The Golf Show 2.0 News

by Gary Van Sickle

AUGUSTA, Ga.—You should be done sweeping the pieces of your NCAA basketball tournament brackets off the floor and putting them in the dumpster. If not, make it snappy because it’s Masters Eve, a holiday in my world, and you need to submit your Masters Pool entry.

Here’s my Official Masters Guide (OMG as it’s known to insiders at the Augusta National Golf Club & Amusement Park) to who can win, maybe-kinda-sorta. You’re welcome…

Ludwig Aberg. This big Swede supposedly can’t win because this is his first Masters. There’s too much local knowledge in these crazy-tilt greens for a rookie. Wrong. Aberg won the RSM Classic last fall, starred in Europe’s usual Ryder Cup win and is viewed by many experts as golf’s next superstar. (Sorry, Scottie Scheffler.) What kind of game wins around Augusta? Precise iron play, great scrambling and, oh yeah, length off the tee doesn’t hurt. Aberg ranks eighth in driving distance; seventh in proximity to the hole with approach shots; and 29th in scrambling. Like Scheffler, the weakest part of his game is his putter but it’s not a weakness, it’s just not as good as his long game. In short, he’s got all the tools he needs to win this week. And until Scheffler heated up, wasn’t 2024 all about surprising underdog winners? Aberg is long and straight. That works anywhere.

Brooks Koepka. Don’t be fooled because Koepka hasn’t lit it up in LIV Golf this year. He’s a big-game hunter. He lives for the majors and he really, really wants a major. He was asked about his golf legacy, having won five majors, and he dismissed the question but said, “I know there are 19 guys ahead of me.” Koepka, like Tiger Woods, is chasing 18 majors in his mind. He is golf’s best closer, too. Koepka, your reigning PGA Championship champ, is the man to beat.

Scottie Scheffler. What’s not to like? Well, there’s his wild footwork. Most of the time, it doesn’t affect his balance at all. The spinning feet just show how much power he’s pulling out of his lower body. He’s a great iron player and among the best scramblers in golf. That’s why he is so good. Having notched a pair of wins, he is the obvious favorite—at 4-1 odds last time I checked. Those odds are Tiger Woods territory. You’ve got to have SS (Scheffler) in your Masters Pool lineup if only to play defense because everyone else in their right mind is going to play him. He’s the chalk and chalk often wins.

Hideki Matsuyama. The former Masters champ has been playing well of late. His last four PGA Tour finishes are first fourth, 12th, seventh. He’s a terrific scrambler, a streaky-great putter and a very good iron player. Matsuyama is in good form, although everyone has taken notice and driven his odds down to 18-1. You want him in your lineup. He could win here again.

Jon Rahm. After five LIV Golf events, the former World No. 1 still hasn’t scored a win. How is he not beating those other 53 guys, many of whom are Richard Bland, David Puig and Kieran Vincent? I suspect he’s got the same problem as Koepka—these LIV tournaments have no history, no meaning, no lasting value. They’re just big cash paydays. But Rahm has a formidable game, obviously, or he wouldn’t he pulled away into win last year’s Masters. I’m not buying Brandel Chamblee theory that LIV golfers don’t play enough to be sharp for majors, that they’re all playing worse because they don’t have enough tournament action. Rahm can win. But so few players are repeat Masters winners that I’m just not betting on him this time. Rahm, I mean. Not Chamblee.

Rory McIlroy. I like Rory but I don’t like him to snag a Masters and win the career Grand Slam. He’s never handled the greens well, his wedge play hasn’t been sharp enough most of his career and now he’s got double demons because he hasn’t won a major in a decade and he knows it’s all riding on the Masters for him. First rounds have been killing him. Sorry, Rory, but I’ve got you on the fantasy-team bench this week.

Wyndham Clark. This is the Ludwig Aberg Tale Part 2. Clark came out of nowhere to win last year’s U.S. Open in impressive fashion but he’s not getting the respect he should this week because this is his first Masters. Clark bombs it long, is a pretty good iron player and chips and putts like a young Jordan Spieth. He can totally handle The National (as insiders call Augusta National). He can also blow up into pieces. He is third in strokes-gained overall and eight in greens in regulation. That is the stuff of Masters winners. Oh, he ranks No. 1 in putting inside 25 feet.

