The 2024 Masters will get underway this week with a packed 89-man discipline battling it out at Augusta Nationwide to get their fingers on the hallowed Inexperienced Jacket.
Scottie Scheffler, the red-hot favorite to win the event, will look to throw down the gauntlet after the anticipated thunderstorms roll in above the course.
A number of others in a discipline made up of the world’s biggest gamers can even have their eyes on the prize, nonetheless. Certainly, Jon Rahm, 12 months on from an emotional victory, is searching for to defend his title, with intrigue added by his LIV defection.
Rory McIlroy can be in rivalry as he appears to finish his decade-long quest to lastly full the Grand Slam by including the Masters to his glistening assortment.
Right here, Mail Sport‘s RIATH AL-SAMARRAI takes a have a look at the seven gamers to look at…
Costs have been provided by Paddy Power.
Scottie Scheffler is the favorite to win the 2024 Masters with the motion set to get underway
A packed 89-man discipline will combat it out at Augusta Nationwide to win the coveted Inexperienced Jacket
Scottie Scheffler
Indisputably the heavy favorite this week. If he maintains latest kind with the putter, his tee-to-green sport is thus far forward of the remaining that he could be unbeatable. His statistics in regard to the latter are the perfect golf has identified since Tiger Woods.
Naturally, the placing would be the space of biggest intrigue. It was terrible for greater than a 12 months, so that you do marvel if a relapse would possibly happen on these slick greens, however his swap to a mallet has impressed a right away and ominous upturn.
With two wins and a second in his previous three begins on the PGA Tour, all of which have been achieved after the gear change, he’s coming in significantly sizzling and with no apparent weak spot.
He additionally has the psychological equilibrium to face up to the stress – having received the inexperienced jacket right here in 2022, he can be higher positioned than most to override any of these doubts that floor on the enterprise finish of the event.
Odds:
To win – 7-2
High 5 end – 10-11
High 10 end – 4-9
Scheffler’s tee-to-green sport is thus far forward of the remaining that he could be unbeatable
Jon Rahm
Again within the mainstream after his swap to LIV, the defending champion has questions over his kind having failed to complete larger than third in 5 begins on his new circuit.
If he finds his finest, his match up with Scheffler could possibly be one for the ages and he has arrived right here bullish and within the temper to show a degree. He’s fired up.
However the fear is whether or not his sport has been sufficiently sharpened on the LIV circuit. Making ready on resort programs with slower, gentler greens and with far sparser crowds might make a return to this stage really feel just a little like immersion in an ice tub, however Rahm has the nous and high quality to beat these components.
Odds:
To win – 10-1
High 5 end – 9-4
High 10 end – 11-10
If he finds his finest, Jon Rahm’s (proper) match up with Scheffler could possibly be one for the ages
Rory McIlroy
Chasing the ultimate piece of the profession slam puzzle, however 10 years faraway from his fourth main win.
He has appeared sharp in practise and has a sport that has at all times appeared tailormade for this place. There can even be some encouragement from his second-place end final week on the again of some very underwhelming outcomes since victory in Dubai in January.
His technical issues centre on some wonky play along with his brief irons and wedges, which is a long-standing difficulty. Nonetheless, they appeared to enhance after his journey to see Butch Harmon a fortnight in the past, as did his psychological outlook – one other key variable with McIlroy.
Given the scar tissue he has gathered at Augusta, conquering these inside demons shall be important.
Odds:
To win – 9-1
High 5 end – 9-4
High 10 end – Evs
Rory McIlroy appears sharp and has a sport that has at all times appeared tailormade for this place
Brooks Koepka
Golf’s final big-game hunter and reigning US PGA champion. By his personal admission he choked when main on the ultimate day right here a 12 months in the past, however this man will at all times play with a swagger.
His kind right here has additionally been good – he has twice been runner up and in addition has a top-seven both aspect of two missed cuts in his years of damage and battle. He is aware of the course implicitly, which half the battle, and he has the sport to take advantage of it.
That being stated, his outcomes this 12 months on the LIV tour are poor – forty sixth, twenty eighth, twelfth, thirteenth, seventh. But when ever was a person who solely cared concerning the majors and never the gaps in between, it’s Koepka.
Odds:
To win – 18-1
High 5 end – 4-1
High 10 end – 2-1
Ff ever was a person who solely cared about majors and never the gaps between, it’s Brooks Koepka
Ludvig Aberg
Making his main debut after 10 months as a professional through which he has received twice, been a part of a victorious Ryder Cup crew and proven all of the indicators of being a generational expertise. There’s a large quantity of anticipation round his Augusta debut and nobody would rule out a distinguished end right here.
His sport is an effective match for the course and, crucially, so is his temperament. He performed a reconnaissance journey a fortnight in the past and felt sufficiently snug to hit driver on all holes that weren’t par threes. That confidence is price a fortune round this course, however so too is expertise on and across the greens, which he clearly lacks.
Odds:
To win – 20-1
High 5 end – 11-2
High 10 end – 5-2
Ludvig Aberg’s sport is an effective match for the course and, crucially, so is his temperament
Joaquin Niemann
High of the LIV standings after two wins this season however solely right here courtesy of a particular invitation from Augusta Nationwide. The 25-year-old, sixteenth on this event final 12 months, is an immense expertise and has no scarcity of need.
It was that urge for food to play within the majors that swung the invitation his means – his efforts to build up rating factors away from LIV, the place they earn none, noticed him journey far and vast from Australia to Dubai.
His reward is a spot within the discipline and he has the sport to make an impression. His tie for sixteenth right here demonstrates some stage of consolation with the course.
Odds:
To win – 22-1
High 5 end – 11-2
High 10 end – 9-4
Joaquin Niemann is barely right here courtesy of a particular invitation from Augusta Nationwide
Russell Henley
To go by the estimation of a former world No 1, Henley can be a superb darkhorse guess for a top-10 end.
He is not a participant who options commonly in these conversations, however Henley does have kind right here, having completed fourth final 12 months, and his strategy play ticks a significant requirement for the course.
The world No 23 has two fourth-placed finishes in his previous three PGA Tour begins, however these got here both aspect of a missed lower, so there would naturally be jeopardy in any wager.
Odds:
To win – 50-1
High 5 end – 9-1
High 10 end – 4-1
Russell Henley could possibly be a superb darkhorse guess for a top-10 end at this 12 months’s event
