enjoying a historic stretch, with 87 top 10 finishes in 119 PGA Tour starts since joining the PGA Tour in 2018.  He has won $54,058,464 on Tour in less than four seasons, with eight victories.

Then there’s Jon Rahm , the defending Masters champion who joined LIV Golf in December. He’s still No. 3 in the world, right behind Rory McIlroy, who just needs a Masters championship to complete a career grand slam. 

The past four winners at Augusta National were first-time Masters winners. Xander Schauffele, at No. 5 in the world, is seeking his first major after winning seven PGA Tour events. 

Let’s take a look at the best golfers in the 2024 Masters field, plus world rankings and Masters odds. 

Best golfers in Masters field 2024 

The best golfers in the Masters field don’t always have the best odds. 

Here are 10 of the best golfers to watch at the Masters, regardless of whether or not they’re the best bets. 

Ludvig Aberg

The rookie out of Texas Tech will make his major tournament debut. Can he really win on his first try? Absolutely. Aberg was unflappable while helping Europe win the Ryder Cup last summer. He’s already won on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour and is ranked No. 9 in the world.  

Wyndham Clark 

The 2023 U.S. Open champion is hitting his stride at age 30. He was runner-up to world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler at both Bay Hill and the Players Championship this season. He’s No. 10 on the PGA Tour in driving distance (309.2), so don’t expect Augusta National’s par 5s to intimidate him. 

Bryson DeChambeau

DeChambeau hasn’t been great at the Masters, but the 2020 U.S. Open champion is bound to make a splash in the majors again soon. He won twice on the LIV circuit last season, which included a 58 at Greenbrier. He finished in the top 10 in three straight tournaments before last week. 

Brooks Koepka

He led most of the way in the 2023 Masters before succumbing to eventual champion Jon Rahm. All golfers put more emphasis on the majors than regular events, and Koepka is the epitome of that. He won back-to-back U.S. Opens in 2017 and 2018, then repeated at the PGA Championship in 2018 and 2019, before claiming another PGA Championship title in 2023.

Shane Lowry

He ranks third on the PGA Tour in strokes gained approach (0.928), seventh in strokes gained tee to green (1.323) and has four top-25 finishes at the Masters. He finished third at Bay Hill this year and tied for fourth at the Honda Classic. Lowry might not be an attractive choice, but expect him to be in the mix. 

Rory McIlroy

The No. 2 golfer in the world hasn’t contended as much as he’d like this season. But the four-time major winner leads the PGA Tour in total driving (55) and is fourth in driving distance (312.2). He placed third at last week’s Valero Texas Open, posting a Sunday 66 to finish 11 under. 

Joaquin Niemann

He’s won twice on the LIV circuit this season. That helped him get a special invite to play in the Masters, where he finished tied for 16th last year. He won the Australian Open this season, finished fifth at the Australian PGA Championship and tied for fourth at the DP World Tour event in Dubai. 

Rahm is the defending Masters champion and looking for his third major title in addition to his 2021 U.S. Open championship. His jump to LIV in December was the biggest story in golf last year. He has four top 10 finishes in four LIV events played. Perhaps even bigger: Rahm has five top 10s in his last six Masters starts.

Xander Schauffele

Schauffele has seven PGA Tour wins but no majors yet. He has four top 5 finishes this season, including a runner-up spot behind Scheffler at the Players Championship. He ranks No. 2 in strokes gained (1.934) on the PGA Tour behind only Scheffler. 

Scottie Scheffler

Here’s your favorite. The 2022 Masters champion won the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship in back-to-back weeks before a runner-up finish at the Houston Open this season. He is first or second on Tour this season in greens in regulation (No. 1, 76.3%), strokes gained (No. 1, 2.81), strokes gained off the tee (No. 2, 0.90) and strokes gained approach to green (No. 1, 1.34). 

LIV golfers in Masters field

Here’s a quick look at the 13 LIV golfers in the 2024 Masters field and how they received their tournament exemptions.

Player | exemption

∎ Bryson DeChambeau | 2020 U.S. Open win

∎ Sergio Garcia | 2017 Masters champion

∎ Tyrrell Hatton | 2023 Tour Championship qualifier, top 50 in Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR)

∎ Dustin Johnson | 2020 Masters champion

More: Concessions are ridiculously cheap at the Masters. But beer will cost a little more this year

∎ Brooks Koepka | 2019, 2023 PGA Championship wins

∎ Adrian Meronk | top 50 in OWGR in 2023

∎ Phil Mickelson | 2004, 2006, 2010 Masters champion

∎ Joaquin Niemann | Special invitation

∎ Jon Rahm | 2023 Masters champion

∎ Patrick Reed | 2018 Masters champion 

∎ Charl Schwartzel | 2011 Masters champion

More: 2024 Masters: Scheffler, McIlroy, Rahm lead power rankings based on odds

∎ Cameron Smith | 2022 Open Championship win

∎ Bubba Watson | 2012, 2014 Masters champion

Is Tiger Woods playing the Masters? 

Yes, Tiger Woods is in the 2024 Masters field. He’ll tee off with Jason Day and Max Homa at 1:24 p.m. ET on Thursday. 

Woods, who owns five Masters championships, still deals with physical ailments that have led to numerous surgeries late in his career. His surgically fused right ankle forced him to withdraw in the third round of the 2023 Masters. 

Woods has won the Masters five times. His 2019 win at Augusta National, following a comeback to golf through personal and physical challenges, will always be one of golf’s best stories. 

World Golf Ranking entering Masters 2024

Here’s a look at the top 50 golfers in the Official World Golf Ranking entering the 2024 Masters. 

1. Scottie Scheffler

2. Rory McIlroy

3. Jon Rahm

4. Wyndham Clark

5. Xander Schauffele

6. Viktor Hovland

7. Patrick Cantlay

8. Brian Harman

9. Ludvig Åberg

10. Matt Fitzpatrick

11. Max Homa

12. Hideki Matsuyama

13. Tommy Fleetwood

More: Masters 2024 tee times for Thursday's opening round: When does Tiger Woods tee off?

14. Cameron Young

15. Sahith Theegala

16. Keegan Bradley

17. Russell Henley

18. Jordan Spieth

19. Tyrrell Hatton

20. Collin Morikawa

21. Jason Day

22. Sam Burns

23. Tom Kim

24. Nick Taylor

25. Matthieu Pavon

26. Tony Finau

27. Chris Kirk

28. Justin Thomas

29. Sepp Straka

30. Denny McCarthy

31. Will Zalatoris

32. Min Woo Lee

33. Brooks Koepka

34. Akshay Bhatia

35. Lucas Glover

36. Shane Lowry

37. Rickie Fowler

38. Nicolai Højgaard

39. Emiliano Grillo

40. Eric Cole

41. Sungjae Im

42. Stephan Jaeger

43. Kurt Kitayama

44. Byeong Hun An

45. Harris English

46. Adam Hadwin

47. J.T. Poston

48. Si Woo Kim

49. Corey Conners

50. Austin Eckroat

Masters odds 2024

All odds are from BetMGM .

∎ Scottie Scheffler (+400) 

∎ Rory McIlroy (+1000) 

∎ Jon Rahm (+1200) 

∎ Xander Schauffele (+1400) 

∎ Brooks Koepka (+2000) 

More: How many pars were made in 2023 Masters? What you need to know for your Masters prop bets

∎ Hideki Matsuyama (+2000) 

∎ Jordan Spieth (+2200) 

∎ Joaquin Niemann (+2800) 

∎ Ludvig Aberg (+2800) 

∎ Wyndham Clark (+2800) 

∎ Bryson DeChambeau (+3300) 

∎ Matt Fitzpatrick (+3300) 

∎ Patrick Cantlay (+3300) 

More: Jordan Spieth's Masters debut came 10 years ago, and it hasn't been boring at Augusta for him since

∎ Viktor Hovland (+3300) 

∎ Will Zalatoris (+3300) 

∎ Cameron Smith (+4000) 

∎ Dustin Johnson (+4000) 

∎ Justin Thomas (+4000) 

∎ Tony Finau (+4000) 

∎ Cameron Young (+4500) 

∎ Sahith Theegala (+4500) 

∎ Shane Lowry (+4500) 

∎ Tommy Fleetwood (+4500) 

∎ Collin Morikawa (+5000) 

∎ Max Homa (+5500) 

∎ Sam Burns (+5500) 

∎ Jason Day (+6000) 

∎ Russell Henley (+6000) 

∎ Brian Harman (+6600) 

∎ Min Woo Lee (+6600) 

