With the calendar now flipped to April and traces of spring filling the air, the sporting world’s attention turns to Augusta National for this year’s Masters Tournament.
The biggest storyline for this year’s Masters Tournament revolves around the best two players in the world: Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.
The question is this: will you take Scheffler or McIlroy to win? Or will you place your chips on the rest of the field?
Scheffler, of course, has won two of the last three Green Jackets, which includes his triumph over the likes of Ludvig Åberg, Collin Morikawa, and Max Homa a year ago. In 2022, Scheffler coasted to a three-shot victory for his first major title, but that margin would have been higher had it not been for his four-putt on the 18th green.
He remains the best player in the world despite not entering the winner’s circle in 2025.
McIlroy, meanwhile, arrives in Augusta in hopes of completing the career Grand Slam for the 11th time. This magical place has not been too kind to McIlroy, with no greater heartbreak than how he closed out the 2011 Masters. On the 10th tee, McIlroy, who held a four-shot advantage at the 54-hole mark, now led Tiger Woods, Angel Cabrera, and eventually winner Charl Schwartzel by one. But McIlroy’s hopes of winning his first major title died right then and there. He hooked his tee-shot out of bounds on the 10th and made a triple bogey seven. A four-putt double-bogey on the par-3 12th only worsened matters as McIlroy stumbled into the clubhouse and signed for an 8-over 80. He finished 10 strokes behind Schwartzel. McIlroy has finished among the top-10 at Augusta seven times since, and won four majors, but has never really threatened to win The Masters.
But now McIlroy arrives with perhaps his best chance ever to slip into a Green Jacket. He won at Pebble Beach in February and then beat J.J. Spaun in a playoff at The Players, proving he can win elite events without his ‘A-game.’
These developments led ESPN’s Curtis Strange to label this year’s Masters as the “Rory-Scottie show.”
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“Once again, we have Scottie and Rory playing well,” Strange said on a call with reporters that previewed ESPN’s coverage of this year’s Masters.
“Rory seems to be hitting on all cylinders, which is a good thing for the Slam. Scottie going for three [Green Jackets].”
Strange then picked Scottie and Rory to win after Andy North, ESPN’s lead analyst, asked him this question: “Scottie and Rory or the field?”
Then, on Tuesday, Golf Channel hosted a call to preview the 89th playing of The Masters. SB Nation posed the same question to Brandel Chamblee and Paul McGinley, the two commentators who break down all the action on Golf Channel’s Live From The Masters.
“Good question,” McGinley said.
“I would go with Rory and Scottie. I do. If Rory beats Scottie, he has a great chance of putting on the Green Jacket.”
Chamblee agreed.
“I would agree with Paul there, yes,” Chamblee said.
This year’s field features 96 players, which includes many past champions and amateur stars who hope to become stars someday.
But plenty of other stars are also vying for their first career Green Jacket. Collin Morikawa, Brooks Koepka, and Xander Schauffele immediately come to mind. But so do past winners Jon Rahm, Hideki Matsuyama, and Jordan Spieth.
2025 has been the year of the international too. Could an international player emerge victorious at Augusta? Maybe it’s Cameron Smith, Sepp Straka, or Corey Conners. Or can Tommy Fleetwood finally win on American soil?
The possibilities are endless, which is what makes this exercise fun.
But right now, to continue to piggyback on Strange’s motif, it’s the Scottie and Rory show. So who’s your pick? The top two? Or everyone else?
We will soon find out.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
