Countdown to the first tee at the 2026 US Masters
US Masters Tournament History
The US Masters is the first of the years four major championships and it's the only one of the four that's played at the same venue every year - the iconic and stunning Augusta National.
Augusta National was founded at the start of the Great Depression and when the first edition of what was originally called the Augusta National Invitation Tournament was staged 92 years ago, the club had just 76 paid up members.
That was someway short of the planned 1,800 and the inaugural winner, Horton Smith, along with all the top finishers, had to wait for 17 members to club together to raise the purse before he received his winnings.
Venue
Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia.
Course Details
Par 72, 7,555 yards
Scoring average in 2025 - 72.8
Originally the brainchild of Bobby Jones, Augusta National was founded by him and Clifford Roberts - a wealthy New York investment banker.
Designed by Jones and Alister Mackenzie, who died before the course was finished, Augusta National was built on the site of an old nursery and all the holes are named after a tree or shrub.
Augusta officially opened in January 1933, and it's been evolving ever since and to such an extent recently that the original designers would barely recognize the place.
The Bermuda greens were changed to bent grass and the fairways were tightened at the end of the last century before a major overhaul was orchestrated by Tom Fazio in 2002, when more than half the holes were lengthened and tightened.
Both the 11th and 15th holes were lengthened slightly in 2022, another 35 yards were added before the off in 2023, courtesy of an extension to the par five 13th, and 10 yards were added to the par five second before the off in 2024.
The only change to the course before last year's edition was enforced by Mother Nature when several trees were lost to storm damage around the 16th hole and the only alteration to the track this year is on the 17th hole, where the tee-box has been moved, making the already tough par four penultimate hole 10 yards longer.
Augusta is a long course, and it plays even longer than its already demanding yardage because the fairways are all cut in the same direction - towards the tee-boxes - so balls tend to land and stop fairly quickly.
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TV Coverage
- Thursday 9th April: Sky Sports Main Event (2pm), Sky Sports Golf (2pm)
- Friday 10th April: Sky Sports Main Event (2pm), Sky Sports Golf (2pm)
- Saturday 11th April: Sky Sports Golf (4.30pm), Sky Sports Main Event (7.45pm)
- Sunday 12th April: Sky Sports Golf (4.30pm), Sky Sports Main Event (7pm)
Last 12 Winners with Pre-event Prices
2025 - Rory McIlroy -10 8.615/2
2024 - Scottie Scheffler -10 6.05/1
2023 - Jon Rahm -12 11.521/2
2022 - Scottie Scheffler -10 19.018/1
2021 - Hideki Matsuyama -10 70.069/1
2020- Dustin Johnson -20 9.89/1
2019 - Tiger Woods -13 22.021/1
2018 - Patrick Reed -15 70.069/1
2017 - Sergio Garcia -9 50.049/1 (playoff)
2016 - Danny Willett -5 70.069/1
2015 - Jordan Spieth -18 13.012/1
2014 - Bubba Watson -8 28.027/1
What Will it Take to Win the US Masters?
To provide an at-a-glance picture of what's required at Augusta, here are the average ratings for the last 15 winners in all the traditional key stats.
Driving Accuracy - 25.3
Driving Distance - 20.73
G.I.R - 6.67
Scrambling - 9.94
Putting Average - 11.06
Although Augusta is tree-lined, Driving Accuracy is the least important traditional stat to consider.
Although you can't just spray it everywhere off the tee, the trees here are well-established and the branches are high, so errant drives aren't always punished.
Length off the tee is advantageous and historically much more important than accuracy, but it hasn't been an absolute imperative of late.
The 2023 winner, Jon Rahm, only ranked 24th for Driving Distance and Hideki Matsuyama, Tiger Woods, Danny Willett, Jordan Spieth, Charl Schwartzel and Zach Johnson have all won here in the last 20 years with DD rankings of 47th 44th, 32nd, 52nd, 40th and 57th respectively but most victors give it a good whack.
Bryson DeChambeau, who finished tied for fifth, was the only man to hit it further off the tee than the winner, Rory McIlroy, last year and eight of the last 18 winners have ranked inside the top six for DD.
Rory only ranked 16th for Greens In Regulation but the man he beat in extra time, Justin Rose, ranked third and the six winners before Rory ranked seventh, third, fifth, seventh, first and first for GIR.
