Rory McIlroy will spend the first two days of the 2025 Masters with another expected contender and a young gun.
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The 2025 Masters gets underway Thursday at Augusta National, and, as usual, there’s no shortage of storylines at the year’s first major.
Rory McIlroy’s hunt for his first green jacket is the headliner, followed closely by Scottie Scheffler’s attempt to become the first player since Tiger Woods to win back-to-back Masters. There’s the unknown of what to expect from LIV stars Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka. Sprinkle the resurgence of Justin Thomas and Viktor Hovland’s apparent escape from the golf wilderness, and this Masters has all the ingredients required for a memorable week at Augusta.
One of the best things Augusta National does is deliver a balanced tee sheet filled with intriguing groups from top to bottom. In recent years, the Masters has dipped its toe into the “super group” waters, but this year, the groupings are back to what we expect from the Masters.
Here are my favorite groups for the first two days of the 2025 Masters:
Will Zalatoris, Noah Kent (A), Bernhard Langer (8:35 a.m. ET on Thursday)
Zalatoris has played in three Masters. He finished second, T6 and T9 in those three. The course suits his eye, and he has the ball striking to consistently contend at Augusta National.
This is Langer’s final Masters and Kent’s first. The U.S. Amateur runner-up hits it a mile, which alone might be worth tuning in for early on Thursday.
Collin Morikawa, Min Woo Lee, Joaquin Niemann (9:47 a.m. ET on Thursday)
Morikawa has three top-10 finishes in his last three starts at Augusta National. The No. 4 ranked player in the world arrives in top form and will be a trendy pick to take home the green jacket.
But this group is all about Niemann. The 26-year-old Chilean has played well on LIV and around the globe but has yet to move the needle during his career at major championships. Niemann has been vocal about how he feels disrespected on LIV. He received a special invitation to the Masters, and he needs to demonstrate an ability to show up on the biggest stages.
Phil Mickelson, Keegan Bradley, Jason Day (9:58 a.m. ET on Thursday)
The 2025 Ryder Cup captain is paired with the guy who was rumored for years to be bookmarked to be the captain of Team USA at Bethpage before jumping to LIV. That’s a cheeky pairing from the green jackets.
Add in Jason Day and the bold fashion choices he and Malbon could bust out, and you have a winning three-ball.
Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Jose Luis Ballester (A) (10:15 a.m. on Thursday)
All eyes will be on Scheffler as he begins his quest to win a third Masters in four years. While the World No. 1 hasn’t had his best stuff so far this season — the product of a Christmas ravioli injury — he has still contended at several tournaments and is the favorite to win this week.
But while everyone is watching Scheffler, I’ll be watching Thomas. JT has played like a top-10 player in the world for over six months. He is through the other side of his dip and is ready to win again. Thomas has been battered by Augusta National in recent years, including a brutal four-hole stretch last year that forced him to miss the cut.
With his game now in good form, it’s time for Thomas to finally contend at the Masters.
Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, Tyrrell Hatton (10:26 a.m. ET on Thursday)
Spieth is the interesting part of this grouping, with the other two serving as entertaining role players.
It has been 10 years since Spieth won the Masters. Now healthy after an offseason wrist surgery, Spieth has put together good rounds here and there in his return, but he has been unable to avoid sloppy mistakes, especially on Friday. Still, Augusta often conjures up the best in Spieth, and golf is better when he’s contending at major championships.
As for Hatton, he is coming off a T9 at last year’s Masters and is a legitimate top-10 player in the world over the last eight months. But the Englishman’s temper is legend, and he hasn’t been shy about critiquing Augusta in the past.
This group could wind up just being three guys puttering and billowing through the trees for two days, or it could give us multiple contenders and a lot of self-talk.
Brooks Koepka, Sungjae Im, Russell Henley (12:50 p.m. ET on Thursday)
Since finishing T2 at the 2023 Masters and winning the 2023 PGA Championship, Koepka hasn’t been heard from in the last six majors. He finished T17 at the 2023 U.S. Open and T64 at the Open that year. Last year, he didn’t post a top-20 finish in any of the four majors. Koepka has said his 2023 Masters meltdown led to revelations about his game. He showed it the next month at Oak Hill but has been dormant since. Does he pop back up on a major leaderboard this week?
