Thoughts on the 2025 Masters
The 13th hole brings Amen Corner to an end – image Masters Tournament
The opening major of 2005 gets underway this Thursday with the Masters taking the focus of not only the golfing world but the sporting world generally.
Five Australians are in the field headed in terms of world ranking by recent Houston Open winner, Min Woo Lee, but in terms of experience then Adam Scott and Jason Day both have claims with Cam Smith a solid performer in his nine starts in the event to date and Cam Davis looking to improve on his 12th place finish last year in what will be his third Masters appearance.
Min Woo Lee is playing the Masters for the 3rd occasion having finished an impressive 14th on debut in 2023 and 22nd last year. There is little doubting his recent win has him as a much more confident and more experienced player than ever before and it will be interesting to see if he can use that to convert his success in Houston Open into contention at Augusta National.
Adam Scott will play the Masters for the 24th time, his previous appearances highlighted by his great win in 2013, but he was also runner-up in 2011 and has recorded another three top tens.
In seven PGA Tour starts this season, Scott has yet to record a top ten and with a missed cut at the Players and a 57th place finish at the recent Valspar Championship, his form hardly suggests he could improve on his solid record around Augusta National.
Jason Day’s career at the Masters is highlighted by his great runner-up finish on debut in 2011 when run down by a barnstorming finish by Charl Schwartzel who birdied his final four holes to beat Day and Adam Scott.
Day has played well on occasions in 2025 with a 3rd place finish at the American Express and an 8th place finish at Bay Hill the highlights but although he might contend at various stages it appears his game is not as sharp as it needs to be to contend late on Sunday.
Cam Smith’s form is a bit hard to assess given he has been playing Liv Golf events to date in 2025 but there is little doubting his great record at Augusta National.
In eight previous starts at the Masters, Smith has recorded 5 top tens including an outstanding runner-up finish in 2020 behind Dustin Johnson.
Smith’s form to date in Liv Golf events in 2025 is well below his best but there was some encouragement in Miami last weekend when he finished with a round of 70 on a tough layout to share 9th place, his best finish of the year to date.
Cam Davis will play the Masters for the 3rd time with an encouraging 12th place finish last year the highlight, that finish ensuring he would be in the field again.
The problem for Davis however is that after what had been a good start to the 2025 season, his form has dropped away and missing the cut in each of his last four events suggests he needs quite a turnaround if he is to have any hope of bettering his previous best at Augusta National.
Looking at the event generally then it is hard to go past the two favourites Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy as the players most likely to take the title.
Scheffler is chasing a rare three wins in the event having won in 2022 and 2024 and although he has yet to win this season he has been playing well enough for him to once again contend late into Sunday.
Should he win then he will join Jimmy Demaret, Sam Snead, Gary Player, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods as players with three or more green Jackets.
Scheffler finished runner-up in Houston and 3rd at Torrey Pines, suggesting his form is close to where it needs to be.
It is hard to believe that McIlroy is playing the Masters for the 17th occasion but in that time he has recorded seven top tens and given the excellent current form he is in then he could well finally contend and win an elusive fifth major and complete the Grand Slam.
Others who are worthy of serious consideration include last year’s runner-up on debut, Ludvig Aberg who although missing his last two cuts this season did win at Torrey Pines and could easily return to contention.
Collin Morikawa has been twice runner-up in five starts this season and has been inside the top ten in each of his last three starts at the Masters. He finished 3rd behind Scheffler last year and could well win his third major title this week to go with his Open and PGA Championship titles.
Players at longer odds for a bit of speculative betting could include Will Zalatoris who in just three attempts has been 9th, 6th and 2nd, and while not at his peak he has made the cut in his last 12 PGA Tour appearances and would not surprise if he was contending again.
Zalatoris has been rebuilding after a microdiscectomy lumbar disk surgery two years ago and has been able to add weight to his thin frame and he appears to be building to better form.
Also worth consideration is the very much improved Sepp Straka who in three attempts at Augusta National has made the cut on each occasion and finished 16th last year. Straka has been in fine form this season with a win at the American Express and six other top twenties and having played the Masters on three occasions now he might be able to convert that form into contention.