∎ Patrick Reed (+6600) 

∎ Tyrell Hatton (+6600) 

∎ Corey Conners (+6600) 

∎ Si Woo Kim (+8000) 

∎ Adam Scott (+9000) 

∎ Sergio Garcia (+9000) 

∎ Denny McCarthy (+10000) 

∎ Sungjae Im (+10000) 

∎ Akshay Bhatia (+10000) 

∎ Byeong Hun An (+12500) 

∎ Harris English (+12500) 

∎ Justin Rose (+12500) 

∎ Rickie Fowler (+12500) 

∎ Tom Kim (+12500) 

∎ Chris Kirk (+15000) 

∎ Stephan Jaeger (+15000) 

∎ Tiger Woods (+15000) 

∎ Adrian Meronk (+17500) 

∎ Keegan Bradley (+17500) 

∎ Kurt Kitayama (+17500) 

∎ Adam Hadwin (+17500) 

∎ Erik van Rooyen (+20000) 

∎ Nick Taylor (+20000) 

More: Vijay Singh says it's time for change at one of the Masters' most iconic holes

∎ Nicolai Hojgaard (+20000) 

∎ Phil Mickelson (+20000) 

∎ Sepp Straka (+20000) 

∎ Taylor Moore (+20000) 

∎ Thorbjorn Olesen (+20000) 

∎ J.T. Poston (+22500) 

∎ Matthieu Pavon (+22500) 

∎ Adam Schenk (+22500) 

More: No duplicates: Masters sees longest streak ever without repeat champion

∎ Austin Eckroat (+22500) 

∎ Bubba Watson (+22500) 

∎ Cameron Davis (+22500) 

∎ Emiliano Grillo (+22500) 

∎ Eric Cole (+22500) 

∎ Gary Woodland (+22500) 

∎ Jake Knapp (+22500) 

∎ Lucas Glover (+22500) 

∎ Nick Dunlap (+22500) 

∎ Luke List (+22500) 

∎ Charl Schwartzel (+40000) 

∎ Lee Hodges (+40000) 

∎ Peter Malnati (+40000) 

∎ Ryo Hisatsune (+40000) 

∎ Danny Willett (+50000) 

∎ Grayson Murray (+50000) 

∎ Camilo Villegas (+75000) 

∎ Christo Lamprecht (+75000) 

∎ Zach Johnson (+80000) 

∎ Jasper Stubbs (+100000) 

∎ Neal Shipley (+100000) 

∎ Santiago De La Fuente (+100000) 

∎ Stewart Hagestad (+100000) 

∎ Fred Couples (+150000) 

∎ Mike Weir (+150000) 

∎ Vijay Singh (+150000) 

∎ Jose Maria Olazabal (+300000)

Masters Tournament

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PGA Tour Averages: Proximity To Hole 50-200 Yards

You guys asked for it, so here you go. I wonder if there’s anything there that caught you by surprise?

PGA Tour averages – Proximity to hole:

50-75 yards: 16’ 6” 75-100 yards: 17’10” 100-125 yards: 20’ 4” 125-150 yards: 23’ 8” 150-175 yards: 28’ 9” 175-200 yards: 35’ 9”

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Masters field 2024: Ranking the top 30 golfers playing at Augusta, from Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm to Tiger Woods

Golf's first major of 2024 is here, as the PGA Tour and a select amount of LIV Golfers will be playing in the Masters.

The Masters is the most exclusive of golf's major events and, for that reason, is the most prestigious. Only the best get to don the green jacket, and most of the world's top 50 golfers will be among those vying for it.

Jon Rahm is looking to accomplish something rarely done throughout history. He is looking to capture a second consecutive green jacket, and the Spaniard is among the favorites to do so. The LIV Golf star will face a challenge from the PGA Tour's best, Scottie Scheffler, and other top golfers like Wyndham Clark, Brooks Koepka, Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy.

The Masters is set to be highly competitive, so picking a winner won't be easy. Longer hitters typically fare well at Augusta National Golf Club, but winning the coveted green jacket takes a well-rounded game.

How exactly do the players in the 2024 Masters stack up against one another? Sporting News ranked the 30 top golfers participating in the tournament and broke down their chances of winning.

MORE: Who will win the Masters? Breaking down the best bets, tournament favorites

Here's a look at the list, from Scheffler and Rahm to Tiger Woods.

Ranking the top 30 players in the Masters field 2024

The Masters is always played at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. The course is one of the PGA Tour's longest at 7,555 yards and is a par-72 layout. Augusta National contains four par-5 holes and three par-4 holes that are at least 495 yards long.

Augusta's course length will allow the game's bigger hitters to find a lot of success at the course. Those who produce the most strokes gained off the tee (SG:OTT) will have an advantage while driving distance will be a bit more important than driving accuracy because of Augusta's wider-than-average fairways.

Having a strong approach game will be important at Augusta, per usual. Putting at Augusta is fairly easy provided that you can get the ball within 10 feet of the hole, per Mark Broadie of Golf.com . That said, Augusta is known for having the highest three-putt rate of any PGA Tour course, so it will be important for golfers to minimize the distance of putts they have to make during the event.

The best way to do that? Snuggle the ball up to the hole on the approach shot. That will make stats such as strokes gained on approach (SG:APP) and average proximity to the hole among the most important stats to evaluate during the tournament. It will also put a premium on hitting greens in regulation (GIR), as players who hit the green at a high rate will avoid scrambling for tough chip shots;

Finally, it will be important to evaluate which players are the best at avoiding three-putts given that they happen at a higher rate than average at Augusta National. Paying attention to which players have the best putting stats from inside 10 feet will also give bettors an advantage in this matchup.

Below is a breakdown of Sporting News' top 30 golfers for the Masters in 2024. All odds to win the event are courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook .

1. Scottie Scheffler

• Odds : +400

Scheffler hasn't quite reached the Tiger Woods stratosphere of dominance, but his new putter continues to improve his short game. As a result, Scheffler could soon rival the former No. 1 golfer's reign atop the world.

Scheffler is the best tee-to-green player in golf right now, as he leads the PGA Tour in SG:APP and ranks top five in SG:OTT. That gives him the length and accuracy combination needed to conquer the Masters' 7,555-yard course.

Meanwhile, Scheffler's hot putter has raised his SG:Putting to an average mark of 93rd on tour while allowing him to win two of his last three events. He finished tied for second in the other event during that range, so his recent form easily makes him the top golfer to back at a course that suits his strength.

BUY NOW: Cheapest ticket prices for Masters 2024

2. Jon Rahm

• Odds : +1200

Rahm may no longer be on the PGA Tour, but he's still one of the world's most dominant golfers. He hasn't won an LIV Golf event yet, but he has finished eighth or better in each of his first five events on that circuit.

Rahm is one of golf's longest drivers, which allows him to shorten the course at the Masters. If he can set up shorter-than-average approach shots compared to the field, he will set himself up with easier putts as he looks to tame this course again.

It wouldn't be surprising to see Rahm win the Masters for a second consecutive season. His game is well-tailored to the Augusta National course, as evidenced by his five, top-10 finishes in his six Masters appearances. He has the best chance to outduel Scheffler during the World No. 1's hot streak and set up an iconic PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf final pairing Sunday.

3. Xander Schauffele

• Odds : +1800

No, Schauffele hasn't won a major yet, but it will happen eventually. He has 11 top-10 finishes across the four majors and has worked his way into the top five of the Official World Golf Rankings, showcasing his high-end skills.

Schauffele's game is a well-rounded one that should thrive at Augusta. This year, he ranks top-10 in SG:OTT and top-20 in SG:APP; meanwhile, his three-putt avoidance is the best on the PGA Tour. That gives him a high floor, as he is accurate and shouldn't make too many mistakes with the short stick once he's on the green.

Add in that Schauffele hasn't missed a cut in 2024 and has six top-10 finishes in eight events and he looks like a solid bet to contend at the Masters. That makes him a nice value pick compared to the other top golfers like Rahm and Scheffler.

4. Wyndham Clark

• Odds : +2500

Clark has enjoyed a rapid star turn over the last couple of seasons, rising to No. 4 overall in the OWGR and establishing himself as a well-rounded star. He earned his third PGA Tour victory at the rain-shortened Pebble Beach Pro-Am thanks to the course-record 60 he shot on the tournament's final day.

That round is indicative of what Clark can do when he's on. He has the driving distance, accuracy and putting prowess needed to go low. Impressively, he ranks top-15 in SG:OTT, SG:APP and strokes gained putting (SG:Putting) entering the Masters, all of which indicate potential success at the tournament.

