It’s nearly every golfing fan’s favourite week – the US Masters at Augusta – and five Aussies are set to battle to pristine fairways of the world’s most famous course.
Cameron Smith is the only player to shoot all four rounds in the 60s in a single tournament (67-68-69-69/2020/T2).
Min Woo Lee (winner of Texas Children’s Houston Open two weeks ago) will make his fourth career appearance and was previously qualified as one of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking at the end of the previous calendar year.
2013 Masters Champion Adam Scott holds the longest active streak of starts in major championships: 93 (streak began at 2001 Open Championship).
Cameron Davis and Jason Day round off our handful of combatants.
Here’s some facts about the leading chances;
Scottie Scheffler
- In his sixth appearance, 2022 and 2024 Masters champion seeks to become the ninth player with three or more victories at Augusta National; with a victory, would join Jack Nicklaus (1963, 1965, 1966) as the only players to win three Masters Tournaments in a four-year stretch
- Seeks to join Jack Nicklaus (1956, 1966), Nick Faldo (1989, 1990) and Tiger Woods (2001, 2002) as players to successfully defend their title at the Masters Tournament
- Never finished outside the top 20 in five prior starts at the Masters Tournament (T19/2020, T18/2021, Won/2022, T10/2023, Won/2024)
- With his last three finishes at the Masters Tournament (Won/2024, T10/2023, Won/2022), is one of two players to finish among the top 10 in each of the last three years (Collin Morikawa: 5th/2022, T10/2023, T3/2024)
- World No. 1 and reigning FedExCup champion in search of first official victory since the 2024 TOUR Championship (won 2024 Hero World Challenge)
- In addition to wins at THE PLAYERS, Masters Tournament and TOUR Championship in 2024, captured four titles at Signature Events: Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, RBC Heritage, the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday and Travelers Championship
- Seventh start of the 2025 season, with three top-10 finishes (T2/ Texas Children’s Houston Open, T3/The Genesis Invitational, T9/AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am)
Rory McIlroy
- Making 17th start at the Masters Tournament; runner-up finish in 2022 marks best performance among seven top-10 results
- Past winner of the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and The Open Championship attempts to become the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam (Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods)
- Victory at the 2025 PLAYERS Championship marked his 28th win on TOUR (T20 all-time)
- World No. 2 looks to become the third player to win THE PLAYERS Championship and the Masters Tournament in the same year: Tiger Woods (2001), Scottie Scheffler (2024)
- Current FedExCup leader is the only multiple winner this season (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, THE PLAYERS Championship)
- Fourth consecutive season with multiple victories on TOUR (2021-22/3, 2022-23/2, 2024/2)
- First-round 71 in 2024 marked his first under-par score in an opening round at the Masters Tournament since 2018; owns two career sub-70 scores in the opening round at Augusta National (65/2011/T15, 69/2018/T5)
- Final-round 64 in 2022 marks his low round at Augusta National, where his scoring average is 71.60 (58 rounds), the lowest among players with 50-74 career rounds
Xander Schauffele
- World No. 3 is making his eighth Masters Tournament appearance; owns four top-10s in seven prior starts (T2/2019, T3/2021, T10/2023, 8th/2024)
- Second-round 65 in 2019 marks his career-low at Augusta National
- Fifth start of the season after returning from a rib injury at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard
- Nine-time TOUR winner captured two of the last three major championships (2024 Open Championship, 2024 PGA Championship)
- Holds the TOUR’s current longest streak of consecutive made cuts at 60; finished T12 in his most recent start at the Valspar Championship
Collin Morikawa
- With a victory at the Masters Tournament, World No. 4 and two-time major champion (2020 PGA Championship, 2021 Open Championship) would join three active players (Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson) with three legs of the career Grand Slam
- With his last three finishes at the Masters Tournament (5th/2022, T10/2023, T3/2024), joins Scottie Scheffler (Won/2022, T10/2023, Won/2024 ,) as the only players to finish among the top 10 in each of the last three years at Augusta National
- Two runner-up finishes in five starts this season (2nd/The Sentry, 2nd/Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard), as well as a T10 at THE PLAYERS Championship
- Making his 28th start since his most recent of six PGA TOUR titles at the 2023 Baycurrent Classic
Ludvig Åberg
- Sweden native finished runner-up at the 2024 Masters Tournament, his first major championship appearance
- Was a cumulative 3-over on the par-5 15th hole at Augusta National in 2024, but played the other three par5s (Nos. 2, 8 and 13) 9-under for the week
