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Familiarity is a significant part of what separates the Masters from the rest of golf’s major championships. Unlike the other majors, which rotate among host sites, the best players in the world get tested by Augusta National Golf Club every April.
For some players, their game never quite meshes with the course. Whether it’s the speed and undulations of the greens or the shot shapes required off the tee, they never figure out how to play Augusta National.
Others, however, thrive on the most hallowed ground in American golf. When it clicks at Augusta National, players tend to find that feeling again each time they drive down Magnolia Lane. There’s a reason 18 of the 56 Masters champions have won the event multiple times.
Beyond the champions, though, are players who have posted notable past results at the Masters but remain without the elusive green jacket in their closet. When players are younger, a consistent run of strong finishes makes it feel like an inevitability they will join that iconic group of champions. As humbling as Augusta National can be to a golfer, it can also provide an immense amount of confidence when performing well — particularly early in a career.
But as time wears on and close calls pile up without a victory, the feeling of assured success can fade; players start to wonder whether it will ever happen at all. That can become a self-fulfilling prophecy of imploding under pressure of trying to break through.
From Lee Trevino to Greg Norman to Ernie Els, some of the greats of the game never quite climbed the summit of Augusta National despite coming agonizingly close to adding a green jacket to their collections.
The 2025 Masters features a number of active players who fall into both categories. There are young players who quickly figured out how to succeed at Augusta National and appear primed to threaten for green jackets for years to come. Others are more than a decade into their quest and certainly wondering whether their time has passed.
The magic of the Masters is it only takes one week to change one’s fortunes (see: Garcia, Sergio), and each of these players has proven time and again that they have the game to contend at Augusta National.
Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook
Rory McIlroy
Runner-up: 1 (2022) | Top 10: 7 | Made cuts: 13/16 (81.3%)
2025 odds: 13/2
Any conversation about the most successful active players yet to win a Masters starts with him. A win would complete the career grand slam, cementing his place among the all-time greats, and McIlroy came tantalizingly close in 2011 before imploding in the final round. That second-nine performance lives alongside Norman for all-time Masters collapses, but to his credit, he’s managed to be fairly consistent with strong finishes over his career in Augusta.
Over the last 11 years, McIlroy has registered seven top-10 finishes and two missed cuts. While his final-round 80 in 2011 lives in infamy, it’s been slow starts, not poor finishes, that have doomed Rory’s chances over the past decade. Only once since 2011 — when he jumped to the lead with a 65 — has he opened with a round in the 60s (69 in 2018, which led to a T5 finish). As such, some scoff at his top 10 record as a real indicator that he’s been close to winning a green jacket as even his runner-up finish in 2022 came from well off the pace and never really threatened Scottie Scheffler as McIlroy posted a final-round 64.
Still, there are enough of those rounds of brilliance to make everyone, including Rory, wonder what it will look like if he can put his game together for four days at Augusta National. This year, he’s in the best form we’ve ever seen from him entering the Masters registering two PGA Tour wins before April, and if there were ever a time for it all to come together, it seems like now.
Xander Schauffele
Runner-up: 1 (2019) | Top 10: 4 | Made cuts: 7/8 (87.5%)
2025 odds: 21-1
Schauffele went from being at the top of the “best players to never win a major list” to a two-time major champion a year ago. Now, fans want to see if he can add a green jacket to his collection after being such a consistent contender at the Masters over the years. He has a scoring average of 71.38 at Augusta National across 26 rounds and has finished in the top 10 more than half the times he’s teed it up. His best finish was a tie for runner-up in 2019 (his second appearance) when there wasn’t a soul outside of his immediate family rooting for him to beat Tiger Woods.
The question for Schauffele is the opposite of the one McIlroy faces. Xander has been unbelievably consistent in producing solid scores but rarely goes notably low (only two career rounds under a 68). The ability to score at the Masters is in part determined by the weather and course conditions, but Schauffele at times seems to take the advice of playing smart, conservative golf at Augusta too seriously. He gets passed by his competitors at the top. Perhaps his wins at the PGA Championship and Open Championship last year will give him the confidence to go do that because we know he’s very comfortable at Augusta and has the game to win a green jacket (or a few).
Cameron Smith
Runner-up: 1 (2020) | Top 10: 5 | Made cuts: 8/8 (100%)
2025 odds: 55-1
Smith’s short-game prowess shines at Augusta National, and it has put him in the mix on a few occasions. He’s never missed the cut at the Masters, and even when he hasn’t been playing his best coming in, he seems to find something in himself because of the artistry required by the course. His five top-10s in 8 appearances is an extremely impressive resume, and like Schauffele, he keeps himself in the mix by way of consistently solid play rather than huge scoring days (he also has just two career rounds under a 68). After going to LIV Golf following his Open victory, Smith has been a bit out of sight, out of mind, but he was T6 a year ago at the Masters. With his short game and putting, he figures to be a threat any time he tees it up at Augusta.