The one issue with Clark? He reportedly dealt with a back injury at the Houston Open, his last event before The Masters. He played all four rounds of the tournament, but his status will be worth monitoring this week in case his back spasms return.

5. Brooks Koepka

• Odds : +2000

Few things happen consistently in the world, but one of them is that Koepka will be in contention at golf's majors if he's healthy. Last season, he won the PGA Championship after finishing second place at the Masters. He could be poised to make a run at a green jacket again in 2024.

Koepka hasn't had his best season with LIV Golf — he has just one top-10 finish in four events and no wins — but since 2017, he has 14 top-10 finishes at golf's majors, including four wins and four runner-up finishes. He simply plays his best golf on its biggest stages.

Some may have qualms about trusting Koepka given that he faded in the final round at last year's Masters, which was his first four-round tournament of the season. LIV Golf plays just three rounds. That could prove a legitimate concern, but Koepka can still shoot well enough on the tournament's first three days to earn his first career green jacket.

6. Rory McIlroy

McIlroy continues to search for the elusive Masters title needed to complete his career Grand Slam. The problem is that his game isn't tailored to make his pursuit of a green jacket easy.

McIlroy is known for his strength off the tee, and that will be a massive asset at Augusta National. The issue is that his approach game has been well below average this season, and he has also struggled to gain strokes around the green (SG:ARG), which has compounded his accuracy issues.

McIlroy could certainly dial in his approach game or around the green scoring enough to win the Masters, but his bouts of inaccuracy have caused him to miss the cut two of his last three seasons. That makes his odds to win the tournament a little bit shorter than they should be considering he enters it with just one top-20 finish under his belt in 2024.

MORE: Tracking the field for the 2024 Masters

7. Ludvig Aberg

Trusting a 24-year-old making his Masters debut may seem risky, but Aberg isn't your typical first-year golfer. The Swede has been threatening since breaking onto the PGA Tour fresh out of college last summer. He already has a win at the RSM Classic and finished eighth at this year's Players Championship.

Aberg is a great ball striker (top 40 in both SG:OTT and SG:APP) and an above-average putter, which makes him the perfect course fit to contend at the Masters. Perhaps his off-the-tee accuracy could concern some, but Augusta's wide fairways and somewhat forgiving rough should negate that potential weakness.

8. Dustin Johnson

• Odds : +3300

Don't let his 327th ranking in the OWGR fool you: Dustin Johnson is still a threat to win the Masters.

From 2015 to 2020, Johnson finished top 10 in each of his five Masters appearances. He won the event in 2020 after tying for second the previous season as he proved that he was one of the world's best golfers.

Over the last three seasons, Johnson hasn't enjoyed as much success at Augusta National. That said, he still has four wins in that span — one on the DP World Tour and three on the LIV Golf circuit, so the 39-year-old certainly isn't past his prime. If he can hit balls as long and as straight as he customarily has during his career, he could join Rahm and Koepka in LIV Golf's quest to take home another major.

9. Sahith Theegala

• Odds : +5000

If you're looking for a sleeper to back at this year's Masters, Theegala seems like a great golfer to trust. The 26-year-old is in good form in 2024, having made eight of nine cuts and logging four top-10 finishes to start the season. He earned his first PGA Tour win at the Fortinet Championship back in September.

Theegala ranks top 20 in both SG:OTT and GIR percentage this season, a combination that gives him the tee-to-green game needed to tame Augusta. More importantly, he ranks 11th in SG:Putting and has made 89.1 percent of his putts inside of 10 feet, which should allow him a chance to convert the scoring opportunities needed to contend at Augusta.

Theegala posted a ninth-place finish at his Masters debut in 2023, so we've seen that he can compete in the event. His odds should be a bit shorter than 50-1 considering how well the course suits his game.

10. Viktor Hovland

• Odds : +2800

Hovland has already racked up six PGA Tours wins and won the Tour Championship last summer, so there's no question that he can win a major. It's just a matter of whether he will win the Masters in 2024.

Hovland hasn't been overly sharp to start the 2024 PGA Tour season. He made the cut at each of his five events, but his best finish was a tie for 19th at The Genesis Invitational. Most recently, he posted a T-62nd at the Players Championship, so his form is leaving a bit to be desired.

Still, Hovland has never finished worse than 32nd at the Masters and earned a career-best tie for seventh at last year's event. And if his approach game is on, he can be unstoppable and dominate even the toughest courses on the PGA Tour.

The problem? Hovland ranks 105th in SG:APP, 84th in GIR percentage and a terrible 183rd in SG:ARG. Translation: His accuracy on approach has been shaky and when he finds himself unable to hit the green in regulation, he has been one of the tour's worst at recovering this season.

Hovland undeniably has a high ceiling, but it's hard to trust him as anything more than a boom-or-bust wild card with the way he has played in 2024.

11. Cameron Smith

There's no need to worry about Smith's withdrawal from LIV Golf Miami, the event preceding the Masters. He was taken out after Round 1 because of food poisoning, but that shouldn't impact him during the major tournament.

Smith remains a top-tier putter and finished second at LIV Golf Hong Kong in March before his recent withdrawal. He has posted 69 or fewer strokes in eight of his 13 rounds this season, so his tee-to-green accuracy and around-the-green prowess should make him a weapon at Augusta.

Smith also has three, top-five finishes at the Masters, so he can be trusted as one of the highest-quality LIV Golfers in the Masters field.

12. Hideki Matsuyama

Scheffler and Rahm will draw a lot of attention as the previous Masters winners who could capture another green jacket, but don't sleep on Matsuyama. He won the event in 2021 and has an excellent history at the course, finishing top-20 in eight of his last nine appearances at Augusta National.

Matsuyama enters the Masters in good form as well. Since winning the Genesis Invitational with a spectacular final-round 62, the 32-year-old has finished no worse than 12th at any event.

What has keyed Matsuyama's hot streak? He ranks 22nd in GIR percentage but is an elite scrambler, leading the PGA Tour in SG:ARG. That allows him much more leeway for middling approach shots than other golfers, especially on tough courses.

Matsuyama can certainly win the Masters and at the very least, he looks like a safe top-20 bet. Taking him to finish top five or top-10 could also prove to be a lucrative investment.

13. Joaquin Niemann

Niemann was starting to make a name for himself on the PGA Tour before he defected to LIV Golf. He won the Genesis Invitational in February 2022 over Collin Morikawa and Cameron Young and seemed primed to be one of the PGA Tour's young stars.

The 25-year-old from Chile has continued his rise on the LIV circuit and earned wins at Mayakoba and Jeddah in two of the first five events of the year. He also won the Australian Open in December, so he is in great form.

Niemann has four Masters appearances under his belt and has improved his finishes each season. He tied for 16th at the event in 2023, so given his current form, he should be in contention for the green jacket in 2024.

14. Jordan Spieth

One only needs to look at Spieth's history at the Masters to get excited about his chances of winning another green jacket. He has six top-four finishes in 10 appearances at the event. That includes his 2015 win, the first of his three major titles on the PGA Tour.

Spieth has an electric game on and off the green when he's at his best, and that has carried him to consistent success at Augusta. The numbers indicate he may enjoy similar success in those areas in 2024, as he ranks 12th in SG:Putting and sported a top-20 rank in SG:ARG before a rough showing at the Texas Open dropped him to 53rd.

Don't be too afraid to trust Spieth. He isn't always consistent, but like McIlroy, backing him in the right spots can pay off. This has historically been one of them for the 30-year-old Texan.

15. Patrick Cantlay

Cantlay is one of the best golfers in the world, but he is off to an uneven start in 2024. He has three, top-12 finishes in his seven events to date but also has three in which he has finished 52nd or worse despite making the cut. He notably ranks well below average in SG:APP (149th) this season, and that could particularly hurt him at the Masters.

Still, Cantlay is a good putter so if he can dial in his iron game, he can put himself in the mix at the Masters. He has three top-20 finishes at the event in the last five years, so his positive course history should raise his floor as a solid but risky top-20 play.

16. Cameron Young

• Odds : +4000

Young has played in all four majors in each of the last two seasons. He has a great track record of contending at each event, as he has four, top-10 finishes at them. That includes a seventh-place finish at the Masters last season.

Young ranks top 20 in both SG:OTT and SG:APP thanks to his combination of accuracy and power. His putting isn't quite as strong, but he has shown the ability to get hot with the short stick throughout his career. If he can pour in 10-foot putts throughout the week, then the 2022 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year could see himself win his first tour event on one of its biggest stages.

