Relive Rory McIlroy’s wild round as he finally wins Masters in playoff (1:31)Rory McIlroy ends his long wait for a fifth major title and completes a career Grand Slam with a dramatic playoff victory over Justin Rose at Augusta. (1:31)
Mark SchlabachMultiple AuthorsApr 5, 2026, 01:40 PM ET
AUGUSTA, Ga. — For the first time in his career, Rory McIlroy will drive down Magnolia Lane this week as a Masters champion.
And, for the first time, McIlroy won’t be carrying the burden of having never won a green jacket as he prepares for the first major championship of the season at Augusta National Golf Club.
Nearly a year ago, McIlroy made a 4-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to defeat England’s Justin Rose on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff.
With his long-awaited Masters victory, McIlroy became only the sixth golfer to complete the career Grand Slam.
“The thing is, I know I get to go back to the Masters Tournament for the rest of my life, and that’s quite a freeing feeling.”
Can McIlroy do it again? Will Scottie Scheffler find his groove and slip on a green jacket for the third time in the past five years? Or will a couple of LIV Golf stars, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, come out on top?
Here’s a look at the 91 golfers in the field, from the guys who can win to those who are simply trying to make the cut.
Bryson DeChambeau The long-hitting DeChambeau won back-to-back events in the LIV Golf League and is playing some of the best golf of his career. He played with McIlroy in the final Sunday pairing in last year’s Masters and carded a 3-over 75. He finished tied for fifth at 7 under. He has unfinished business in Augusta. He was inside the top 10 of the leaderboard at the end of each round in the past two Masters — Scheffler was the only other golfer who did it.
Xander Schauffele The two-time major winner finished in the top 10 in the Masters in five of his past seven starts. He looks like he’s finally recovered from a rib injury that derailed his 2025 season with a solo third in the Players and tie for fourth in the Valspar Championship. Since his 2018 Masters debut, Schauffle is tied for the most top-10 finishes with five.
Cameron Young Young is going to be a popular pick for the green jacket after he won the Players for the biggest victory of his career. His tee-to-green game suits Augusta National, where he already has two top 10s in four starts.
Ludvig Aberg Åberg was runner-up in the 2024 Masters and was solo seventh last year. He will have to recover from his late collapse in the Players, in which he squandered a three-stroke lead with nine holes to play. In last year’s Masters, he was tied with McIlroy and Rose with two holes to play in the final round. Åberg, 26, finished bogey-triple bogey to finish 5 shots back.
Tommy Fleetwood The reigning FedEx Cup champion finished in the top 25 in each of his past two Masters starts, tying for third in 2024. Even though Fleetwood finished in the top 10 in three of his four starts in signature events this season, his putting hasn’t been great. Fleetwood’s eight career top 10s in majors are the most among players in this year’s Masters field without a major title to their name, per ESPN Research.
Here are the legitimate contenders other than the top nine. They have the games, guts and nerves to handle four pressure-packed rounds on one of the most treacherous golf courses in the world.
Matt Fitzpatrick The 2022 U.S. Open champion won again at the Valspar Championship on March 22, his first PGA Tour victory in nearly three years. His ballstriking is world-class again and he’s hitting 69% of fairways, which is fourth on tour.
Justin Rose Rose, 45, will carry some scars to Augusta National after his painful playoff loss to McIlroy in 2025. But it was also evidence that the English golfer is still capable of winning a major. He has been a Masters runner-up three times in 20 starts.
Jordan Spieth Sure, Spieth hasn’t won since the RBC Heritage in April 2022. But the 2015 Masters champion has put together a number of good rounds this season — and a few that knocked him out of contention. He finished in the top five in half of his 12 Masters starts. Spieth’s career scoring average (70.98) is the lowest of any player in Masters history with at least 25 rounds played.
Sepp Straka Straka won twice on the PGA Tour last season and tied for second in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Feb. 12. His putter will have to heat up this week if he’s going to contend for a green jacket.
Brooks Koepka Koepka’s form has been so-so since he returned to the PGA Tour in January, but few golfers show up for the majors like “Big-Game Brooks.” The five-time major winner is a two-time Masters runner-up, most recently in 2023. He ranks third on tour in strokes gained: approach (.913), but 140th in strokes gained: putting (-.529).
Collin Morikawa The two-time major champion would have been among the top five favorites to slip on a green jacket Sunday — until a back injury knocked him out of action. Morikawa hoped to return in last week’s Valero Texas Open but wasn’t ready. He finished in the top 10 in the Masters in three of his past four starts. Since 2020, Morikawa has hit the most fairways of anyone (264), while hitting the second-most greens (291), which is only behind Scheffler.
