Springtime is upon us again. This only means one thing for golf fans: the Masters, the sport’s premier competition, will soon return to the fore. Will Scottie Scheffler be victorious?
At Augusta, towering pine trees line wide expanses of the greenest, carpet-like fairways- without a blade of Bermuda grass left discoloured or out of place.
Ivory white sand bunkers, mirror-like ponds, deadly cambering slopes and 18 of the slickest undulating putting surfaces are ready to defend some of the most picturesque, and infamous holes in golf.
Embed from Getty ImagesOn the 11th of April, for four days, 86 (at the time of writing) of the finest professionals will battle it out on the prettiest stage in golf. All vying for the highest of honours in the sport, the green jacket.
It’s all very compelling isn’t it…right?
Well, I would certainly feel a little more invigorated about the whole thing if Scottie Scheffler weren’t playing such mind-numbingly perfect golf at the minute.
I’m here to give you some insight into what Scottie Scheffler has done of late to prompt such pessimism from the golfing world about why there might not be much of a contest at the Masters this year.
Embed from Getty ImagesTo try to be a little more positive, I’ll also discuss which of his competitors could, in theory, mount a significant challenge.
Boringly brilliant Scottie
Scheffler has been in wonderful form ever since the start of the 2022 season. That year he claimed 4 titles including his first green jacket.
Ahead of the 88th edition of the Masters, it doesn’t seem any golfer could be better prepared than him at this moment in time. Scottie genuinely looks to be the biggest favourite to win the Masters since Tiger Woods in his pomp.
Following his breakout season, his adjusted scoring average in the following season was 68.629; the 7th best since the stat was first kept in 1988. That doesn’t sound overly impressive until I mention that the best 6 scoring averages in PGA seasons are all held by none other than Tiger Woods.
Embed from Getty ImagesHe also comes into this year’s event after winning the Arnold Palmer, as well as what is commonly regarded as the 5th major (the players)- beating an in-form US Open champion Wyndham Clark.
This all describes what is the best preparation a player could have heading into a Masters tournament.
Could his putting woes cause him problems?
Last term, the one saving grace for the rest of the field in every event was that Scottie’s putting left a lot to be desired. Despite finishing the 2023 season with the 7th lowest scoring average in tour history, his putting stats were abysmal.
He finished 162nd in putting stats on the PGA tour last year, with his stroke coming under the most scrutiny at Hoylake in the summer. That week he finished dead last in the field for his putting, losing a total of 6 shots on the greens.
At a golf course like Augusta, putting well is always paramount to anyone who wishes to have success there. The greens are particularly slick and undulating, requiring the players to marry speed and line to a tee.
So, could this then be just the sort of place we might see Scottie’s putting problems outlined once more?
Unfortunately, I don’t think so.
He’s changed his putting a whole lot since last season and he seems to have figured a few things out. He looks like he has his confidence back with the flat stick.
So, he had a wonderful season last year even whilst putting so poorly.
All this begs one question: Who can beat him now he’s putting well?
I’m not sure anyone can- but we can still theorise about who might be able to.
Who else could give Scheffler a run for his money?
One potential challenger for Scottie is Rory Mcilroy- who heads into this year’s event under the radar. Rory always is the centre of attention at all major championships, none more so than this one.
Rory’s relationship with the Masters is certainly an interesting one. He has won every other major championship in golf, with this one being all that remains for him to win his grand slam.
Rory has even shown on numerous occasions, that he performs well at Augusta National. He is making his 16th appearance this year, with him finishing inside the top 10 in 7 out of his last 10 outings.
However, despite him showing some relative promise at Augusta in years gone by, he’s still never gone and done it. You don’t win any jackets for top 10s, and nobody knows it more than Rory. Amidst the drama of the LIV golf PGA saga (YAWN), PGA stalwart, golden boy, and puppet, Mcilroy didn’t even cut at last year’s Masters.
It seems the case that when all the focus is on him heading into a major, it is never conducive to him finding his best form, and that was never more obvious than last year.
