There is still a lot of golf to play between now and the Masters, including landmark events like the Phoenix Open and The Players Championship, but, as is the nature of the sport, all roads lead to Augusta National for the first major of the year.
As always, the narrative is already building, and the Masters odds are shaping. Will Rory McIlroy become just the fourth player to win back-to-back Masters? Is Scottie Scheffler going to be fitted into his third green jacket in five years? Or will someone like Ludvig Aberg or Tommy Fleetwood break their major ducks on the hallowed turf in Georgia?
We’ll have to wait and see, but for now, let’s take a look at the last five winners and how they landed arguably the sport’s most coveted prize.
2025: Rory McIlroy
It was getting to the point, if it hadn’t already, where it seemed Rory McIlroy was never going to win the Masters. He’d tried and come so close many times in the past, including finishing second in 2022, but he just couldn’t master Augusta National consistently enough over four rounds to be crowned champion.
That all changed last year. McIlroy battled his demons in Georgia, ultimately beating Ryder Cup teammate Justin Rose in a dramatic play-off. His emotional celebration after the winning putt on the 18th green will be remembered for years.
2024: Scottie Scheffler
2024 marked Scottie Scheffler’s second Masters triumph. Few players have mastered Augusta National quite as quickly as the World No.1, as this was just his fifth start in the tournament. In fact, this victory made him the second-quickest person to win two green jackets after Horton Smith, who did so in three starts back in the 1930s.
Scheffler is already a modern-day great, and this edition of the Masters was rarely in doubt, as the American won by four strokes from debutant Aberg. He’ll be a popular choice with those looking for golf bets again this year.
2023: Jon Rahm
Jon Rahm etched his name into folklore in 2023, also cruising to victory in rather comfortable circumstances. A resurging Phil Mickelson shot an eye-catching seven under par on the final day, but that only put the three-time champion to -8 and still four strokes short of Rahm (-12).
He ended Spain’s 40-year wait for a fourth Masters champion, with his victory coming four decades after Seve Ballesteros’ second Augusta success. To make the moment even more memorable, it would have been the legend’s 66th birthday. Some things are just written in the stars when it comes to sport.
2022: Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler entered the 2022 Masters in red-hot form, with victories in the Phoenix Open and Arnold Palmer Invitational helping him climb to No.1 in the world. He marked his first start as the best player on the planet with an emphatic victory at Augusta.
Opening rounds of 69 and 67 gave Scheffler the lead at the halfway point, and he maintained that position with consecutive rounds of 71 to finish at -10, three strokes clear of McIlroy, whose final-round 64 wasn’t enough to deny the Texan his maiden major.
2021: Hideki Matsuyama
One of the biggest shocks of the modern-day Masters came in 2021, when massive outsider Hideki Matsuyama defied the odds to become the first Japanese golfer to win a major. Some bookmakers had the 2011 Low Amateur as big as 60/1 to claim the green jacket, but even a nervy final-round 73 wasn’t enough to derail Matsuyama, who beat Will Zalatoris by a shot.
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