Springtime in Augusta. The azaleas are in full bloom and you can almost hear the syrupy Sunday monologue coming from the legendary Jim Nantz already. The PGA Tour heats up with its first major tournament of the season as it visits Augusta National Golf Club for the 2024 Masters Tournament. First opened in 1932, Augusta National was designed by two legends of the sport, Bobby Jones and Alister Mackenzie and has contested the Masters Tournament since the inaugural edition in 1934. This year, Augusta National will play as a stout Par 72, 7,555 yard layout.
As one of the longest courses on tour, Augusta National is a course that can handle the long ball, but it is also one of the most difficult courses on tour and requires exquisite iron play and terrific short game if you want to score and be an actual contender. With some of the most undulating and fearsome greens on tour, being good with the putter won’t hurt you, but you have to be sure to put yourself in the right places in order to take advantage of those chances. Finally, just avoid the big number. Grinding out pars, not shooting yourself in the foot by making a bad situation worse, taking what the course gives you and not forcing anything, that’ll be what makes or breaks this event for many of the world’s best and what will separate the great players from the good players as the week goes on.
The Masters Tournament, although it is the youngest of the four golf majors, has produced an amazing list of winners in its existence, including Horton Smith, Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Henry Picard, Ralph Guldahl, Jimmy Demaret, Craig Wood, Herman Keiser, Claude Harmon, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Cary Middlecoff, Jack Burke Jr., Doug Ford, Arnold Palmer, Art Wall Jr., Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Gay Brewer, Bob Goalby, George Archer, Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Tommy Aaron, Raymond Floyd, Tom Watson, Fuzzy Zoeller, Seve Ballesteros, Craig Stadler, Ben Crenshaw, Bernhard Langer, Larry Mize, Sandy Lyle, Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Fred Couples, José Maria Olazabal, Tiger Woods, Mark O’Meara, Vijay Singh, Mike Weir, Phil Mickelson, Zach Johnson, Trevor Immelman, Angel Cabrera, Charl Schwartzel, Bubba Watson, Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, Danny Willett, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed, Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama, Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm, just to name a few.
Jack Nicklaus holds the record for most Masters wins, slipping on the Green Jacket 6 times in his career. Tiger Woods is close behind with 5 Green Jackets, with Arnold Palmer winning this illustrious event 4 times. 5 other players have won this event 3 times, including Jimmy Demaret, Nick Faldo, Phil Mickelson, Gary Player and Sam Snead. Also winning this event multiple times are Horton Smith, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Ben Crenshaw, José Maria Olazabal and Bubba Watson, with each of them having 2 Green Jackets. The 18 hole scoring record is 63, which was shot by Nick Price in the third round in 1986 and by Greg Norman in the first round in 1996. The 72 hold scoring record is 268 (-20), which was shot by Dustin Johnson during his victory in 2020.
Last year’s edition was won by Jon Rahm, who came from four strokes back on the final day to beat 54-hole leader Brooks Koepka and the timeless Phil Mickelson by four strokes. Russell Henley, Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth all finished T-4, five strokes back.
Camilo Villegas was the feel good story of golf in 2023, ending a 9-year losing streak in memory of his late daughter at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. Despite the warm feelings that win evoked, 2024 has been a struggle for Villegas, with just 3 made cuts in 9 starts, with his best finish being a T-50 at The Sentry. Villegas is teeing it up at Augusta National for the first time since 2015, where even in his prime, he didn’t have much luck in this event. 1 top 25, 3 made cuts and 3 missed cuts in 6 starts. His best finish is a T-13 finish back in 2009, arguably when his game was truly at its peak. 2024? Not so much. Villegas is losing strokes in all 6 of the major Strokes Gained categories and there really doesn’t appear to be any signs of that changing. Augusta National is a beast that will chew you up and spit you out if you don’t bring your very best game. Villegas is still a feel good story this week, but I have minimal expectations for his game and predict a missed cut.
Winner of the Valero Texas Open just a few days ago, Akshay Bhatia has arguably the most momentum of any rookie teeing it up this week. 2024 has been a great season for Bhatia, earning 1 win and 6 top 25 finishes in 10 starts to go along with 4 missed cuts on the campaign. He may not have any past Masters starts, but Bhatia has a game that is tailor made for Augusta National. He has elite iron play, ranking inside the top 15 in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green and Greens in Regulation Percentage; his short game holds firm, ranking 31st in Scrambling; he knows how to take advantage of scoring opportunities, ranking 20th in Par 5 Scoring Average; and he can avoid the big number, ranking 12th in Bogey Avoidance. Bhatia does have some injury concerns, as he injured his shoulder during the final round of the Valero Texas Open. Nevertheless, we expect that Bhatia’s game will remain sharp as he brings home a top 20 finish in his Masters debut.
He might not win a ton, but Xander Schauffele is seemingly in the mix at every major, as well as most weeks on tour. 2024 has produced much of the same narrative for Schauffele: close, but not quite close enough. 4 top 5’s and 6 top 10’s in 8 starts, including back-to-back top 5 finishes in his last two starts, T-2 at THE PLAYERS Championship and T-5 at the Valspar Championship. Schauffele has not won at Augusta, but he has repeatedly found success here, with 3 top 10’s and just 1 missed cut in 6 starts. We know that Schauffele is one of the best players in the world, but his stats only confirm and reaffirm why he finds success at Augusta National, excelling in several key areas that will pay dividends this week. Schauffele is ranked inside the top 20 in 5 of the 6 major Strokes Gained categories, including ranking 2nd in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and 8th in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green, ranking 7th in Greens in Regulation Percentage, 15th in Scrambling, 10th in Par 5 Scoring Average and 2nd in Bogey Avoidance. You’ll notice me harping on these stats a ton this week, but when you excel in all of those categories, how can you not find success at Augusta National? It may not be that breakthrough major win for Xander Schauffele, but another top 10 finish in the Masters is a lock this week.
Wow, what a shocker. Really going out on a limb with this pick. I rarely pick the odds on favorite, but when you look at his entire body of work, Scottie Scheffler is truly the man to beat. The number one ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking, Scheffler has 2 wins, 7 top 10’s and 8 top 20 finishes in 8 starts. No, he doesn’t win every week, but he seemingly finds a way to contend at nearly every single course any time he tees it up. Scheffler won the Masters in 2022, has finished in the top 10 each of the last 2 years and has never finished outside the top 20 in 4 trips down Magnolia Lane. Scheffler is gaining strokes in all 6 of the major Strokes Gained categories and ranks inside the top 5 in 5 of them, including ranking 1st in both Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and Approach the Green as well as 5th in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green, ranking 1st in Greens in Regulation Percentage, 8th in Scrambling and 1st in both Par 5 Scoring Average and Bogey Avoidance. The stats don’t lie. Scheffler is the man to beat every single week. The only way someone is going to beat Scottie Scheffler this week is if he beats himself mentally. I predict that Scottie Scheffler will once again put on a “Masterclass” clinic this week as he slips of the Green Jacket for the second time in his career!
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