It’s worth mentioning in 2022 he came fairly close to winning but for Scottie Scheffler. However, that year he never really seemed truly in the hunt. He holed out at the last from the bunker to card 8 under par in his final round, only to still miss out by 3 shots. He’d already played himself out of it over the first three days, as Scottie really did walk it in the end.
Rory’s fans will eagerly await this year’s Masters in the hope that he will finally achieve the feat that has always bested him. Yet it seems he will always have to answer the same question every year since his meltdown on the back 9 back in 2011- will he ever find his way to a green jacket?
That year he led by 4 hits as he stood on the 10th tee of his final round. He then proceeded to shoot a round of 80 and finish in 10th place.
If he were to retire now, albeit green-jacketless, he would still finish his career as a golfing great. He would still probably be seen as the most prominent figure in golf since Tiger Woods. Unfortunately, Rory himself won’t be concerned with such notions of legacy, and he will feel he should put himself in contention to win the Masters every spring he heads to Augusta. This year will be no different.
Rory is a formidable player who sits at 2 in the official world golf rankings. He usually plays well at Augusta, and therefore, as always, he has a great chance to do well. But unfortunately for him, in golf, nothing is owed to you, especially with the likes of Scottie Scheffler around.
However, I must say, Rory’s fans might be quietly happy with how little coverage he’s getting ahead of the week. As I said earlier, he’s flying right under the radar. This sort of run-up to a major might just be exactly what he needs to produce his best stuff. And at the end of the day, if he’s got his best stuff, he’s still Rory. He can beat anyone.
The best of the rest
My two other favourites I feel have the sort of game to take down Scottie Scheffler right now are none other than LIV defectees Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka.
When discussing LIV golfers in the build-up to any major event, the same question will always be asked. Are they playing enough high-standard competitive golf to prepare themselves to challenge for the majors?
Yet last year, although Rahm did win the Masters whilst being a member of the PGA tour- he did so whilst being surrounded by a sea of LIV golfers at the top of the leaderboard. Brooks Koepka and previous Masters victors Phil Mickelson and Patrick Reed all managed to propel themselves to well-earned top 5 finishes.
To summarise what this meant for golf: the LIV tour professionals proved that they could compete on the biggest of stages.
Brooks Koepka has proven that he doesn’t need PGA tour preparation for big events. He finished well at Augusta last year, before winning his 5th major, the PGA Championship at Oak Hill.
We might not know a whole lot about his form or preparation headed into April 11th. But what we do know is, if Koepka is healthy and fit, he’ll always pose a threat to the top guys. That includes a Scottie Scheffler in such a fine fettle.
Jon Rahm is also a pretty reliable pick for a good finish this year, or even a win. It would be rude to talk about Rahm exclusively within the scope of LIV because this year he comes into this tournament as the incumbent winner.
He’s the guy with the jacket, so surely, he has the best idea about the sort of shape he needs to get his game into heading into that week. He’s also still 3rd in the world golf rankings. That’s a true testament to the sort of golf he played last year, winning at 3 PGA events and then a green jacket.
However, my problem with Rahm is, whilst being a great player, it’s really tough to know what sort of form he has at the minute. And will he know how to handle the pressure of being the incumbent champion in his first major since he joined LIV?
He’s known to be a hot head of sorts. So, whether he’ll be able to perform and raise the LIV flag like a cold-blooded Koepka, we will have to wait and see. He’s great, and he won it last year. But this year he’ll have to be right there from the get-go to challenge Scheffler.
I’m not sure I see it.
There are plenty of guys who can do something special on their day. And at the Masters, you never know what will unfold. We’ve seen big-name players bottle big leads heading into the final nines at Augusta. Speith in 2016, Norman in 1997 and Rory in 2011. Anything really is possible, especially given the event doesn’t even start for over a week.
But with the form Scottie Scheffler finds himself in, I’m just not sure if anyone can conjure up the sort of performance to knock him off his boringly perfect perch.
But we can hope, can’t we?
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