The Masters 2025 predictions: Who could challenge Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler for the Green Jacket at Augusta?

Major season is back in the world of golf, and millions will be tuning in to watch the best of the best tee it up at Augusta National for the 2025 Masters this week.

Scottie Scheffler enters the tournament as the reigning champion and the outright favourite, but a strong start to the season has left many very excited about Rory McIlroy's prospects of completing the career Grand Slam this week.

The 96-strong field is the smallest of all four majors, but there are still plenty of contenders looking to claim the most prestigious honour in golf.

Here, Sports Mole looks at the chances of the main contenders, the challengers from the US and across the pond, as well as some outsiders looking to cause a seismic shock this week.

The main contenders:

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Only two men can be classed as the main contenders this week, with the large bulk of the money backing either Scheffler or McIlroy to reign supreme this week.

Since last year's Masters, the two combined have started 42 events, winning 11 of them, securing 24 top-five finishes, with just one missed cut (McIlroy at the Open), so it is a safe bet to suggest both will be in contention this week.

This will be McIlroy's 17th Masters appearance, and the only major that still eludes him, but after winning both the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Players already this season, and claiming a top-five finish in his last start at the Houston Open, there is every chance the Northern Irishman could become just the sixth player in history to complete the Grand Slam.

While McIlroy has been the best player in the world this year, he has missed the cut on two of his last four starts at Augusta, and only once before has a player waited as long as him for a Masters win (Sergio Garcia at the 19th attempt in 2017).

Missing cuts is not in the remit of Scheffler, but the world number one has certainly not been at the same level he was at when he won this tournament a year ago.

Scheffler sustained a freak finger injury over Christmas, missing the start of the 2025 season, before relinquishing his Players crown to McIlroy last month, and he just gave himself too much to do on the final day of the Houston Open, being unable to close down Min Woo Lee's massive lead on the Sunday.

The world number one is the favourite for a reason though, having won twice around here in his mid-20s, but only the great Jack Nicklaus has ever won three times in a four-year span, while nobody has gone back-to-back at Augusta since Tiger Woods in 2001 and 2002.

The American challengers:

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The US were beaten convincingly at the Ryder Cup in 2023, but their players roared back to win all four majors, and the Players, last year, so outside of the top two, the strongest challenge is set to come from the Americans.

One name gaining a lot of traction this week is Collin Morikawa, who, despite not winning anywhere since 2023, looks good on all the metrics required to be successful around Augusta.

In 2025, Morikawa leads the world in Strokes Gained: Approach, Strokes Gained: Ball-Striking, Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and Strokes Gained: Overall, while he has finished in the top-10 in his last three starts here.

Morikawa is also a two-time major champion, but those wins feel a long time ago now, and after looking set to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational recently, he was caught down the final stretch by Russell Henley, denying him the chance to end his recent duck.

Had Scheffler not put up Tiger-esque numbers across the board last year, 2024 would have certainly been Xander Schauffele's year, considering he won two majors, and was in contention until the very end at the Players, but 2025 has been difficult for the American so far.

A rib injury saw him miss the first two months of the season, and he finished last in the field who made the cut at TPC Sawgrass last month, failing to register a single top-10 finish this season.

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The markets illustrate that, because Schauffele has fallen from roughly 10/1 to as high as 25/1 to win a maiden Green Jacket this week, but if he can put that injury issue to one side and clear out the rustiness, he has the game to win this week.

Another chapter could be written in the weird and wonderful careers of close friends Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth this week, with JT showing signs he is getting back to his very best in multiple facets of his game, while the latter is a hardened veteran around this course, despite his still relatively tender age.

Thomas shot a joint-course record 62 at Sawgrass during the Players last month, but was unable to capitalise at the weekend, slipping away quickly, but he does have four top-10 finishes this season, and he is a two-time major winner.

However, Thomas simply gets into too much trouble off the tee, ranking outside the top-100 for driving accuracy and Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, and that was costly at the Valspar where he relinquished the lead late on Sunday to finish second behind Viktor Hovland, while he has also missed back-to-back cuts here at Augusta.

The demons of 2016 and the 12th hole here at Augusta must still haunt Spieth year-on-year, after his extraordinary collapse handed the title to Danny Willett that time around, but despite showing limited form everywhere else over the past half-decade, this course often brings the best out of him.

Over the last 10 years, Spieth has the best cumulative score of any player at 37-under-par, and he has finished in the top-five a whopping six times, as well as winning the title in 2015, and he will hope two top-10 finishes so far this season means his game is in a stronger place than it was when he missed the cut in 2022 and 2024.