As many as 15 of the last 19 winners have ranked seventh or better so that's obviously a key stat and so too is Scrambling.
The 2019 winner, Woods, only ranked 47th for Scrambling but the last 15 winners have still averaged only 9.94 so the ability to get up-and-down repeatedly is vital. Rory ranked fourth 12 months ago.
Patrick Reed topped the Putting Average stats in 2018 and Rory ranked third last year but Hideki Matsuyama only ranked 26th in 2021 and amongst the list of winners above are a number of players that have had their fair share of woes on the greens - including Matsuyama.
The fast, sloppy, often treacherous, glass-like surfaces are hard for everyone and it almost levels the field out a bit.
To emphasize that further, the first and second in 2021, Matsuyama and Will Zalatoris, ranked 175th and 122nd for Strokes Gained Putting on the PGA Tour that season and the two playoff protagonists in 2017, Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose, ended the 2017 season ranking 112th and 168th for SGP so although I wouldn't go out of my way to find a poor putter, it's a bit of myth that only the best putters win here.
Strokes Gained stats have only been produced for the last five editions of the US Masters but they back up the traditional stats nicely.
The last five winners have ranked either first or second for SG: Tee to Green, and the five have ranked first, first, sixth, sixth and fourth for SG: Approach.
Rahm ranked first for Strokes Gained: Off the Tee three years ago, Scheffler ranked second in 2024 and Rory ranked seventh last year but Scheffler only ranked ninth when winning for the first time in 2022 and the 2021 winner, Matsuyama, ranked 17th.
The five winners have ranked only 43rd, 22nd, 22nd, 13th and 23rd for SG: Putting but they've ranked ninth, first, seventh, second and fourth for SG: Around the Green.
Those stats show that the secrets to success here are to find plenty of greens and to get up-and-down successfully when one is missed but what's often the most important factor is how you play the long holes...
Here are the total scores to par for the last 15 winners on the par threes, fours and fives.
Par threes -15
Par fours -13
Par fives -143
The fact that Danny Willett won here in 2016 having played the long holes in just level par is astounding and it must be viewed as an anomaly. Rory last year, and Sergio Garcia in 2017, only played them in seven-under-par but Patrick Reed smashed them up eight years ago -playing them in 13 under-par - despite failing to pick up a shot on any of the four on Sunday and the five winners before Rory played them in -11, -11, -8, -10 and -9.
Rory only ranked 12th for Par 5 Scoring last year but the three winners before him ranked all ranked second for that stat.
Phil Mickelson played the long holes in 13-under-par in 2006 and yet his winning total was just seven-under and even when relatively short hitter, Zach Johnson, won with an over par winning total 19 years ago, he still played the long holes in 11 under-par.
The two par fives on the front nine, holes two and eight, averaging 4.61 and 4.62, were the easiest two holes on the course last year, the 13th, averaging 4.82, was the third easiest and the short par four third hole, which averaged 3.91, was the only other hole to play easier than the par five 15th, which averaged 4.93, so they're the holes to pick up shots.
Angles In & Augusta Trends
Patrick Reed's course form coming into the championship, reading MC-22-49-MC, was pretty poor in 2018, and he was the first winner since Tiger Woods in 1997 to have missed the cut the previous year.
They're the only two winners not to have played rounds three and four in the year before they won since Fuzzy Zoeller won on debut in 1979 so not playing over the weekend on your previous visit is a significant negative.
Another no-no used to be backing anyone yet to break 70 around Augusta. Up until 2015, 23 of the previous 24 winners had all previously shot a round in the 60s but following Reed's win, and the victories of Jordan Spieth in 2015 and Danny Willett in 2016, three of the last 11 winners had failed to break 70 before they won. And they hadn't played in the tournament as often as most winners either...
Both Spieth and Willett had only played Augusta once before they won and Scheffler, who had shot just one round in the 60s, was appearing for only the third time when he won it for the first time four years ago. And that really went against the grain given previous course form is usually vital.
Other than the first two winners of the event, Fuzzy Zoeller (in 1979) is still the only debutant to win the US Masters, and most winners have been around Augusta National enough times to get to know its unique nuisances.
On average, first time winners have played the event six times and with previous course form figures reading 27-4-9-7-5-27, that was the case with Rahm three years ago.
