Who will win the Masters? Peter Kostis and Gary McCord weigh in

This article was first published in the April 2025 edition of GOLF Magazine.

Like most, Peter and Gary favor Scottie to keep his green jacket. But it won’t be a walk in the park.

Peter Kostis: The Masters made an adjustment this year to allow qualification from the LIV tour. I’m looking forward to finally seeing more of the best golfers worldwide compete against each other. And I expect somebody from LIV to play well. I really think that they want to justify their existence still. There’s still a little bit of animosity about the way they’ve been treated by worldwide golf. I’m looking forward to the Battle Royale.

Gary McCord: That is going to be fun to watch. Can Rory get it done finally? He’s been playing pretty well these days.

PK: He’s my sentimental pick because I want to see him win the Grand Slam. But the thing that Rory is battling is that he hits too few fades and too many draws. You used to think that you have to draw it around Augusta National, and that may have been true in the day of persimmon, but no longer. You’ve got to hit it high and be able to control your yardages.

GM: Have you seen anybody do that better than Scottie Scheffler? I mean just high, soft, and, if he’s got 176, well, he’s going to hit it 176. If he’s got 210, it’s going to be 210. That’s hard to beat on that golf course.

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PK: Yeah, I’m amazed at that. He has worked really, really hard at that aspect of his game. That’s what Jack Nicklaus did better than anybody at the Masters. He plotted his way around that golf course. He controlled the yardages and, you know, plus or minus one or two yards is all you have on those greens at Augusta oftentimes. If you can’t control your golf ball that tightly, then you ought not to be taking on a pin. Your putting is set up by your ability to put the ball on the right part of the green for a given pin placement. Without that, you’re not going to have
very many really good birdie opportunities.

GM: It’s a second-shot golf course for sure. And these days, who controls the ball better than Scheffler?

PK: Nobody. It’s like Bernhard Langer back in the day. In his two Masters wins, I’m not sure he had a three-putt in either one of them. But it wasn’t because he putted brilliantly, although he obviously putted very well. It’s that he controlled his golf ball into the green and put it in the right place for a given hole location. So, he had an opportunity to be a little more aggressive and less defensive with the putter. You can hit 18
greens at Augusta and have seven three-putts if you put it in the wrong place.

GM: Oh, I have definitely been in the wrong place … at the wrong time.

PGA Tour coach Peter Kostis and former Tour player and golf personality Gary McCord riff on all things golf in their podcast “Off Their Rockers.” Subscribe and watch for free here.