Europe's emerging talent:

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Europe's finest will be looking to avenge the Americans for their major dominance last year, and the brightest hope could be Sweden's Ludvig Aberg, who finished second on his debut here a year ago.

The Swede looks destined to be a future major winner, but at just 25, his game still need a lot of polishing, with inconsistency hurting his chances of being competitive week in, week out, because after winning the Genesis, Aberg's game has fallen off a cliff in recent weeks, missing back-to-back cuts at the Players and the Valero Texas Open.

Fellow Scandinavian Hovland is a long way off where his game was when he was FedEx Cup champion in 2023, but he shocked everyone by winning the Valspar last month, going into the tournament showing absolutely no form whatsoever.

Now in his sixth year on the PGA Tour, many predicted the Norwegian would have won a major by now, but he missed three of the four cuts last year, and prior to his success at the Valspar, he missed three successive cuts at the Genesis, the Players and the Arnold Palmer, and Hovland himself has been very open about his struggles with his ball-striking.

Therefore, going slightly under the radar, Europe's best chance could come thanks to Sepp Straka, who is having an excellent year, with a win at the Amex, four top-10s and seven top-15s.

The Austrian ranks sixth in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, and seventh Overall, while he has made the cut on all three starts at Augusta, finishing 16th last year, and he has two major top-10s to his name already, including second place at the Open in 2023 at Royal Liverpool.

Britain's best hopes:

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Only the great Nick Faldo and surprise winners Willett, Ian Woosnam and Sandy Lyle have ever taken a Green Jacket home to the British Isles in the history of the competition, and truth be told, the prospects of many this year do not look great.

Many will once again back Tommy Fleetwood, but despite a professional career that now spans 15 years, the Southport native has still never won Stateside.

That is not for the want of trying though, because he did come third at Augusta last year, and he has finished in the top-25 on each of his last 15 starts on the Tour, but Fleetwood just does not seem to have that killer instinct down the final stretch on a Sunday.

Matt Fitzpatrick broke the glass ceiling becoming just the second English winner of the US Open in over 50 years in 2022, but he is showing no form whatsoever, missing the cut at the Players and failing to register a top-20 finish in any of his six starts this season, but he has made it through to the weekend on all of his appearances at Augusta.

That could leave Britain's best hopes down to Justin Rose, who has finished second here on two occasions, including a heartbreaking playoff defeat in 2017, but he brings mixed form into the tournament, with two top-10s and three missed cuts in his last seven starts.

Only five players have recorded more top-10s than Rose in the last 10 years, despite the Englishman now being in his 40s, and after finishing second at the Open and sixth at the PGA Championship last year, his age is certainly not getting in the way of his prospects.

Will a LIV golfer upset the apple cart?

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LIV Golf's relevance as a disruptive force in golf seems to be dwindling year-on-year, despite still having some of the best players in golf on its roster, but that is not to say they will not have a challenger at Augusta.

Jon Rahm won around here in 2023 before his earth-shattering move to LIV later that year, while Bryson DeChambeau is the reigning US Open champion, and will surely be the biggest threat to the PGA players this week.

Dustin Johnson was the best player in the world only four years ago, but his stature in the game has nosedived since making the switch, while five-time major winner Brooks Koepka appears to be seeking a move back to the PGA Tour in search of more regular competitive golf.

Going under the radar somewhat though is Joaquin Niemann, who is one of the world leaders in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, but those stats must be placed in the context of playing on LIV, which is an entirely different kettle of fish compared to the PGA.

Three outside picks for the Green Jacket:

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The Masters has often crowned some unlikely champions in the past, such as Willett, Charl Schwartzel, Angel Cabrera, Trevor Immelman, Mike Weir and Lyle, so it is not beyond the realm of possibility that another shock winner could emerge this week.

Tom Hoge starts the week at a whopping price of around 300/1, but he is a great iron player, which is hugely important around Augusta, and is capable of going very low, as his 62 at Sawgrass on the way to a third-place finish in 2023 proves, and he finished third at the Players again this year.

Nico Echavarria is a name that is becoming prominent on the PGA Tour, and with good reason, as the Colombian is enjoying a breakout campaign in 2025 after showing promising signs last year, with two wins on Tour already and only a playoff prevented him from claiming the Sony Open back in January.

Thomas Detry is a relative newcomer to the US circuit at the age of 32, but he has a win on the board in the States at the WM Phoenix Open, and finished in the top-15 in three majors last year, proving he is certainly overpriced at around 150/1.

Written by
Andrew Delaney