17. Tony Finau

It's hard to find many players with a better approach game than Finau. He ranks seventh on the PGA Tour in SG:APP and ranks sixth with GIR percentage of 71.65. That will allow him to cozy the ball up to the hole and set up some easy putts from inside of 10 feet, a critical advantage to earn at the Masters.

The issue with Finau's chances of winning the Masters? He ranks 163rd out of 186 qualified players in SG:Putting. That will make it hard for him to convert on his opportunities unless he has an unusually great week on the greens.

Finau has seen that happen before, as he has three top-10 finishes at the Masters. It's just hard to trust him as a top-15 play over some of the other, steadier putters in the field.

18. Bryson DeChambeau

DeChambeau is among the LIV Golf stars in great form entering the Masters. He has four top-10 finishes at LIV events, and while he hasn't won any, he has been consistently good. He has scored in the 60s in nine of his last 12 rounds, and his power off the tee always makes him a threat to go low.

That said, DeChambeau has a checkered history at Augusta. He has never finished better than 29th during his professional career and missed the cut at the last two Masters Tournaments. He shouldn't fall victim to a third consecutive missed cut, but his history gives him a lower floor than some of his other LIV Golf counterparts.

19. Matt Fitzpatrick

Fitzpatrick has had an uneven 2024 season so far, but it's for a good reason. In February, he found that he accidentally had a four-gram weight attached to his driver from last season, per the PGA Tour's website . He had issues with the club throughout the previous calendar year, and that was the culprit.

Since removing the weight, Fitzpatrick has evened out a bit. He is coming off a solid, two-start stretch that saw him finish fifth at the Players Championship and tied for 10th at the Texas Open. It seems that his driving game is evening out at the right time and should give him a solid chance of winning thanks to his approach and putting prowess.

20. Sam Burns

Burns has cooled slightly since a hot start that saw him finish in the top 10 at four of his first five events, but the 27-year-old is one of the better-rounded golfers on the PGA Tour. He boasts above-average marks in SG:OTT and SG:APP while his SG:Putting ranks 22nd on tour.

Burns will need to continue putting well to contend at Augusta National, though some may be concerned by his merely average numbers from inside of 10 feet (88.02 percent, 96th on the PGA Tour). Still, he has the short-stick skills needed to avoid three putts, so if he can get the ball on the green, he will have a chance to rack up some birdies.

21. Justin Thomas

Thomas is a difficult player to evaluate on this course. On the one hand, he ranks 39th in driving distance and 39th in SG:APP, which could make him one of the tournament's top tee-to-green players. On the other, he ranks 139th in driving accuracy and 105th in GIR percentage, so he is prone to costly mistakes because of his lack of accuracy.

Even if he is accurate, Thomas ranks just 174th in SG:Putting. That's one of the worst marks on the PGA Tour and could be the difference between him being a contender or just a top-20 candidate.

Thomas has 15 PGA Tour wins in his career and two top 10s at the Masters, so never say never. Still, this doesn't feel like the right tournament to back him — especially with somewhat short odds to win it.

22. Collin Morikawa

Morikawa is a two-time major winner who has finished fifth and tied for 10th at the Masters the last two seasons. He could be on the verge of a breakthrough, but it's hard to trust him amid his recent play. He has finished tied for 45th or worse in his last three tournaments, including a missed cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Morikawa could bounce back, and his natural fade shot has played well at Augusta before. But considering that his driving distance ranks just 154th on the tour and he isn't putting well (164th in SG:Putting), he's more of a top-20 candidate with high upside.

23. Max Homa

Homa is one of the world's best golfers, but his game isn't a great fit for the Masters course. Case and point, he has never finished better than 43rd in four appearances at Augusta National; that includes his being cut in his first two.

Homa has four top-20 finishes on the season and is coming off a tie for 25th at the Valero Texas Open, so his form is solid. Perhaps his short game can prop him up enough to challenge for a green jacket — he ranks 55th or better in SG:APP, SG:ARG and SG:Putting — but he will need to get more out of his driver to make that happen.

24. Shane Lowry

Lowry is one of the steadiest golfers in the game and is one of the best iron players in the world. He ranks third in SG:APP among PGA Tour players, and that skill should translate to success at Augusta.

Lowry has made the cut at his last four Masters appearances. He has finished no worse than tied for 25th and performed well at the event in 2022, finishing tied for third. Add in that he has two top-five finishes in his last two events and he should make a run at another top-25 placement in 2024.

25. Will Zalatoris

Zalatoris missed most of the 2023 PGA Tour season while dealing with a back injury. He returned to play at the Sony Open and has since regained some of the form that once made him an up-and-comer on the PGA Tour.

Zalatoris posted back-to-back top-five finishes at the Genesis and Arnold Palmer Invitationals respectively in February and March. That made him look like a potential threat to take down his first major, but he missed the cut at the Players Championship before finishing tied for 74th at the Texas Open.

Zalatoris has finished in the top 10 at six of his nine major appearances from which he didn't withdraw. He usually saves his best for these big moments, so many will be looking to back him here. However, given his injury history and up-and-down play this season, it's hard to recommend trusting him.

26. Brian Harman

• Odds : +6600

Harman has played in the Masters five times in his career. He has made the cut just twice and missed the cut at both the 2022 and 2023 versions of the event. That's enough to downgrade the World No. 8 golfer in a stacked field.

That said, Harman ranks 16th in SG:Putting and is an above-average scrambler. Even if his off-the-tee game is merely average, he can play efficiently on the course. It's just a question of whether his 158th-ranked driving distance will prevent him from going low enough on the course's longest holes to contend.

27. Si Woo Kim

• Odds : +10000

Kim is a quality sleeper at the Masters this season. The 28-year-old from South Korea has an excellent tee-to-green game, ranking fourth on tour in strokes gained tee-to-green (SG:T2G) while maintaining a top-20 mark in SG:ARG. His combination of accuracy and scrambling prowess gives him a unique edge on the field, as he won't make many mistakes but will be able to save himself when he does.

Kim doesn't have a lot of power off the tee. He also doesn't putt particularly well, ranking 142nd in SG:Putting. Still, despite these deficiencies, he has made all nine cuts this season and has four top-20 finishes. At 100-1 odds, he's worth a flier.

28. Tyrrell Hatton

Hatton just had his best finish since joining LIV Golf at Miami. He tied for fourth in the tournament after shooting eight under during it. Now, he will look to claim his first major title, and his recent form should help him.

Still, Hatton hasn't done particularly well at Augusta over the years. His best finish was a tie for 18th in 2021, so while he may be in contention for the green jacket, he may not quite get over the top.

29. Stephan Jaeger

Jaeger is another solid sleeper coming off a win at the Houston Open. The German has a well-rounded game, ranking no worse than 70th across the four major strokes gained categories while having the eighth-best driving distance on the PGA Tour.

Jaeger has only appeared in four major championships to date, and never the Masters, but the 34-year-old should have the poise needed to perform well at Augusta.

30. Matthieu Pavon

• Odds : +20000

OK, let's get weird. We could put a more proven commodity like Corey Conners, Jason Day, Tommy Fleetwood or Russell Henley here, but why not consider a long shot like Pavon?

The 31-year-old Frenchman won his first PGA Tour event at the Farmer's Insurance Open in February. He followed that up by nearly winning another tournament — he finished third at the rain-shortened Pebble Beach Pro-Am — before tapering off for a few weeks and missing the cut at the Players Championship.

Pavon's recent form and the fact that he hasn't played at Augusta certainly gives him a low floor. But among the long shots to win the event, there are few with a higher ceiling than him; so, if you're looking for a mega sleeper, Pavon should be your guy.

Honorable mention: Tiger Woods

• Odds : +12500

Let's be honest: Tiger Woods almost certainly isn't going to win the Masters. The bigger question about Tiger is whether he will make it to the weekend. And after that, it's about whether he will finish the tournament.

Woods has played just three PGA Tour events over the last calendar year. He withdrew from two of them. He was hampered by an illness at the 2024 Genesis Invitational, but his troublesome leg caused him to back out of the 2023 Masters after he fell out of contention.

Maybe Woods will put together one more magical run to remind us why he is among the greatest golfers to ever live. And he deserves credit for continuing to compete after the February 2021 car accident that resulted in major injuries to his leg.

But at this point, Woods is not among the top 30 golfers in the field; and barring a miraculous late-career comeback, he may never be again.

Full Masters field 2024

Below is the full Masters field for 2024 listed alphabetically by first name.