- Posted first-round 73 in 2024; one of three players since 2008 to open with an over-par score and finish runner-up or better at the Masters Tournament (Rory McIlroy/2022/73/2nd, Xander Schauffele/2019/73/T3)
- World No. 5 seeks his third PGA TOUR title and second this season after his victory at The Genesis Invitational in February; claimed first PGA TOUR title at the 2023 RSM
- Classic; won the 2023 Omega European Masters on the DP World Tour and was selected for the 2023 European Ryder Cup team
- First player to finish No. 1 in the PGA TOUR University Rankings (2022-23) and earn PGA TOUR membership
Masters Tournament notes:
2015 Masters champion Jordan Spieth makes his 12th start at Augusta National; owns five top-3 results in 11 prior appearances (T2/2014, Won/2015, T2/2016, 3rd/2018, T3/2021); in 40 rounds at Augusta National, his 70.95 scoring average marks the lowest of any player with 25-49 career rounds); underwent wrist surgery in August following the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship and returned to competition at the 2025 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
2021 Masters champion and World No. 6 Hideki Matsuyama, the only male major championship winner from Japan, has made 12 cuts in 13 appearances at the Masters Tournament (MC/2014)
2023 Open Championship winner and last week’s Valero Texas Open winner, Brian Harman heads to his seventh Masters Tournament where he has missed the cut in his last three appearances; made the cut twice in prior six starts (T44/2018, T12/2021)
England’s Tommy Fleetwood seeks his first PGA TOUR win in his 152nd start; last player to earn first PGA TOUR win at a major championship: England’s Matt Fitzpatrick (2022 U.S. Open); finished T3 at the 2024 Masters Tournament, his best result in eight career appearances
After missing the 2024 Masters Tournament due to injury, Bernhard Langer makes his 41st and final start at the Masters Tournament
2013 Masters champion Adam Scott holds the longest active streak of starts in major championships: 93 (streak began at 2001 Open Championship)
2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia makes his 100th major championship appearance; won the Masters Tournament in his 19th attempt, the most of any winner; one of 19 past champions in the field
Cameron Smith is the only player to shoot all four rounds in the 60s in a single tournament (67-68-69-69/2020/T2)
Eight lefthanders (Akshay Bhatia, Brian Harman, Joe Highsmith, Robert MacIntyre, Matt McCarty, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Mike Weir) in the field marks the most in Masters Tournament history (previous: 6/2008, 2018)
25 different countries and territories are represented this year, the most since 2015 (24) and 95 invitees are scheduled to compete this year.
The following report is from the Australia PGA’s Tony Webeck – on how to follow all the action at home;
It is a love affair that has gone largely unrequited over the past 90 years yet five Australians will seek to woo Augusta National Golf Club when the Masters Tournament tees off late on Thursday night.
The champion in 2013, Adam Scott returns for a 24th time for his 94th consecutive major championship start and will be joined by four fellow Aussies who all finished inside the top 30 12 months ago.
Runner-up to Dustin Johnson in 2020, few players have shown a greater affinity for Augusta National than Cameron Smith.
The 2022 Open champion fell just short of a win in four events on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia and has just one top-10 finish in five LIV Golf starts this season.
The new father insists that the results are not reflective of the work he and coach Grant Field have done and that he is ready to match creativity with a technically superior swing.
“I feel like I’ve done a lot of really good stuff,” Smith said on Aussies At The Masters on Fox Sports.
“I feel like I haven’t been as creative. I’ve done a lot of technical work, particularly with the longer clubs.
“Augusta for me, typically brings out my creative side and hitting those weird and wonderful shots that you have to hit around there.
“I’m really looking forward to getting there to take that next step because I feel like my technique is so much better than in years past.”
Few players arrive at Augusta for the 2025 Masters with as much excitement about their prospects as Min Woo Lee.
The 26-year-old shot a record 6-under 30 on the front nine in the final round on his way to a tie for 14th on debut in 2022 and shot a Sunday 69 last year to earn a share of 22nd.
Given his win a fortnight ago at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, the prospect of ‘Chef Woozy’ having an opportunity to set the menu for the Champions Dinner has never looked greater.
He has missed the cut in his past four starts on the PGA TOUR but Cam Davis can call upon the memories of 2024 where he finished tied for 12th while Jason Day has three top-five finishes on his Masters resume.
The Masters
2024 champion: Scottie Scheffler
Past Aussie winners: Adam Scott (2013)
TV times: Live 4am-7am Thursday (Par 3 Contest); Live 12:30am-5am (Featured Groups), Live 5am-9:30am Friday, Saturday; Live 12am-2am (Featured Groups), Live 2am-9am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.