Although plenty of experience is a big plus and the average age of the winners is 32, age had been a bit of a barrier until 2019. Prior to Tiger's win at the age of 43, Mark O'Meara, who took the title at the age of 41 back in 1998, had been the last man to win in his 40s.
Strong current form crucial of late
Course form stands up well here and past winners have a brilliant record.
When Rory won last year he beat Augusta specialist, Justin Rose, in a playoff, with former winners, Reed and Scheffler, third and fourth.
The top 11 on the leaderboard had posted at least a top-six finish at Augusta previously and nine of the 11 had finished first or second before.
As many as 18 different players have won the title more than once, but strong current form has been key of late too.
Matsuyama managed to win four years ago despite a relatively poor start to the year. He'd finished 30th in the Valero Texas Open in his penultimate start and in ten previous starts in 2021, 15th at the WGC Workday Championship was his best finish but since Phil Mickelson won his third title 16 years ago, having produced just one top-ten from seven previous starts that year (eighth at the AT&T Pebble Beach), every winner bar Matsuyama has telegraphed their wellbeing.
Rory had won both the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Players Championship and he had 2025 form figures reading 4-1-17-15-1-5 and Scheffler was in incredible form two years ago, with form figures reading 1-1-2.
Sheffler arrived at Augusta with current form figures reading 1-7-1-55-1 before he won it for the first time in 2022 and although Rahm hadn't been at his best in his three events prior to the Masters, he had begun 2023 in fine style, winning three of his first five starts, having won two of his last three events in 2022.
As an indication of how well you usually need to be playing in the lead up to the year's first major, the top five in 2024 had all won on either the DP World Tour or the PGA Tour or both in the previous six months.
Riviera form is a huge plus
The Genesis Invitational venue - Riviera Country Club - has been a haven for Masters winners over the years and form there is a big plus.
When he won the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in 2024, Matsuyama became the fifth player in 12 years to win both the Genesis Invitational and the US Masters and 14 different US Masters winners have won 24 of the 62 renewals of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera.
Bubba Watson, Phil Mickelson, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan and Tom Watson have all won multiple PGA Tour events at both Riviera and Augusta, so the courses obviously correlate nicely.
Will we get another major maiden winner?
Rory famously became just the sixth man ever to claim the career Grand Slam when he won here last year and five of the last seven winners had previously won at least one major championship.
The first five in the market are all major champions but the stats tell us there's more chance of a first time major champion slipping on the Green Jacket on Sunday night than a former major winner.
As many as nine of the last 16 US Masters winners were winning their first major championship and even though Scheffler has won two of the last three majors, 24 of the last 41 (59 %) major championships have gone to a first-time major winner so don't be surprised if we get another but do expect them to feature highly in the Official World Rankings because 54 of the last 55 majors have been won by someone inside the world's top-50. The odd man out is Phil Mickelson who defied all sorts of logic at the 2021 US PGA Championship when he won at the age of 51 - ranking 115th in the world.
Last 12 Winner's Position and Price Pre-Round Four
2025 - Rory McIlroy - led by two 1.635/8
2024 - Scottie Scheffler - led by one 1.981/1
2023 - Jon Rahm - solo second, trailed by two 2.8815/8
2022 - Scottie Scheffler - led by three 1.584/7
2021 - Hideki Matsuyama - led by four 1.9420/21
2020 - Dustin Johnson - led by four 1.422/5
2019 - Tiger Woods - tied second, trailed by two 4.94/1
2018 - Patrick Reed - led by three strokes 2.265/4
2017 - Sergio Garcia - tied for the lead with Justin Rose 6.05/1
2016 - Danny Willett - tied for fifth, trailing by three 22.021/1
2015 - Jordan Spieth - led by four 1.51/2
2014 - Bubba Watson - tied for the lead with Jordan Spieth 4.67/2
Should we swerve last year's contenders?
Although course form stands up well and multiple winners are fairly common, Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods are the only players to win the US Masters back-to-back.
Defending the title is clearly tough and over the last 10 years, Scottie Scheffler (twice) and Jordan Spieth are the only defending champions to finish inside the top 10 the following year.
Something I've touched on in previous years, and it rings true most years, is the poor performances often put up by players that contended the year before.
As many as four of the men to finish inside the top 11 last year had finished inside the top 10 a year earlier but that's not the norm.