Masters Tournament

Augusta National Golf Club

Augusta, Georgia • USA

Apr 11 - 14, 2024

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2024 Masters predictions, favorites: Ranking the entire field from 1-89 at Augusta National

Where does tiger woods land are jon rahm and jordan spieth higher than expected breaking down the entire field at augusta national golf club.

The 88th Masters is here, and it is now time to rank all 89 golfers in the field as Augusta National opens its doors to the world. 

There are a number of factors that go into these rankings. Past history matters, but so does current form. First-timers get discounted given that a first-timer has not won at Augusta National since Fuzzy Zoeller did it in 1979. Older veterans get discounted because older veterans rarely win majors, but they also get credited because many (like Phil Mickelson) have a tremendous relationship with this golf course.

The perfect Venn diagram is great play at Augusta National over the last few years combined with top-notch current form. There are not a lot of golfers who fit those two groups, and all of those who do are ranked inside our top 10.

Let's take a look at this year's list. You can also get an entire slew of 2024 Masters picks and expert predictions from our CBS Sports experts and Kyle Porter's list of the nine golfers most likely to win the Masters to help you further evaluate the field. Don't forget to check out a full slate of Masters tee times for Round 1 at Augusta National.

Watch all four rounds of the 2024 Masters starting Thursday with  Masters Live  as we follow the best golfers in the world through Augusta National with  Featured Groups , check in at the famed  Amen Corner  and see leaders round the turn on  holes 15 & 16 . Watch live on  CBSSports.com , the  CBS Sports app  and  Paramount+ .

2024 Masters field, ranked

1. Scottie Scheffler (Won in 2022):  Something a bit lost in all the histrionics around Scheffler and his tee-to-green play (currently off the charts) is how solid he's been at major championships. Since he started regularly playing majors as a pro at the 2020 PGA Championship, here's who has had the most top 10s. 

• Rory McIlroy (10)
• Scottie Scheffler (9)
• Jon Rahm (8)
• Collin Morikawa (7)
• Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson, Will Zalatoris, Xander Schauffele (6)

Ball-striking wins the day at majors because of the way those golf courses are set up, and Scheffler is one of the great ball-strikers in the last 20 years. But he's also perhaps the most disciplined golfer in the world, which leads to a ton of success at majors. Plus, he's only lost to one golfer in his last three events. A deserving 4-1 favorite and a borderline "[Insert player] or the field?" candidate.

2. Jon Rahm (Won in 2023): It always seemed obvious that he was going to win at Augusta National, but plenty of golfers have seemed like obvious winners at Augusta National and not gone on to win. Now, Rahm can play freely at a place where he has five top nine finishes in his last six starts and nothing worse than a T27 over the course of his career. He almost certainly has Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal's two green jackets circled as numbers he would love to match or even surpass.

Rahm is not playing quite as well overall as he was going into the 2023 Masters, but remember, he was also terrible at a couple of tournaments just before winning Augusta a year ago. The point with him is reserved for a tiny group and is similar to the point about Koepka at this point in his career: His major record is immaculate, and he's always among the top three or four threats to win no matter how he's played in the events leading into a major week. Rahm seven top 10s in 12 majors since 2021 with two victories and three top-five finishes among those.

3. Xander Schauffele (T2 in 2019):  Schauffele has four top 10s in his last five starts and should theoretically be somebody who I have tremendous confidence in to win this event, especially because he's probably been the second-best player in the world so far in 2024. However, he's eroded my confidence with too many late fades at majors. If the question is, "Will Xander Schauffele eventually win a major championship?" I would say it's difficult to be that good for that long and have that many close calls without winning. If the question is, "Am I going to miss it when it happens?" Also probably yes.

4. Brooks Koepka (T2 in 2023): It's been feast or famine for Koepka, who has three top seven finishes in his last five starts at the Masters but also two missed cuts. The safest thing here is to presume that, if he's physically and mentally healthy (which he appears to be), he's going to contend for what would be major win No. 6, which would tie him with Mickelson, Nick Faldo and Lee Trevino. I'm not sure it's even worth looking at how he's playing going into the week ashe only has one top 10 so far this year. He's probably the only player this can be said about, or at least the only one where it's actually true.

5. Rory McIlroy (2nd in 2022): He has tried everything: playing extra tournament golf, playing less tournament, golf, extra practice at Augusta, less practice at Augusta. One year, he juggled. Personally, I believe the best thing for McIlroy to do -- if only because he's so inundated with pressure the second he steps foot on the property -- is fly up the morning of the first round and cut his tee time as close as possible. Close enough that there are multiple stories written about whether his flight is going to get there in time. Play the first three holes with his shoes untied. I'm convinced he'd shoot 64 in the first round and win by three.

I'm (kind of) kidding, of course. Rory continues to have two things going for him. The first is that he's awesome at Augusta National. Here are the strokes gained numbers for players in this field over the last 10 years (minimum 12 rounds played).

• Jon Rahm (2.8)
• Jordan Spieth (2.8)
• Scottie Scheffler (2.8)
• Rory McIlroy (2.5) 

The second is that he's moving in the right direction with fewer mistakes and better iron play at the Texas Open than he had in the weeks preceding that.

If -- and this is always a big "if" when it comes to Rory -- he can control some of the emotional and mental stuff early in the tournament and just play golf, he's going to be in contention multiple times over the next several years, not only to win the Masters but also other majors as well. If he does what he did last year and tells himself he's already 10 down to Koepka on the way to his second round, then he probably has no chance. 

6. Hideki Matsuyama (Win in 2021):  Players with at least 20 rounds played since the beginning of January 2015, ranked by strokes gained at Augusta National:

• Jordan Spieth (2.7)
• Dustin Johnson (2.5)
• Rory McIlroy (2.5)
• Hideki Matsuyama (2.4)

Matsuyama has been incredible so far this year and not missed the cut at the Masters (or finished outside the top 32) since 2014. He should be among the six or seven favorites going in.

7. Wyndham Clark (n/a):  It's hard to believe, but this will be Clark's first Masters. While the numbers say that Schauffele has been better, Clark both has more actual wins (Pebble Beach) and more real chances to win other event (Arnold Palmer and Players Championship). Between him and the next man on this list, this is one of the better chances since 1979 for a first-time Masters golfer to win the tournament.

8. Ludvig Aberg (n/a):  It's been over a decade since somebody won a major in their first attempt (Keegan Bradley in 2011). Aberg and his monstrous driving ability probably represents the best chance to end that streak that we have seen since Bradley beat Jason Dufner in that playoff at Atlanta Athletic Club. Sometimes -- maybe a lot of the time -- at this golf course, no experience at all can usurp some of what the other older guys on this list have gone through.

9. Jordan Spieth (Won in 2015):  Since the statistic was introduced in 2004, here are best strokes gained numbers at Augusta National (minimum 20 rounds):

• Jon Rahm (2.9)
• Tiger Woods (2.4)
• Phil Mickelson (2.3)

That is some insane company. Spieth now has  six  top-four finishes at Augusta after his T4 to Rahm a year ago. Six! No matter how he's playing or what the form is like going in, he is very much like Phil Mickelson at that golf course. Not to be undervalued. Not to be counted out. Also, when he's even remotely competent , he plays well here.

10. Will Zalatoris (2nd in 2021): He might be the new Koepka. His major finishes are staggering. In nine such starts as a professional, he has three second-place finishes and three more top 10s! The other three were a withdrawal, a missed cut and a T28. And while he has been good at non-majors, he hasn't been nearly as good as he's been in majors. This chart from Data Golf shows that clearly. It's difficult to find two bigger over-performers at majors compared to their regular play than Zalatoris and Koepka.

11. Viktor Hovland (T7 in 2023):  Hovland has never missed the cut at Augusta National and has been an extraordinary ball-striker in that time. Among the top 150 in the world currently, he ranks No. 9 in ball-striking at the Masters over the last three years (1.5 strokes gained). However, he's struggling going into the tournament. He does not even have a top 15 so far in 2024.

12. Cameron Young (T7 in 2023):  He's not a great putter, but also ... Hideki Matsuyama won a Masters. He quietly had a top 10 here last year, and his iron play has been humming so far in 2024. I'm intrigued by him as a sleeper to win this event.

13. Collin Morikawa (5th in 2022):  Morikawa has played in four Masters, and though I never really envisioned him as a tremendous Augusta National player, it makes sense that he is because of his terrific iron play. In those four Masters, he has two top 10s and stands as one of just seven golfers to play all 16 rounds and have a strokes gained number over 2.0 (elite). Others include Rahm, Scheffler, Cameron Smith, Hideki Matsuyama, Patrick Reed and Shane Lowry. If he wasn't struggling so much (no top 10s) outside of this course, he would be in the top five.