Hideki Matsuyama Matsuyama’s form wasn’t great in recent weeks, but he lost in a playoff in Phoenix and tied for eighth at Pebble Beach earlier this year. He has been fighting his driver for much of the season. Matsuyama hasn’t finished in the top 10 since becoming the first Japanese golfer to win a green jacket in 2021.
Russell Henley The former University of Georgia golfer will get plenty of support from the galleries this week. He tied for fourth in 2023, his only top-10 finish in nine starts. He’s been one of the best putters on tour and his ballstriking is solid.
Robert MacIntyre Bobby Mac has climbed to 11th in the Official World Golf Ranking and just finished solo fourth in the Players. The Scottish golfer will be making his fourth start in Augusta; his best finish was a tie for 12th in 2021.
Akshay Bhatia Bhatia has already won three times on tour — and he just turned 24 on Jan. 31. His playoff victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational was the biggest of his career. He made the cut in his first two Masters starts. His iron play and putting have been sublime.
Tyrrell Hatton Hatton’s love-and-hate relationship with Augusta National is trending toward the former. The LIV Golf star tied for ninth in 2024 and for 14th last season.
Viktor Hovland Hovland has just one top-10 finish this season and has fallen to 22nd in the world rankings. Still, he’s capable of putting it together this week if he figures out how to hit fairways. Hovland tied for seventh in 2023.
Harris English English has scuffled a bit to start the 2026 season — he hasn’t finished outside the top 30 in the seven tournaments in which he made the cut, but hasn’t finished inside the top 20. He tied for 12th in last year’s Masters, his best finish in the major. He was runner-up in the 2025 PGA Championship and The Open.
Here are the sleeper candidates to slip on a green jacket. The list features past champions, rising stars and others whose games have been works in progress this season. Will it all come together at Augusta?
Chris Gotterup Gotterup, 26, has already won twice on tour this season, at the Sony Open in Hawaii and WM Phoenix Open. He hits the ball a mile off the tee (319.9 yards) and ranks seventh in strokes gained: tee to green (1.311). It will be his first Masters start.
Shane Lowry Lowry had a tough stretch after losing a late lead in the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, missing the cut in the API and the Players. He tied for third in the 2022 Masters.
Jacob Bridgeman Bridgeman picked up his first PGA Tour win by holding off a loaded field in the Genesis Invitation. He didn’t finish outside the top 18 in his first eight starts this season. He leads the tour in strokes gained: putting (1.339) and is second in strokes gained: total (1.933). It will be his first Masters start.
Justin Thomas Thomas tied for eighth in the Players, a positive sign as he continues his return from back surgery in November. Augusta National hasn’t been his happy place, recently. After back-to-back missed cuts, he tied for 36th in 2025. Since 2023, JT missed the cut in seven of his 12 major starts. The only player with more missed cuts in majors during that span is Nick Taylor (nine), according to data from ESPN Research.
Min Woo Lee “The Chef” has been heating up in recent weeks with four top-12 finishes in a five-tournament stretch. He ranks in the top 10 on tour in strokes gained: total (1.693), tee to green (1.236) and off the tee (.675).
Si Woo Kim Kim had five top-25 finishes in his first eight starts this season, tying for second in the Farmers Insurance Open and for third in Phoenix. He finished in the top 15 of the Masters once in eight starts.
Nicolai Højgaard Højgaard finished second in the Houston Open, which secured his spot in the OWGR top 50 and earned him a spot in the Masters field. He tied for 16th in his first start in Augusta in 2024.
Corey Conners The Canadian ballstriking machine has been undone by his putting and work around the greens this season. He finished in the top 10 in four of his past six Masters starts.
Adam Scott Just when it seems like the 2013 Masters champion’s best golf is in the rearview mirror, he finishes solo fourth in the Genesis Invitational and ties for 11th in the API. He ranks fourth on tour in strokes gained: approach (.912).
Sam Burns Burns had an up-and-down start to the 2026 season, missing three cuts and tying for sixth at Pebble Beach and 13th in the Players. He didn’t finish in the top 25 in each of his first four Masters starts.
Patrick Cantlay Cantlay hasn’t won on tour in more than three years and missed the cut in three of four majors last year (he tied for 36th in the Masters). It’s time for “Patty Ice” to turn things around.
Jason Day After a rough stretch, Day tied for sixth in the Houston Open and grabbed some momentum. His iron play has held him back so far this season. He tied for eighth in last year’s Masters.