A number of 2019 contenders were in-the-mix in 2020 too and the winner, Dustin Johnson, had finished tied for second behind Tiger in the previous renewal but because of the pandemic, the 2020 edition was played in November and there was 19 months between the two renewals. That may have been a reason why we saw a couple of 2019 contenders back in the mix because it's unusual.
Ordinarily, the contenders at the previous renewal tend to struggle and I suspect it's something to do with mindset. Having held a chance to win the year before, expectations are no doubt higher the following year and that may explain why so many fail to figure.
As a demonstration, with the exception of the pre-pandemic edition in 2019, here's the top 10s from the last seven renewals with their finishing positions the following year in brackets.
2017
1 Sergio Garcia (MC)
2 Justin Rose (12th)
3 Charl Schwartzel (MC)
T4 Matt Kuchar (28th)
T4 Thomas Pieters DNP
6 Paul Casey (15th)
T7 Rory McIlroy (5th)
T7 Kevin Chappell DNP
T9 Ryan Moore DNP
T9 Adam Scott (32nd)
2018
1 Patrick Reed (T36)
2 Rickie Fowler (T9)
3 Jordan Spieth (T21)
4 Jon Rahm (T9)
5 Rory McIlroy (T21)
5 Cameron Smith (T51)
5 Henrik Stenson (T36)
5 Bubba Watson (T12)
9 Marc Leishman (T49)
10 Tony Finau (T5)
10 Dustin Johnson (T2)
2020
1 Dustin Johnson (MC)
2 Sungjae Im (MC)
2 Cameron Smith (10)
4 Justin Thomas (21)
5 Rory McIlroy (MC)
5 Dylan Frittelli (MC)
7 Jon Rahm (5)
7 Brooks Koepka (MC)
7 CT Pan (MC)
10 Corey Conners (8)
10 Webb Simpson (12)
10 Patrick Reed (8)
2021
1 Hideki Matsuyama (14)
2 Will Zalatoris (6)
3 Xander Schauffele (MC)
3 Jordan Spieth (MC)
5 Jon Rahm (27)
5 Marc Leishman (30)
7 Justin Rose (MC)
8 Corey Connors (6)
8 Patrick Reed (35)
10 Cam Smith (3)
10 Tony Finau (35)
2022
1 Scottie Scheffler (10)
2 Rory McIlroy (MC)
3 Shane Lowry (16)
3 Cameron Smith (34)
5 Collin Morikawa (10)
6 Corey Conners (MC)
6 Will Zalatoris (DNP)
8 Sungjae Im (16)
8 Justin Thomas (MC)
10 Cameron Champ MC)
10 Charl Schwartzel (MC)
2023
1 Jon Rahm (T45)
2 Phil Mickelson (T43)
2 Brooks Koepka (T45)
4 Patrick Reed (T12)
4 Russell Henley (T38)
4 Jordan Spieth (MC)
7 Cameron Young (T9)
7 Viktor Hovland (MC)
9 Sahith Theegala (T45)
10 Scottie Scheffler (1)
10 Collin Morikawa (T3)
10 Xander Schauffele (8)
10 Matthew Fitzpatrick (T22)
2024
1 Scottie Scheffler (4)
2 Ludvig Aberg (7)
3 Tommy Fleetwood (21)
3 Max Homa (12)
3 Collin Morikawa (14)
6 Bryson DeChambeau (5)
6 Cameron Smith (MC)
8 Xander Schauffele (8)
9 Tyrrell Hatton (14)
9 Cameron Young (MC)
9 Will Zalatoris (MC)
Coming into the event under the radar or with low expectations appears to be a plus and eight of the last 10 US Masters winners had finished outside the top 10 the year before they won. McIlroy had finished tied for 22nd in 2024.
In-Play Tactics
Last year's renewal will go down as one of the greatest ever. Rory's journey throughout the week (detailed here) was incredible and having sat tied for 27th and seven off the lead, he was one of the slowest starting winners of all time at Augusta but ordinarily, up with the pace is the place to be.
Scheffler sat solo second after round one two years ago, and in 2023, despite double bogeying the opening hole, and being on the wrong side of the draw, Rahm was tied for the lead after round one.
When winning the event for the first time, in 2022, Scheffler had sat third, trailing by two, after the opening round.
Tiger sat tied for 11th and four off the lead after the opening round in 2019 but up until last year, that had been the only time any winner had sat outside the top-ten since Woods had sat tied for 33rd and seven off the lead 21 years ago.