14. Justin Thomas (4th in 2020):  On paper, the fit is so good. J.T.'s short game is magic, and you could argue that he's the best iron player in the world.  His weakness -- arguably accuracy off the tee -- is not a massive issue here. However, he has struggled at times to play his way into contention at Augusta National. A (possibly dumb) theory: He tries to hit  too many  shots instead of just playing stock shots on what's in front of him. He'll opt for that rolling draw on No. 13 and make a mess of what should be an auto-birdie hole for him. That's emblematic of how he's played this course at times. Regardless, there are almost no lingering concerns from a year ago when he was truly terrible at the major championships. J.T. is all the way back from the swing that got him off kilter a bit in 2023 and should be ready to rock for major No. 1. The two things that do give me a bit of pause are a putter that went ice cold at the Valspar Championship and a split from multi-year caddie Jim "Bones" Mackay.

15. Joaquin Niemann (T16 in 2023):  Niemann is playing the best golf of his life, and he's gotten better every single year he's played the Masters. It would be unusual, though, for somebody to go from no top 10s in 19 major tries to winning a green jacket.

16. Patrick Cantlay (T9 in 2019):  One of the biggest mysteries in the professional game right now is why Cantlay is not better at majors. An example: He's been worse statistically than -- checks notes -- Sebastian Munoz, Steve Stricker and Corey Conners at Augusta National over the last 10 years.

17. Matt Fitzpatrick (T7 in 2016): Among the current top players, Fitzpatrick ranks among the top 15 over the last three years in tee-to-green play at Augusta National. I didn't used to think he had the power to thrive at Augusta National, but he has clearly solved that over the last few years, and now I think he can legitimately become the No. 1 player in the world. 

18. Bryson DeChambeau (T21 in 2016): A friend in the media recently randomly texted to inform me that he thinks Bryson is going to win the Masters. (He needed me to know.) I could not disagree more. There's too much nuance. He's missed two straight cuts. His best finish came as an amateur in 2016. He's never been in the top 20. And yet, the skillset is still good enough that I can't rank him any lower.

19. Dustin Johnson (Won in 2020):  In the years leading into his win in 2020, he finished in the top 10 four consecutive times before beating Cam Smith and Sungjae Im in that November Masters. Since then? Missed cut, T12 and T48. It doesn't seem like D.J.'s focus on the majors is what it used to be, hough he does have the talent to win seemingly from out of nowhere.

20. Shane Lowry (T3 in 2022):  Here are the golfers with the most top 25s in the last four Masters:

• T1. Scottie Scheffler, Hideki Matsuyama, Shane Lowry (4)
• T4. Jon Rahm and eight others (3) 

21. Tony Finau (T5 in 2019): Here's a weird one: Finau has only gained .02 strokes per round off the tee at Augusta National over the last three years. That's a similar number to guys like Stewart Cink, Sebastian Munoz, Tyrrell Hatton and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

22. Russell Henley (T4 in 2023):  Here's a stunner: Henley has better numbers at Augusta National over the last 10 years than Tony Finau, Cameron Smith, J.T., Schauffele, Hovland and Patrick Reed.

Who am I... • Top 20 player in OWGR • Top 15 player in Data Golf • Top 5 last year at Augusta • Top 15 in 3 of last 4 Masters starts • Top 5 at Bay Hill • Top 30 in SG Putting • Top 5 in 3-Putt avoidance • Top 15 in FedEx Cup last year 100-1 currently for next week 👀 — Jamie Kennedy (@jamierkennedy) April 5, 2024

23. Tommy Fleetwood (T14 in 2022): For whatever reason, this has been Fleetwood's worst major. That's relative, of course, but he doesn't have a top 10 here, and he has top fives at the other three (including multiple top fives at the U.S. Open and Open Championship). His iron play at Augusta National of late has been below his normally terrific baseline. That's the stat to watch for him this year.

24. Si Woo Kim (T12 in 2021):  Among the top players right now, Kim has been fourth-best at Augusta National in terms of iron play over the last three years. That's wild! He does the thing you need to do best at Augusta National nearly better than everyone. Only Scheffler, Marc Leishman and Corey Conners have been better in that span.

25. Sahith Theegala (9th in 2023):  If Zalatoris is the new Koepka, Theegala might be the new Spieth: good but wild off the tee, terrific iron player and at times elite short game. He's also an electric factory. Impossible to take your eyes off, and if he plays like he did at the end of last year's Masters -- 67 on Sunday -- you won't need to.

Rick Gehman, Kyle Porter, Greg DuCharme and Patrick McDonald preview the 2024 Masters Tournament. Follow & listen to The First Cut on  Apple Podcasts  and  Spotify .

26. Cameron Smith (T2 in 2020):  Forget about the Official World Golf Rankings, Smith is dropping on a much more important list, the Data Golf top 100. After rising all the way to No. 3, he's now closer to No. 50 and not playing at the same level he was when he won The Open in 2022. There is a chance that that Open at St. Andrews was part of the 18-month run that many of the best players have in which they do most of their prolific winning. That doesn't mean he  can't  win Augusta, only that it seems as if he's no longer in that 18-month stretch where he won seven times worldwide from January 2022 to August 2023, which means winning another major -- already a difficult feat -- will that much tougher. 

27. Brian Harman (T12 in 2021):  Hovland changed my mind the most of anyone in 2023 in terms of what he could be as a player. Harman, though, was probably second. I'm not positive what he does necessarily translates to Augusta National -- he's missed three of five cuts there -- but I'm far more intrigued following his Open Championship victory than I was a year ago at this time.

28. Max Homa (T43 in 2023): Homa has been good with his iron play at Augusta National but terrible almost everywhere else. I refuse to believe this is a bad spot for him as it rewards precise, elite iron play, which is his greatest strength. Also, if you can win at Riviera (where Homa has four consecutive top 10s, including a victory), you can win at Augusta National. For Homa, it's about finding the balance between not caring enough and caring too much (which is where he sometimes finds himself).

29. Sam Burns (T29 in 2023):  Burns has yet to top 10 at a major, and there's a reason for that. He does most of his damage off the tee and on the greens, and majors are the most demanding when it comes to iron play where he has been more up and down over the course of his career. It's an area where he's had years of greatness, but overall, it has not been consistently good as his driving or his putting. He's played extraordinary golf so far in 2024 but has dropped off slightly in the last few events.

30. Tyrrell Hatton (T18 in 2021):  I am very much in on Hatton being one of the most underrated players in the world (as Homa pointed out to me earlier this year). But the reality is that, since the start of 2020, he has five missed cuts at majors and no top 10s. More suited for one of the Opens.

31. Adam Scott (Won in 2013):  I don't know what's crazier, that he's made 14 cuts in a row at Augusta or that only one of them since his win in 2013 has been a top 10. 

32. Corey Conners (T6 in 2022):  He's the superior version of Eric Cole (see below). He's probably not going to win, but nobody has more top 10s than him at the Masters since the start of 2020 (he's tied with Rahm, Smith and Reed at three top 10s).

33. Jason Day (T2 in 2011):  After he finished T2 and third in two of his first three Masters, he looked like the player who would become the first Australian to win the Masters (Adam Scott got him in that third-place finish by beating Angel Cabrera in a playoff at Augusta). After those two starts, though, it would have seemed wild to suggest that Day would never really contend for another one, but that's mostly how it has played out. He has two other top 10s (2016 and 2019) but in neither was he really a contender to win.

34. Harris English (T21 in 2021):  After struggling through a few years because of injury, English is playing solid golf again. If you want him for a major, though, it's probably going to be the U.S. Open where he has three top-eight finishes in his last four appearances.

35. Min Woo Lee (T14 in 2022):  Boy, don't let Min Woo get hot. His big problem is that he's a bad iron player and especially so from 150-200 yards, which is a tough distance from which to be a bad iron player at Augusta National. 

36. Keegan Bradley (T22 in 2015):  Bradley has been decent at Augusta National but probably not as good as you might expect. He does not have a top 20, which is odd for somebody who is such a great-ball striker, and particularly such a good iron player. In fact, he only has one top 10 at  any  major in the last nine years. 

37. Sungjae Im (T2 in 2020):  This is certainly Im's best major. He has six top 25s in 17 starts in all four majors, and half of those are at Augusta National, including two top 10s (one of which was a T2 to Dustin Johnson in 2020). 

