Seven Masters contenders, including Bob MacIntyre, in-form American and a dark horse

Scot Martin Laird, for example, was a late addition to the field for the season’s opening major when he won at TPC San Antonio in 2013, as was American Akshay Bhatia, now flying high in the top 20 in the world, two years ago.

The last four editions of The Masters have been won by Scottie Scheffler (2022 and 2024), Jon Rahm (2023) and Rory McIlroy (2025), suggesting that someone sitting high up in the Official World Golf Ranking is likely to prevail in the season’s opening major and the one that still signals the official start of the golfing year for many people.

Here are this correspondent’s ‘Seven Top Contenders’ in this year’s Green Jacket joust, including someone who will have an entire nation cheering him on as the sole Scot in the field and also someone who could be this year’s dark horse in Georgia.

Ludvig Aberg

The Swede is making just his third appearance in the event but, boy, has he set a high bar at Augusta National. On his debut in 2024, Aberg finished second behind Scheffler before also making the top ten 12 months ago. His game clearly suits this venue and it would be no surprise whatsoever if Aberg created history by becoming the first Scandinavian player to get a Green Jacket slipped over his shoulders.

Bryson DeChambeau

The American did himself no favours whatsoever when he came out with silly remarks about how he felt Augusta National was “par-67” course for him as opposed to it actually being 72 because he then really struggled to back up that claim. However, he’s finished in the top ten in the last two editions and, on the back of landing successive individual LIV Golf wins in Singapore and South Africa, he could be in with his best chance yet of adding a Masters title to a brace of US Open victories.

Casey Jarvis

The South African is the dark horse as he makes his debut in a tournament that was last won by a first-timer by Fuzzy Zoeller back in 1979. Jarvis has been in brilliant form on the DP World Tour, winning the Magical Kenya Open presented by absa and the Investec South African Open Championship back-to-back, with the latter securing his Augusta National appearance. The 22-year-old looks as though he is a major winner in the making and will be inspired in this particular one by three-time champion Gary Player and also Trevor Immelman and Charl Schwartzel following their victories as well in 2008 and 2011 respectively.

Bob MacIntyre

The Oban man fell in love with Augusta National when he finished joint-12th on his debut in 2021 before also giving a good account of himself when ending up in a share of 23rd spot the following year. It was then hard for him to miss out on the event in both 2023 and 2024 before suffering the disappointment of missing the cut on his return 12 months ago. On the back of finishing second in last year’s US Open and then making the top ten in The Open as well, MacIntyre genuinely believes he can become a major winner and, with all due respect to the others who have flown the Saltire in this tournament in the interim, he is heading to Georgia with probably the best chance of landing a Scottish success since Sandy Lyle’s sensational triumph in 1988.

Rory McIlroy

It had been one of the toughest watches in golf as the Northern Irishman tried and tried again in his bid to become a Masters champion after letting a golden opportunity slip from his grasp in 2011. That’s why the emotions came flooding out when he finally got the job done 12 months ago and there’s a chance that it could be the first of a few here. Tiger Woods, back in 2002, was the last player to pull off a successful title defence in this event but don’t be surprised in the slightest if McIlroy emulates him because a total of eight top-ten finishes is proof that the Northern Irishman can play this course as well as anyone in the field.

Patrick Reed

The American was a surprise winner in 2018 after missing the cut in two of his previous four appearances at that point in his career. He’s since had four top-ten finishes in his seven Augusta National outings, including a tie for fourth in 2023 then fifth on his own last year. Reed, no longer a LIV Golf player, won twice on the DP World Tour in the space of a few weeks on the DP World Tour earlier in the year and currently tops the Race to Dubai Rankings. His biggest challenge in bidding to claim a second Green Jacket could be the fact his last competitive appearance was around a month ago, though feeling fresh isn’t necessarily a bad thing when it comes to tackling one of the toughest courses in golf.

Scottie Scheffler

The two-time winner missed out on a final prep event when he withdrew from last week’s Houston Open due to his wife Meredith being pregnant with the couple’s second child. Scheffler won The American Express in February before finishing joint-third then joint-fourth in the WM Phoenix Open and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am respectively after that. More recently, he’s been hampered by slow starts in the Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship. He’s the world No 1 for good reason, though, as four wins and an impressive 12 top-ten finishes in majors over the past four years testify. So, let’s not be surprised if Scheffler becomes the first player to become a three-time Masters champion since Phil Mickelson achieved the feat in 2010.