Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Let me do a quick public service announcement: I am not exaggerating when I say the Masters app is the best smartphone app ever developed. I have no idea how they made a product so perfect for an event that only lasts four days, but it’s an indispensable part of my Masters week and I wish every app on my phone worked half as well.
In today’s SI:AM:
⛹️♂️ NBA mock draft
⛹️♀️ WNBA mock draft
This is when golf season really starts
The 2025 Masters is already underway at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. Whether you’re a hardcore golf fan or just someone who wants to look at some pretty trees and dream of spring, the Masters has something for everyone. Here’s what to watch for as the action unfolds over the next four days.
Scottie vs. Rory
There’s no question who the best golfer in the world is right now. It’s Scottie Scheffler. And there’s little debate over who’s second-best: Rory McIlroy. With any luck, these next four days at Augusta will feature that pair jockeying for position atop the leaderboard.
McIlroy has been playing some great golf to start the year, with two wins in the six tournaments he’s played. He finished in the top 20 in the other four, including two top-fives. Scheffler has also come out of the gate hot after a freak hand injury delayed the start of his season. He finished tied for second at the Houston Open two weeks ago, one shot behind winner Min Woo Lee, and third at the Genesis Invitational in February. He was in the top 25 in each of his other three starts.
For Scheffler, a win would be the continuation of an incredible run of dominance that began last spring, when he won his second Masters in three years. That was one of seven Tour events he won last season. As impressive as last season was for Scheffler, a second consecutive victory at Augusta would be even more remarkable. Only three players in Masters history have won the tournament in back-to-back years (Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods) and Nicklaus is the only one to win three times in a span of four years.
On the other hand, McIlroy is seeking to snap a winless streak at majors that now stretches over a decade. He has four major championships to his name, but the last one came in 2014. He’s come close to breaking that streak several times in recent years, including at the ’22 Masters, when he shot an eight-under 64 in the final round to finish second behind Scheffler.
The LIV guys in the field
For as long as professional golf remains fractured, the major tournaments will remain a bit fraught. Sure, it’s awkward to have players from the breakaway tour funded by a murderous petrostate playing side by side with guys from the established tour whose employer is trying to take over. But also, it’s nice to have all the best players in the world in the same field.
There are 12 LIV players in the field at Augusta this week, down from 18 last year. Seven of them are former Masters champions who have lifetime exemptions. Four of the other five have multi-year exemptions for winning other recent majors. Joaquin Niemann, who was granted a special exemption for the second straight year, is the only LIV player in the field for reasons other than the previously established criteria.
The two LIV names to watch this week are Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, both of whom are among the favorites to win. Rahm is the 2023 Masters champion and has finished in the top 10 at each of LIV’s five tournaments this year. DeChambeau is seeking to follow up on last year’s excellent season that saw him win the U.S. Open, finish second at the PGA Championship and tie for sixth at the Masters.
Other contenders to watch
The sportsbooks have Scheffler, McIlroy, Rahm and DeChambeau as four of the five players most likely to win this week, along with Collin Morikawa. Morikawa has made headlines this season for his comments about media coverage, but he’s also playing some great golf. He finished second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and tied for 10th at the Players. He’s been excellent at Augusta in recent years, too, finishing in the top 10 at each of the past three tournaments. Ludvig Åberg is another player the betting markets like. He burst on the scene last year in his first full professional season, finishing second behind Scheffler at the Masters and tied for 12th at the U.S. Open. He won the Genesis Invitational in February but missed the cut in each of his past two starts.
Other names to watch include Hideki Matsuyama (the 2021 champion), Xander Schauffele (winner of two majors last year), Justin Thomas (a two-time major champion with three top-10 finishes this year) and Viktor Hovland (winner of last month’s Valspar Championship).
Augusta’s recovery from hurricane damage
It’s been a little more than five months since Hurricane Helene barreled through the Southeastern United States. The worst of the destruction was in North Carolina and Florida, but Georgia also felt the effects. That includes at Augusta National, which was forced to delay its fall opening due to damage from the storm. But the club maintained from the beginning that the aftermath of the storm (mostly fallen trees, some of which damaged greens) would not be an issue for the annual April tournament.
🚨📸⛳️ #PHOTOS — Drone imagery captured on September 28th shows the damage done to Augusta National Golf Club in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene (via @ed_bodenhamer) pic.twitter.com/ynCNrN4XLp
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) October 17, 2024
The course is said to be in tip-top shape, but that doesn’t mean the impact of the hurricane won’t be felt this week. Many people who’ve been on the course this week have remarked about the number of missing trees, including Xander Schauffele.
“I was looking at trees. It almost felt like I was playing the back nine for the first time,” Schauffele said earlier this week. “It’s pretty crazy and sad to see how many trees have fallen.”
The impact of the fallen trees is mostly cosmetic, but players have noted that they could present a couple of opportunities for more daring shots on lines previously blocked by the pines.
A beautiful weather forecast
The weather for the Masters can vary widely from year to year. The conditions can range from cold and damp to hot and muggy. Severe storms will sometimes disrupt play. But the weather this year will be as good as it gets. Thursday will be the warmest day, with temperatures rising into the upper 70s, and the rest of the weekend should see temperatures hover around 70 degrees. There’s no rain in the forecast—at least not when players will be on the course. Rain overnight Thursday should soften the course a bit, but isn’t expected to linger into Friday.
That’s good news for the players and patrons, but it’ll also make for a great viewing experience for those of us living in places where spring has yet to fully arrive. Saturday’s weather forecast where I live calls for “steady light rain” and a high of 44. Sounds like a good day to watch the coverage from sunny Augusta.
The best of Sports Illustrated
• Here are our experts’ picks to win the Masters. I’m a little surprised no one picked Scottie Scheffler to repeat.
• Tom Dierberger ranked the 11 players he’d most like to see win the green jacket on Sunday.
• It’s a mock draft overload on the site today. Chris Mannix projected the upcoming NBA draft now that the NCAA tournament is in the rear view. Blake Silverman did the same for the WNBA draft, which is only a few days away. On a less serious note, Matt Verderame has a wacky all-trades NFL mock.
• Albert Breer’s latest NFL mailbag has a whole bunch of draft questions.
• While everyone is talking about torpedo bats, Tom Verducci looks at how MLB pitchers are continuing to rely on breaking stuff.
• Luka Doncic went off for 45 points in his first game back in Dallas.
• The White Sox found another depressing way to lose a baseball game.
The top five…
… things I saw last night:
5. Henrik Lundqvist’s emotional moment with retiring Rangers announcer Sam Rosen.
4. The first career hat trick for Macklin Celebrini, the No. 1 pick in last year’s NHL draft.
3. Not to be outdone, the Wild’s Joel Eriksson Ek scored four goals against Celebrini’s Sharks. The Wild won in overtime 8–7, eliminating the Canucks from playoff contention.
2. Randy Arozarena’s overly dramatic strut to first base after a walk-off walk.
1. The Mavericks’ tribute video for Luka Doncic’s return to Dallas.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Five Things to Watch at the Masters This Weekend.