38. Phil Mickelson (Won in 2004, 2006, 2010): Mickelson's results last year make zero sense. He did nothing before the Masters and nothing after the Masters. And in the middle of all of that, he shot 65 on Sunday at Augusta National to finish tied for second at the Masters.

All of that happened as he was attempting to buoy the LIV Golf league he helped start amid a maelstrom of conflicting thoughts and ideas about how pro golf should operate. The conclusion? The marriage of Phil and Augusta National is magic. It's not crazy to think he can contend there again this year given his history. Likely? Not really, but he certainly has more win equity than almost everyone in the field outside of, say, the top 15 or 20 guys.

39. Nick Taylor (T29 in 2020):  He  probably  won't get into contention, but if he manages to somehow, he  definitely  won't shy away from the lead. 

40. Adam Hadwin (T24 in 2018):  Here's a weird one: Over the last 10 years, Adam Hadwin has a better strokes gained average at Augusta than Adam Scott. He's only played 10 rounds compared to Scott's 40, but I would not have expected that.

41. Sergio Garcia (Won in 2017):  Garcia's last 10 years at Augusta National make almost no sense.

• Missed cuts: 5
• Strokes gained: 0.66 per round

42. Akshay Bhatia (n/a):  Bhatia is an awesome story -- skipped college to turn pro and has made his way on the Tour -- and he fits the mold for Augusta National in that he's a lefty who hits the ball quite well. However, expecting him to win in his debut a week after his first full field PGA Tour victory (one in which he got injured) is probably a bit much.

43. Nicolai Hojgaard (n/a):  The Dane should punish Augusta National off the tee. There are only a handful of golfers in the world (McIlroy, Young among them) who rank ahead of Hojgaard in driving distance relative to field since the start of 2023.

44. Justin Rose (2nd in 2017):  It's been feast or famine for Rose recently at ANGC. Starting at the 2015 Masters, he has five top 12s but also two missed cuts at an event where it's actually somewhat difficult to miss the cut. He has only finished between T26 and T50 once (T36 in 2008).

45. Rickie Fowler (2nd in 2018):  This is, surprisingly, Fowler's first April Masters since before the COVID-19 pandemic started. He has been awesome at this golf course with one of the best scoring averages in the history of the tournament, but his play has dropped off a bit since winning the Rocket Mortgage Classic last summer. Still, the only players better than him in the last 10 years at Augusta are all familiar: Zalatoris, Rahm, Spieth, Scheffler, McIlroy, Rose and Johnson. 

46. Patrick Reed (Won in 2018):  Reed has been low-key excellent at Augusta National. Obviously his 2018 victory gets all the run, but since then he has a T10 in 2020, a T8 in 2021 and a T4 in 2023. I don't know that he'll have another victory here, but he should be an absolute force when it comes to fantasy teams.

47. Tom Kim (T16 in 2023):  I was pleasantly surprised by what Kim did at the majors last year. Between his T16, T8 at the U.S. Open and T2 at the Open Championship, it's not what I expected. He doesn't have the modern skillset you think of when you think of major winners, but he does have an impressive amalgamation of magnetic presence, grit and sense of the moment that is difficult to quantify. I'm more convinced than I was this time last year that Kim will be a major champion.

48. Ben An (T33 in 2017):  The late addition to the event with the best chance of winning. An is a ball-striker savant who is having an amazing year with five top 21s so far in 2024. 

49. Tiger Woods (Won in 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2019):  Woods has accomplished some extraordinary feats in his career, but beating Scehffler, Rahm, Thomas, McIlroy, Spieth, Morikawa, Schauffele and a host of other players -- after having finished one major since the start of 2021 -- would be the most extraordinary thing of all. Still, if there's anyone who can do it …

50. Denny McCarthy (n/a):  McCarthy has played in nine majors (including four PGA Championships) but never a Masters.

51. J.T. Poston (T34 in 2023):  Poston is playing the best golf of his career and has been at a top 25-like level leading into this Masters. He finished T5 at Kapalua, which has some Augusta attributes. He reminds me a bit of Russell Henley in that he is playing like somebody who  could  win but you're a bit dubious that he actually will. A good top 20 bet.

52. Sepp Straka (T30 in 2022):  Players who finished in the top 10 in multiple majors in 2023.

• Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler (3)
• Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith, Cameron Young, Sepp Straka , Tom Kim, Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele (2)

53. Gary Woodland (T14 in 2023):  With just two top 25s and five missed cuts, Woodland has had a surprisingly average history at Augusta National. He's a proven major champion, though, and would be one of the easier stories in the field -- bouncing back from brain surgery last fall -- if he gets into the mix. 

54. Emiliano Grillo (T17 in 2016):  Grillo is coming in off his first top 10 in a major. Of course, that will have been nine months ago when he tees it up at Augusta National.

55. Eric Cole (n/a):  Cole is one of those guys who is perfect to bet as a top-25 finisher because he has no name recognition and is thus probably a bit underrated but not the guy you want to bet at even 100-1 odds (appropriately and humorously, at the time of this writing, he's not even listed at most major books taking bets on the Masters).

56. Cameron Davis (46th in 2022):  I'm a bit confused about what Davis is supposed to be. His skillset suggests that he should be excellent at major championships. Perhaps he develops into that player; he did finish T4 at last year's PGA Championship at Oak Hill. But he has not quite reached the level where I feel comfortable about him being a contender at this major (or any other). 

57. Chris Kirk (T20 in 2014):  Kirk is playing for just the second time since 2016, but he brings perhaps the best version of his game to Augusta National. Will he win? I'm dubious about that, but I do believe he's a good fourth or fifth guy on your fantasy team this week.

58. Lucas Glover (T20 in 2007):  It's a bid odd to me that Glover has not been better here. He flushes everything he sees, and though the putting hasn't been great, one would think it would be good enough to get at least a top 15 or top 10 in one of his previous starts. Glover has two top 10s in any major, and one of them was, of course, a victory.

59. Bubba Watson (Won in 2012, 2014):  The win equity remains higher than most with him because he's done it before (twice), but it's pretty difficult to envision him winning a Masters at age 45, mostly because his one elite skill (driving distance) has taken a huge hit since 2012 and 2014 when he was truly generationally long off the tee, which helped him win two green jackets. The blue line below represents the top five in distance. Watson lived above it for so long, and now he's dropped all the way to basically being barely a top 100 guy.    

60. Matthieu Pavon (n/a):  Is Pavon the best player in the world? He sure looked like it for a bit earlier this year when he won Torrey Pines and was in position to win Pebble Beach before the final round was canceled due to weather. Still, it would be a shock if that carried all the way through to Augusta in April. He's never finished better than T25 at a major.

61. Stephan Jager (n/a):  Having (by far) the best year of his career, and a lot of it is based on how well he's striking the ball. He won't win, but he could absolutely make the cut and make a little noise.

62. Erik van Rooyen (MC in 2022):  Three South Africans have won the Masters, and incredibly none of them are Louis Oosthuizen or Ernie Els. Gary Player, Trevor Immelman and Charl Schwartzel. Van Rooyen would make it four.

63. Jake Knapp (n/a):  The big-hitting Knapp will be playing his first Masters and just his second major after his win in Mexico. If he's in contention, you might want to make sure the sleeves are big enough for his pipes.

64. Nick Dunlap (n/a):  At this point, the only thing that could make his last year any more remarkable is to cap a U.S. Amateur-Walker Cup-PGA Tour victory (as an amateur) run with a green jacket.

65. Austin Eckroat (n/a):  "Who will be low Oklahoma State Cowboy at this Masters?" is a fun game. Eckroat is definitely the underdog here but a sneaky-interesting play nonetheless.

66. Peter Malnati (n/a):  I cannot imagine a more fun and compelling story than a 36-year-old who recently cried after just his second win playing in and winning his first Masters.

67. Ryan Fox (T26 in 2023):  I'm more intrigued by him as a potentially sneaky-low Australian, which he was last year (just edging out Smith), than I am intrigued by him to win the event.

68. Adrian Meronk (MC in 2023):  At 6-foot-6, he will be the toughest LIV Golf player to his peers to carry off the 18th green on their shoulders (if that is still a thing that is being done this year,  as Greg Norman suggested .

69. Taylor Moore (T39 in 2023):  The good news for Moore is that he beat Thomas, DeChambeau and D.J. at his first Masters last year. The bad news is that none of those guys finished in the top 40 on the leaderboard.

70. Luke List (T33 in 2005):  I don't believe there is any non-winner in the field whose best finish at the Masters happened longer ago than 2005.