Koepka is paired with a trendy sleeper pick in Henley, who just won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and Sunjae Im, who has three top-20s in five career Masters starts.
Adam Scott, Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele (1:10 p.m. ET on Thursday)
Despite winning two of the final three majors last year, most people seem to be counting out Schauffele. He missed a month due to a rib injury and returned to play Bay Hill and TPC Sawgrass, which left him searching for the proper swing feel. Schauffele seemed to tap into something during the Valspar Championship and has four top-10 finishes at Augusta since 2019. If the No. 3 player in the world can fly under the radar, Schauffele is doing just that.
Hovland won the Valspar despite what he referred to as “disgusting shots.” The Norwegian star has been tinkering with his swing for over a year and is finally starting to feel good about his progress. Contending at Augusta would show that Hovland is fully back to being the Viktor Hovland that was once the No. 3-ranked player in the world.
Rory McIlroy, Ludvig Åberg, Akshay Bhatia (1:12 p.m. ET on Thursday)
Not a lot of explaining needed here.
McIlroy is playing statistically the most complete golf of his career. He has already carded wins at Pebble Beach and TPC Sawgrass and is currently playing the best golf in the world. This feels like the Masters McIlroy wins, but he has to vanquish his mental demons and finish the job on Sunday.
Åberg held the lead on the back nine last year in his first Masters. He feels destined to win a green jacket, perhaps multiple, at some point in his career.
Hideki Matsuyama, Bryson DeChambeau, Shane Lowry (1:23 p.m. ET on Thursday)
DeChambeau hit 393 shots on the driving range on Tuesday. He’s marking up different driver heads as he searches for the right one.
“For my speeds, it’s just so tedious, and they have to be so precisely measured and defined,” DeChambeau said on Tuesday. “It’s tough; the manufacturing process is not easy. It’s one of those where for speeds of my caliber, it has to be super precise. So, I’m testing different heads to see how it reacts, how I feel, how it feels in my hands. I’m swinging it really good right now, so I’m just trying to get the most precise thing in my hand for this week.”
Augusta had tormented DeChambeau until last year, where he held the 18-hole lead and was tied for the 36-hole lead en route to a T6 finish. DeChambeau would finish runner-up at the PGA Championship before winning the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. He now has the game and experience to put himself in the mix annually at Augusta. However, that ANGC education is still ongoing.
“I haven’t learned enough, obviously,” DeChambeau said about Augusta National on Tuesday. “I can tell you that it’s definitely grown over the course of time. Each year, I learn a little bit more about winds and how it affects the golf ball on a certain hole or a certain slope around a pin location, just little things that continue to improve my knowledge around the golf course.”
Jon Rahm, Wyndham Clark, Tommy Fleetwood (1:34 p.m. ET on Thursday)
Rahm said on Tuesday that he thought his game was “unfairly judged” last year based on his poor showing in the major championships.
While he has dropped outside the top 70 in the Official World Golf Rankings, Rahm remains a top 5-10 player in the world based on talent. The Spaniard is very aware of the narrative surrounding his major flops last season, and I’m very interested to see what game he brings to Augusta National this year.
Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open champion, has a dreadful major record outside of a win at Los Angeles Country Club. At the Players Championship this year, Clark talked about trying to rediscover the feeling and joy of playing the golf he is capable of. Can he tap into something at Augusta National, or will another gray box be added to his Wikipedia page?
Fleetwood is bound to win a major at some point. He remains one of the best ball strikers on the planet and has lingered at majors over the years. I expect him to be in the mix when the weekend rolls around.
Josh Schrock is a writer and reporter for Golf.com. Before joining GOLF, Josh was the Chicago Bears insider for NBC Sports Chicago. He previously covered the 49ers and Warriors for NBC Sports Bay Area. A native Oregonian and UO alum, Josh spends his free time hiking with his wife and dog, thinking of how the Ducks will break his heart again, and trying to become semi-proficient at chipping. A true romantic for golf, Josh will never stop trying to break 90 and never lose faith that Rory McIlroy’s major drought will end (updated: he did it). Josh Schrock can be reached at josh.schrock@golf.com.
