Masters preview: Is it finally Rory's year?

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Happy Masters week to those who celebrate! The first (and best) golf major of the year is one of the sure signs of spring, and this year's tournament amid the blooming azaleas at Augusta National features some interesting storylines. Here's some stuff to follow as the chase for the green jacket tees off on Thursday.

Scottie Scheffler actually seems beatable.

2024 Scottie was the closest thing we've seen to prime Tiger Woods. With a new putter helping to eliminate the only weakness in his game, the ball-striking savant won nine tournaments — including his second Masters title in three years, his first Olympic gold medal and his first season-ending Tour Championship.

But then came the Christmas Day massacre. While preparing homemade ravioli (bravo) for a holiday meal, the world's No. 1 golfer sliced his right hand on a wineglass he was using to carve out his dough.

The injury was bad enough to require surgery, and Scheffler missed the first month of the season before returning at Pebble Beach in late January. Through six events, he's still looking for his first win of 2025, though he did finish in the top three at the big-money Genesis Invitational in mid-February and tied for second at last week's Houston Open.

Is this the year for Rory McIlroy?

The world's second-ranked player has won four major championships, 28 PGA Tour events and more than $100 million US in prize money during his career. And yet, the 35-year-old Northern Irishman has become the most tortured soul in golf since winning his last major in 2014.

Over the past decade, McIlroy has had 11 top-five finishes in the majors, including four seconds. His latest runner-up, at last year's U.S. Open, was especially painful as McIlroy took a two-stroke lead to the 14th tee at Pinehurst on Sunday before blowing it with a pair of awful putts.

Meanwhile, the green jacket remains McIlroy's white whale. The Masters is the only major he's never won, despite seven top 10s over the last 11 years. That includes a backdoor second to Scheffler in 2022, when McIlroy holed out from a greenside bunker on 18 to tie the Masters final-round record with an 8-under 64.

His decade of major misses aside, it feels like this could finally be McIlroy's time at Augusta. With Scheffler working his way back into form, McIlroy has already won two of the PGA Tour's lucrative "signature" events this season — at Pebble Beach in February and a few weeks ago at the Players Championship, where he blew away veteran J.J. Spaun in a three-hole playoff to win the Tour's richest event.

Watch out for the LIV guys.

Here's a shocker: Donald Trump has failed to resolve the complex stalemate between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf after boasting he could broker a peace deal in less than 15 minutes. So, nearly two years after the rival leagues reached a "framework agreement" that suggested a merger, some of the top golfers in the world are still off cashing the Saudi sovereign wealth fund's insane paycheques while popping into serious events just four times a year at the majors.

As annoying as the continued existence of LIV is, a few of its guys remain among the best on the planet. The official world rankings are no help in identifying them because they don't award points for LIV events, so let's turn to Data Golf's ratings. They have 2023 Masters champ Jon Rahm at No. 4 (he's 80th in the official rankings), reigning U.S. Open champ Bryson DeChambeau 10th and young Chilean Joaquin Niemann 11th. 

In terms of their odds of winning this Masters, Data Golf puts Rahm third (behind Scheffler and McIlroy) and DeChambeau fifth (behind two-time major winner Collin Morikawa). Niemann is ninth, behind 2021 Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama, two-time PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay, who's never won a major.

Corey Conners is Canada's top contender.

Four Canadians were invited to Augusta this year, including Nick Taylor, who earned his fifth career PGA Tour win at January's Sony Open; Taylor Pendrith, who got his first trophy last year; and Mike Weir, who's no longer a serious contender at age 54 but owes us absolutely nothing after his iconic Masters victory in 2003.

But the one with the best chance of slipping on the green jacket is Conners, who has climbed to 21st in the world rankings and 13th on Data Golf's list with an excellent past month. In his last four events, the 33-year-old from Listowel, Ont., has placed no worse than 18th and has three top-eights. That includes a third-place showing at the big Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he pocketed $1.4 million, and a tie for sixth at the Players, which was worth over $840K.

Conners' track record at Augusta is also solid. He's made the cut in five of his six appearances since turning pro and had a run of three straight top-10s from 2020 through 2022, topping out at a tie for sixth. Last year, he tied for 38th.

Conners has always been very good from tee to green, especially when it comes to driving accuracy and approach shots. The difference for him this year has been improved work around the greens and with his putter, which happen to be two of the keys to success at Augusta.

Here's more on the 95-man field for this year's Masters, including groupings and tee times for the first two days.