71. Adam Schenk (n/a):  It would be incredible if a guy named "Schenk" won the most famous golf tournament in the world.

72. Kurt Kitayama (MC in 2023):  Kitayama has a strange major resume. He has just one top 50 in 12 major championship starts … but it was a T4 (!) at last year's PGA.

73. Thorbjorn Olesen (T6 in 2013) : After a nice start to the year, he's done nothing in the last month. It would be stunning if he contended to win this event.

74. Lee Hodges (n/a):  Since the start of 2023, Hodges has had two top 10s. One of them was a win to get into the Masters. 

75. Ryo Hisatsune (n/a):  He does not have a top 10 on the PGA Tour this year.

76. Camilo Villegas (T13 in 2009):  Villegas does not have a top 10 in any major since 2010, but his story would be the sports story of the year if he were even to get into contention here.

77. Charl Schwartzel (Won in 2011):  Schwartzel has had such an interesting (and at times, odd) pro career. He only has four PGA Tour and European Tour wins (that were not co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour), but one of them is the Masters. Then in 2017, he finished in third at Augusta, three shots out of a playoff. But he also doesn't have a top five at any other major. Name me a more bizarre run than that of Schwartzel.

78. Grayson Murray (n/a):  Murray's redemption story is really interesting (though I am still cautious about it), and I am intrigued to see how the broader sports world would receive it if he gets into contention at a big-time event like the Masters.    

79. Danny Willett (Won in 2016):  Willett is proof of what a life-changer the Masters can be. He's currently outside the top 300 in the Data Golf rankings and would be mostly irrelevant as a pro right now if Spieth hadn't hit two shots in the water on No. 12 back in 2016. Willett has only made two cuts at Augusta since that win (although one was a T12 in 2022).

80. Zach Johnson (Won in 2007):  Honestly, I think Z.J. might have a better chance of making the next Ryder Cup team than he does of winning this year's Masters.

81. Stewart Hagestad (T36 in 2017):  Hagestad, the 2023 Mid-Am winner, has played as many rounds at Augusta National as Young, Burns and Min Woo Lee.

82. Christo Lamprecht (n/a):  Data Golf ranks him as basically an average PGA Tour player so it makes sense that he would finish T74 at last year's Open. The question is how high the ceiling is for Lamprecht. The 6-foot-8 Georgia Tech star could supplant George Archer (6-foot-5) as the tallest Masters winner ever. 

83. Mike Weir (Won in 2003):  Weir does not have a top 25 at the Masters since 2008. Since 2021, he's only played the Masters, Canadian Open and Sony Open on the PGA Tour.

84. Fred Couples (Won in 1992):  Couples will try to break his own record for oldest player to make the cut at a Masters, which he set just a year ago when he made it to the last two rounds at age 63 and 187 days. "It's not like, 'Ha, ha, ha, I can screw around and play 36 holes for fun.' I'm going to try and compete," he said. "I can't compete with Viktor Hovland or Jon Rahm or anybody, but I can compete with myself, and that's really why I come. That's what I like to do, is make the cut here at an older age."

85. Neal Shipley (n/a):  The Ohio State graduate student became a legend last summer when he nearly holed out at Cherry Hills to win his semifinal and get into the Masters. Ranked outside the top 25 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, he was never really been a star until that week at Cherry Hills, but he's one of the easier guys in this field to cheer on.

THE SHOT! THE SPIN! THE SHIP! 🛳️ @OhioStateMGOLF 's Neal Shipley has punched his ticket to the #USAmateur championship match! pic.twitter.com/O9rX9VHn5X — USGA (@USGA) August 19, 2023

86. Jose Maria Olazabal (Won in 1994, 1999):  Olazabal has made just one cut in his last eight majors. It was a stunner, too, in 2021 when he beat D.J., McIlroy, Day, Garcia and Adam Scott at the age of 55.

87. Vijay Singh (Won in 2000):  The biggest mystery with Singh this week is whether he'll choose to set up shop and watch DeChambeau try to reach the media center with his driver from the practice area.

88. Santiago de la Fuente (n/a):  De la Fuente joined Alvaro Ortiz (2019) as Mexicans who have won the Latin America Amateur Championship to get a spot in the Masters. De la Fuente's story is wild. He started his career at Arkansas Tech (where the men's athletic teams are called the Wonder Boys!) before landing at Houston where he became an All-American. From Wonder Boys to Magnolia Lane. Golf rocks.

89. Jasper Stubbs (n/a):  Stubbs was an out-of-nowhere winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur toward the end of 2023. He said he knows ANGC well from having played it on "Tiger Woods 2012" (kids!), but  I found this part  to be perhaps the most interesting. Ranked 476th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Stubbs became the third highest ranked player in the history of the championship to wear the crown. Matsuyama was 544th when he won the first of his two titles in 2011, and China's Tianlang Guan was 490th when he won in 2012 as a 14-year-old.

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The Masters 2024: Who can still earn invite to Augusta National over next two PGA Tour events?

Players can still earn an invite to The Masters by moving into the world's top 50 this week or by winning one of the next two PGA Tour events - the Houston Open and Valero Texas Open; Watch The Masters exclusively live from April 11-14 on Sky Sports

Monday 1 April 2024 22:55, UK

Time is running out to qualify for The Masters, with Ryder Cup players, former FedExCup champions and plenty of notable names among those chasing a late invite to Augusta National.

There are currently 85 players in the field for the opening men's major of the year, live from April 11-14 on Sky Sports , where Jon Rahm returns to defend his title and Scottie Scheffler arrives as pre-tournament favourite.

Players only have two PGA Tour events left to secure a spot for The Masters, with the winners of the Texas Children's Houston Open and Valero Texas Open - providing they're not already exempt - automatically earn an invite.

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Those inside the world's top 50 after this week's event at Memorial Park Golf Course will also get to feature in The Masters, with several players having the opportunity to guarantee their qualification via that method.

Which players have the best chance?

Former BMW PGA Championship winner Byeong Hun An is the highest-ranked player not officially yet listed in the field, although the world No 42 won't drop out of the world's top 50 this week and therefore will secure an invite.

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Early spring in Augusta, GA. #themasters pic.twitter.com/AMMSH0cG09 — The Masters (@TheMasters) March 25, 2024

The Korean started the year outside the world's top 60 but followed a fourth at The Sentry by finishing runner-up at the Sony Open earlier in the season, with another top-10 finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this month helping him secure a return to The Masters.

Everyone else inside the world's top 50 is already in the field for The Masters, as are the next four in the world rankings, with Tom Hoge (world No 57), Mackenize Hughes (No 63) and former Ryder Cup winner Alex Noren (No 66) among those in action this week looking to earn a late major invite.

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Who has qualified for the 2024 Masters?

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Can Scheffler add to major tally at Augusta?

Hoge would need a top-five finish in Houston to have a chance of making it into the top 50, while Hughes and Noren will likely need to end the week inside the top two to have a mathematical chance of securing a spot via that method.

Anyone else who can still make The Masters?

Everyone else in action in Houston will need a win to qualify for The Masters, with Keith Mitchell (No 71) and Germany's Stephan Jaeger (No 72) the next two in the world rankings who would require a victory.

Ryder Cup winner Robert MacIntyre is in danger of missing The Masters for the second successive season, having dropped down the world rankings after a slow start to the PGA Tour season, while English duo Aaron Rai and Matt Wallace also need a win to qualify.

Former FedExCup champion Billy Horschel (No 87) has posted top-12 finishes in two of his three PGA Tour starts but is on the verge of not making The Masters for the first time since 2017, having featured in every major since 2018.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout (No 55) and Brendon Todd (No 64) both sit out of this week and will need to win the Valero Texas Open from April 4-7 if they're to feature at Augusta National, with that PGA Tour event where the final Masters spot will be available.

Matt Kuchar , former Open champion Francesco Molinari and Kevin Kisner - who has featured in every major since 2015 - are among the other notable names currently set to miss out, while others are struggling since dropping down the world rankings with moves to the LIV Golf League.

There are 13 players from LIV Golf in the field, including Rahm, reigning PGA champion Brooks Koepka and two-time major winner Dustin Johnson, although Talor Gooch, Mito Pereira, Ian Poulter and Paul Casey all miss out.

Watch the Texas Children's Houston Open all live on Sky Sports. Early coverage begins on Thursday from 12.30pm on Sky Sports Golf, ahead of full coverage from 8pm. The Masters is then exclusively live from April 11-14 exclusively on Sky Sports. Stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, majors and more with NOW.

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