Will Zalatoris
Runner-up: 1 (2021) | Top 10: 3 | Made cuts: 3/3 (100%)
2025 odds: 41-1
Zalatoris might be the ultimate example of a player who has all of the positive feels at Augusta National. He finished as a runner-up in his Masters debut, and despite injuries and putting yips, he has finished in the top 10 in both of his appearances since. (He missed 2023 with a back injury). Zalatoris has shot under par across eight of his 12 rounds at the Masters (just two over par), and he has never known what it’s like not to be in the mix on the weekend. While Zalatoris is off to a solid start to his 2025, nothing about his play screams major champion, but some guys just love Augusta, and he appears to be someone who has to be at least considered as a threat any time he is in the Masters field.
Ludvig Åberg
Runner-up: 1 (2024) | Top 10: 1 | Made cuts: 1/1 (100%)
2025 odds: 17-1
The 25-year-old Swede had plenty of hype entering his first Masters last year (his first major start), and he did not disappoint with a runner-up finish to Scheffler. He played incredibly well in tough conditions and never blinked under pressure with a final-round 69 while playing with the eventual champion in the final group. Åberg’s abilities as a ball striker make him a threat anywhere, but with the demands of Augusta National on a player’s distance control, it’s not a surprise he made some noise quickly at the Masters. He figures to be among the favorites each April for a long time even if he missed two of his four major cuts in his rookie campaign.
Brooks Koepka
Runner-up: 2 (2019, 2023) | Top 10: 3 | Made cuts: 7/9 (77.8%)
2025 odds: 34-1
For a time, Koepka was the most dominant figure in major championship golf, but he’s never quite gotten over the line at the Masters. Twice he’s finished in a tie for second, and in both of those efforts, he had a real chance in the final round but just failed to produce the kind of golf needed to add a green jacket to his collection. The 2023 final-round 75 alongside Jon Rahm likely stings the most, and he was over par in all four rounds last year.
There’s a real question of whether we’ve seen the best of Koepka on the course. Has his best chance to win a Masters already come and gone? That said, part of what makes Augusta National special is that those who know how to play it well are always given the opportunity to turn back the clock for one weekend, and we’ve seen plenty of examples of players outside their presumed prime contend and win at the Masters.
Collin Morikawa
Best finish: T3 (2024) | Top 10: 3 | Made cuts: 5/5 (81.3%)
2025 odds: 15-1
Given his level of ball-striking, Morikawa always figured to be a guy who could thrive at Augusta National. He made the cut in his debut, improved to T18 in his second appearance and hasn’t finished outside the top 10 in his last three trips to the Masters. A two-time major champion, Morikawa unquestionably has the game to win a green jacket, and tee-to-green he has everything you could hope for in a Masters champ.
The big question for Morikawa at every tournament is whether he’s got the feel with his putter. The speed of the greens at Augusta National, in particular, puts a player’s confidence in their putting stroke under the microscope. It seems as though he’s started to get a feel for the greens in recent years, and if he can ever pair up his elite tee-to-green game with a hot putter on a Masters weekend, he could end up with a green jacket.
Justin Rose
Runner-up: 2 (2017, 2019) | Top 10: 6 | Made cuts: 16/19 (84.2%)
2025 odds: 100-1
From 2017-19, only 11 players beat Rose at the Masters. He had a T10 sandwiched between runner-up finishes, helping him ascend to the top spot in the world rankings. In total, Rose has 12 top 25 finishes in his last 15 appearances at the Masters (five top 10s in that span), but he’s missed the cut entirely in the other three. Two of those missed cuts have come in his last three trips to Augusta National, and it certainly feels as though his chance to win a green jacket has come and gone.
Rose has twice jumped out to fast starts in recent years, but he hasn’t had the consistent game to stay at the top of the leaderboard for four rounds. Still, he has had a remarkable career at the Masters, and perhaps there’s still time for a magical run at a place he’s had so much success at over the past two decades.
Tony Finau
Best finish: T5 (2019) | Top 10: 3 | Made cuts: 7/7 (100%)
2025 odds: 55-1
Finau began his Masters career with three top 10s in his first four appearances. His T10 after dislocating his ankle celebrating a hole-in-one at the Par 3 Contest in his debut in 2018 was legendary, and for awhile, it looked like he just had an eye for Augusta. That’s changed in recent years as he still has made the cut at each appearance but hasn’t been anywhere near contention since 2021.
Honorable mentions (top 10 finishes): Corey Conners (3), Cameron Young (2), Justin Thomas (2), Sungjae Im (2)