Sahith Theegala. Maybe this is a reach but I don’t think so. He was a college superstar and has quietly built a solid pro game. He is No. 1 in putting inside three feet—don’t laugh, three-footers at The National often aren’t gimmies. He is 11th in greens hit and 13th in strokes gained putting. He doesn’t have that Sunday-at-Amen-Corner-when-in-contention experience but he might get some this week.

Xander Schauffele. The X-Man always seems to be somewhere on the leaderboard. This year he’s already finished second, third, fourth, fifth and ninth. Notice the number that’s missing—1. He has won seven times but is still major-less. The sum of his game is greater than any individual part. He reminds me a little of Curtis Strange that way. He’s going to win a major because he puts himself into position so often and one of these times, he’s going to have a hot stretch at the finish or somebody is going to mess up and hand him one. He’s got an Olympic gold medal, too, so the rest is gravy.

Bryson DeChambeau. The Masters gods are never going to forgive him for boasting that this course is a par 67 for him. Bad karma there. But he loves attention, something he doesn’t get from playing on LIV. His 2019 U.S. Open winner exemption for majors is fixing to run out so he’ll be very motivated to play well. No LIV wins this year, some top tens, and a couple of LIV wins late last season mean he’s still got it. Can he conquer the Masters with science? At the very least, he can come close.

Tiger Woods. He thinks he can still “squeeze out one more” at The National. It would top his 2019 for miraculous. But… seriously?

Jordan Spieth. The guy hit a gutterball last week at the Valero Texas Open. Trying to get out of a ditch, he played to the left in order to get a free drop from a building. His ball hit the roof and stopped in the gutter and he did, indeed, get his drop but he eventually three-putted for double. Spieth still sprays it off the tee, which you can get away with here, and he still chips and pitches like nobody else in the game. That magical putter isn’t as magical as it was. But on these greens, which have so much undulation, you’ve got to be an artist with the blade and he is that. He has won one Masters and fumbled one away. Shocking stat: He has only two wins in the last seven year. He’s not in my lineup but I wouldn’t rule him out.

The Van Sickle Guide to Who Can Win The Masters

Kathy Bissell has more than 35 years experience as a golf writer and television producer.

NEW FROM THE GOLF SHOW:
The National Invitation
GOLF QUIZ SHOW

Where Gary Van Sickle tries to stump guests on golf trivia
Can YOU answer all the questions?
Tom Alter vs Scott Michaux

Gary Van Sickle's The Secret Masters

Hughes Norton, one of golf's first Superagents, has a new book: Rainmaker. Norton signed Tiger Woods and Greg Norman, Curtis Strange, Ben Crenshaw, Bill Rodgers, Tom Watson, Nancy Lopez and many others when in charge of golf at IMG. Two years after delivering at least $60 million in guaranteed money to Tiger Woods, Norton was fired by Woods. Then he was fired by McCormack but given a severance package of $9 million. Now he's revealing the whole story.

The Golf Show 2.0 with Kathy Bissell & Gary Van Sickle

Gary Van Sickle has covered golf since 1980, following the tours to 125 men's major championships, 14 Ryder Cups and one sweet roundtrip flight on the late Concorde. He is likely the only active golf writer who covered Tiger Woods during his first pro victory, in Las Vegas in 1997, and his 81st, in Augusta in April.Type your paragraph here.

Larry Mize talks about his 1987 Masters victory when he won in a playoff over Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman, two of the most dynamic golfers ever to play. Mize grew up in Augusta, and so for him to win meant he became a hometown hero of sorts. He played the Masters 40 times, and this year is the first time he won't have a tee time at the storied club. Find out what he did instead.

Some Articles on LIV Golf:

You Want To Own A Piece of Phil?

LIV Golf Defectors Make All PGA Tour Players Richer

Suspensions Cause Uproar Among LIV Players

Why Brooks, Bryson and Others Chose LIV

Rory Says Jay " Went By The Book" with Suspensions