The Top 10 contenders to win the 89th Masters at Augusta National – our verdict

We look at who might light up The Masters this week, from the leading favourites to one or two who we might have overlooked.

Scottie Scheffler has won two of the last three Masters while much of the pre-tournament chat will, as always, be on the one player who can complete the career Grand Slam.

1 Ludvig Aberg

Masters form: 2

One of the quirks of the Masters is that a debutant will very unlikely win the Green Jacket. We have to go back to 1979 for when Fuzzy Zoeller prevailed but Aberg nearly did likewise 12 months ago. It’s still worth repeating that the Swede only turned pro a few months before the 2023 Ryder Cup.

Last year the Masters was his Major debut and he was tied for the lead going into his back nine on Sunday. There would be a ruinous double-bogey at the 11th but back-to-back birdies pulled him three clear of those in third but three adrift of a dominant Scheffler. Has already won this year, at Torrey Pines, and there is very little to dislike about his chances.

2 Brooks Koepka

Masters form: 33-21-11-2-7-MC-MC-2-45

This will be his 10th trip down Magnolia Lane and he’s already posted three top 10s and a couple of second places. When Tiger won in 2019 Koepka plopped one in the water at the 12th but then did eagle the next as others fell away. In 2023 he was in control all week but then put together a very uncharacteristic closing 75 as Scheffler pounced. Koepka’s a beast when in contention, he even has five wins on LIV, and you suspect this would be highest on his wanted list.

3 Rory McIlroy

Masters form: MC-15-40-25-8-4-10-7-5-21-5-MC-2-MC-22

Where to even start with this? Barely a tournament goes by without some sort of reference to the effect it will have on McIlroy’s chances at Augusta. The generalisation is that he’ll start slowly and back his way into a top 10 or that he’ll struggle to control his wedges or that it will all just be a bit too much for him.

The good news is that he appears to be more in control of his emotions now more than ever and that he’s bang in form having already won at Pebble Beach and The Players – even without maybe playing his very best golf. He and Scheffler are the clear favourites, for very different reasons, and it would likely be as popular a win as we’ve ever had in the game. You’re going to hear a lot about his last Major win coming as far back as 2014, the same way Tiger hadn’t won a Major in 11 years.

4 Collin Morikawa

Masters form: 44-18-5-10-3

If you had a bet on one player to finish inside the top 10, you’d probably go with Morikawa. We all know about his iron play – he’s leading the SG Approach stats this season – and he may well tick off the third leg of the Grand Slam by the age of 28 this week.

He looked like winning at Bay Hill this year before Russell Henley leapfrogged him and he’s ranked third in the betting this week. For whatever reason he doesn’t quite seem quite like the identikit Masters champion but all that may well change. Worth remembering that he was paired with McIlroy when they both holed from sand at the 72nd hole in 2022.

5 Joaquin Niemann

Masters form: MC-40-35-16-22

The Chilean keeps getting touted as one of the very best in the game by his LIV comrades but is still waiting for his first Major top 10 after 22 starts. The wins keep coming on LIV though, he now has four to sit just one behind Koepka, and he ‘famously’ shot a 59 in Mexico last year. He had to rely on an invite last year as well as this time.

“In support of Augusta National’s efforts to develop interest in golf globally, deserving international players not otherwise qualified have been invited throughout the tournament’s history,” Masters chairman Fred Ridley said in a statement. “The tradition continues as we welcome Nicolai and Joaquin back to the Masters, as both players have showcased their talent while competing around the world.”

Interestingly no mention of LIV where his big strength is his ability to find a lot of greens.

6 Xander Schauffele

Masters form: 50-2-17-3-MC-10-8

It’s tempting to leave out a few big names but Schauffele is just too good to ignore. He’s another who could make this a third leg of the Grand Slam having won two of them last year. On the downside a rib injury has slowed that stellar progress and he’s only played in four events in 2025.

In 2019 Schauffele opened up with a 73 but still played his way into the reckoning with a Friday 65 and then made five birdies around the turn on Sunday. In 2021, when Matsuyama triumphed, he had a double and a treble at 16 as his level-par 72 saw him come up three shots shy. Has more length these days and the confidence of getting the Major monkey off his back in style.

7 Scottie Scheffler

Masters form: 19-18-W-10-W

Scheffler is 32-under for his 20 rounds at Augusta and, should he win again for the third time, he would move alongside Jimmy Demaret, Sam Snead, Gary Player, Nick Faldo and Phil Mickelson. Everything just makes sense when Scheffler plays the Masters and he also has Ted Scott by his side, the caddie who helped Bubba Watson to two Green Jackets.

The first win in 2022 finished with a bizarre four-putt even though he would still win by three. Last year he was ruthless with seven birdies on the Sunday. Since then he’s been arrested on the Friday morning of the PGA, punctured his right hand making ravioli, won a gold medal and continued to dominate things. Three in four years would be a spectacular effort.

8 Cam Smith

Masters form: 55-5-51-2-10-3-34-6

Five top 10s in the last seven starts here signal Smith out as an absolute course specialist. In 2020, the November Masters, he finished at 15-under with four rounds in the 60s and still ended five back of Dustin Johnson.

The 2022 Open champion last won on LIV in August 2023 but, with his creativity, short game and putting stroke, anything is possible and he’ll enjoy the space off the tee that Augusta provides. Smith is far too good a player not to contend more in the Majors and we should expect that to change in the near future.

9 Jordan Spieth

Masters form: 2-W-2-11-3-21-46-3-MC-4-MC

Why would you not include Spieth in any Masters top 10? Recent wrist surgery appears to have helped things move forward again and, along with the likes of Phil Mickelson, he looks so at home with the nuances of Augusta. He might well have won his first three Masters and the 2018 effort remains pretty fresh in the memory bank.

The American, paired with good friend Justin Thomas, began the final round nine shots back of Patrick Reed, went out in 31 and added another four birdies including one at the 12th where he had quadrupled two years before. He actually had a putt to take the lead on 17 but then bizarrely hit a tree left and very short off the 18th tee to make his first and very untimely bogey of the day in a closing 64.

10 Will Zalatoris

Masters form: 2-6-9

Zalatoris missed much of the 2023 season after undergoing back surgery, otherwise he is yet to finish outside the top 10 here. The 28-year-old has won once on the PGA Tour but he has recorded top 10s in half his 14 Major starts. A phenomenal talent and iron player, he missed out in a play-off for the PGA in 2022 before another second place the following month at the US Open at Brookline where Matt Fitzpatrick won.

Steady rather than spectacular this year but he hasn’t missed a cut in 2025 and it wouldn’t take a huge leap of imagination to see him right up there this week.

Verdict: We spend 51 weeks of the year telling ourselves not to fall into this trap yet again but let’s just do it. Surely it’s going to happen at some point and, with nobody in better form, let’s side with Rory.

READ MORE: 10 things that make The Masters the most unique golf tournament on the planet