Augusta National is NOT a catch-up course, and a fast start is usually imperative.
Rory, Tiger and Phil Mickelson are the only three men to win the event having finished day one outside of the top 10 places since Mark O'Meara won from tied 25th and five off the pace 28 years ago.
The last four winners have been inside the top three places at halfway and only two winners have been more than three strokes adrift through 36 holes in the last 20 years. Danny Willett, who sat eighth and four back a decade ago, and Charl Schwartzel, who sat 12th and six off the lead in 2011.
As many as seven of the last nine US Masters winners have been leading with a round to go and seven of the last 12 have led after both rounds two and three.
Pace yourself and be ready for Friday night
It's very tempting to avidly watch the first day's play in its entirety but be careful not to be fatigued too soon.
Only one of the last 14 winners has been outside the top six places and more than three strokes back at halfway so late on Friday night is very often the best time to make a move.
The market tends to sort itself out overnight and the leading pack will generally shorten up so trading just before the end of round two, or straight after, on Friday night is a good time to strike in-running bets.
Cameron Young the confident pick at 25/1
Having won the US Masters twice already and having bagged two of the last three majors in 2025 - the US PGA Championship and the Open Championship - Scottie Scheffler was backed down to a low of 3.8514/5 when he hacked up by four strokes in his first start of the year at The American Express.
The world number one appeared to be picking up from where he left off and odds of around 3/14.00 didn't look short but here we are a couple of months down the road and he's trading at odds in excess of 6/17.00.
Since his impressive victory in California in January, Scheffler has put up form figures reading 3-4-12-24-22 so the huge drift is understandable to an extent.
Scheffler withdrew from the Houston Open before the start two weeks ago due to the birth of his second son, Remy, so he hasn't played since finishing 22nd in the Players Championship at Sawgrass.
That has to be viewed as a bit of a negative, but he has Augusta form figures reading 19-18-1-10-1-4, so he clearly loves the place and he's highly likely to be a factor. I was happy to back him at 7.613/2
Back Scottie Scheffler
Given we haven't seen a successful title defence since Tiger in 2002, it's no surprise to see that the two in-form LIV golfers, Bryson DeChambeau, and the 2023 Masters winner, Jon Rahm, have overtaken Rory McIlroy at the head of the market.
DeChambeau, who has finished sixth and fifth in each of the last two editions, has won his last two events and Rahm has current form figures reading 2-2-1-5-2 so they command plenty of respect but the one I really like this week is the world number three - Cameron Young.
The last two winners of the Players Championship have doubled up at Augusta and there are plenty of stats and trends to suggest the 28-year-old is primed to emulate Scheffler and McIlroy having pounced at the death to deny Matt Fitzpatrick at Sawgrass last month.
Young finished second seven times on the PGA Tour before he finally nailed his breakthrough victory in the Wyndham Championship last year but that overdue victory has clearly given him confidence.
He was the best player in the defeated US Ryder Cup team the following month, winning three times on debut, and after a quiet start to 2026, he's really kicked into gear over the last couple of months, finishing seventh in the Genesis Invitational at Riviera and third in the Arnold Palmer before his brilliant finish at Sawgrass to win the Players.
Young has a mixed set of form figures at Augusta, reading MC-7-9-MC, but that's typical of his record in major championships.
He's missed the cut in all four majors at various times, but he's also finished second in the Open Championship, third in the US PGA Championship and fourth in the US Open and all those high finishes have come when he's been in form.
He won back-to-back events on the Korn Ferry Tour and he tends to hold his form nicely once he's found it.
Young finished second to Cam Smith in the Open at St Andrews in 2022 after a couple of missed cuts but he'd finished third in the US PGA Championship a couple of months earlier following a third in the RBC Heritage and a second in the Truist Championship and he finished seventh in the US Masters three years ago after losing the final of the WGC Match Play in his previous start two weeks prior.
He finished eighth in the Open in 2023 after finishing sixth in the John Deere Class, where he'd led by two at halfway, and he finished ninth at Augusta two years ago after finishing runner-up at the Valspar Championship in his previous start.
He also finished fourth in the US Open last year, one week after finishing fourth in the Canadian Open, so he's telegraphed a high finish in a major plenty of times before and he looks primed to win his first one this week.
Back Cameron Young