AUGUSTA, Ga. – The Masters has arrived. The azaleas are in full bloom, Augusta National is in top condition and a litany of players have a compelling case that they could be slipping on a green jacket come Sunday night.

Ahead of the start of the first major championship of the year, catch up on the top five storylines of the week.

Rory McIlroy, back on the Masters hamster wheel

Will this finally be Rory McIlroy’s year at the Masters? It’s been the top story for a decade running, but McIlroy has never arrived at Augusta National playing as well as he has this time around.

McIlroy has won twice (at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and THE PLAYERS Championship), leads the PGA TOUR in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and is on pace for the best statistical putting season of his career.

Add in that his biggest competition, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and world No. 3 Xander Schauffele have yet to play their way into 2024 form as they work their way back from injuries, and the road to a green jacket is wide open for McIlroy.

It also means there’s even more pressure on McIlroy to get it done. If it doesn’t happen this year, his 17th start at Augusta National, when will it happen? That’s a question McIlroy hopes he doesn’t have to reckon with.

"I understand the narrative and the noise, and there's a lot of anticipation and buildup coming into this tournament each and every year,” McIlroy said, “but I just have to keep my head down and focus on my job.”

McIlroy has twisted himself in knots trying to find a way to win the Masters – the one tournament he wants to win above all else. As well as McIlroy is playing, what will determine his fate is not how his swing feels. It’s how he handles the mental challenge.

After McIlroy and Scheffler, who’s next?

The narrative of pro golf in 2025 has belonged to two people: Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler. That’s only heightened this week with both players having unique and noteworthy ties to the event. McIlroy is trying to overcome a decade’s worth of scars, while Scheffler is trying to become the best Masters player of this generation.

But who, after those two, is best positioned for a Masters victory? Much of the underlying data points to Collin Morikawa. Augusta National is famously known as a “second shot” golf course, and Morikawa leads the PGA TOUR in Strokes Gained: Approach. He’s also finished in the top 10 in the last three Masters. Morikawa played in the final pairing alongside Scheffler in 2024 and was tied for the lead through eight holes before making a double-bogey on the ninth to derail his hopes.

Ludvig Åberg also has a case. He finished runner-up to Scheffler last season and has already won this year at The Genesis Invitational. Åberg is coming off two straight missed cuts, though, and detailed Tuesday that he’s struggled with a few parts of his swing.

After Morikawa and Åberg, there are a considerable number of players who have great cases to win, but all have notable flaws. Xander Schauffele hasn’t found his pre-injury form. Justin Thomas has struggled at Augusta National. Viktor Hovland, despite his win at the Valspar, is still working through swing changes. Jordan Spieth is always a threat at Augusta, but his form is shaky.

All that is to say, it’s wide open after McIlroy and Scheffler. So, who are you taking: McIlroy and Scheffler, or the field?

Who's the next major winner?

Who are some names to look at this week who are trying to make the Masters their first major win? Åberg is the highest-ranked player in the world ranking (No. 5) without a major victory. Not far behind him is Russell Henley, who shot up to seventh in the Official World Golf Ranking with his win in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard.

It is the highest OWGR ranking that Henley, who will turn 36 on Saturday, has ever attained. Henley also is a Georgia native who used to play practice rounds with past Masters champion Larry Mize when Mize was competing in the tournament. Henley has finished in the top 10 in the past two major championships and was T4 in the 2023 Masters.

Hovland (No. 9) and Maverick McNealy (No. 10) are the other top-10 players in the world who have yet to win a major. Hovland recently won the Valspar Championship, his first victory since the 2023 TOUR Championship, but said he is still seeking to find the same swing that led to his FedExCup-winning season.

McNealy has rapidly risen in the world ranking; he was 67th in the OWGR before earning his first PGA TOUR win at The RSM Classic in November. McNealy has four top-10s this season, including a T3 in last week’s Valero Texas Open.

Tommy Fleetwood, the 12th-ranked player in the world, is coming off a T3 in last year’s Masters, as is Sepp Straka, who is second in this year’s FedExCup standings after a win at The American Express and top 10s in two Signature Events (T7, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am; T5, Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard). Straka is 15th in the world ranking, as well.

Course changes

Part of what makes Augusta National and the Masters Tournament special every year is the familiarity. Even casual fans know most of the holes and can picture what it’s like to be at Augusta, even if they’ve never been.

But it looks a little different on the grounds of Augusta National this year, mostly with what’s not here: a lot of trees.

Hurricane Helene hit the greater Augusta area hard last fall, and Augusta National felt the impact. The club has not provided specific details, but there was significant tree loss – some that will affect play and others that just impact the sightlines.

Of note, a cluster of trees fell to the left of the 10th tee, opening up a small window for players to try to take it over the corner and cut off distance on the dogleg left par 4. Some of the overhanging branches fell along the left side of the third hole, which could entice more players to chase that angle with the driver. Collin Morikawa also said the course lost trees down the corridors of the second and ninth holes, which will make the tee shots easier.

“Like (on No.) 2 tee obviously you can't hit it left but now you can almost start it a little bit left and have it cut back if I wanted,” Morikawa said. “I wouldn't have to play as straight of a ball, (No.) 9, same thing, you don't have the trees crowding you.”

And while some of the tree loss will not affect the field of play, it changes sight lines. Harris English noted the depth perception is “noticeably different” when hitting the approach shot into No. 15 green and the tee shot on the par-3 16th.

How much all the changes will affect play depends on who you ask. Jose Maria Olazabal, playing his 37th Masters, said: “I don't think that's going to have any effect on the way the golf course is playing.”

Scheffler trending in right direction in bid for third jacket

When Scottie Scheffler arrived at last year’s Masters, he was in the midst of an incredible run. Victories at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and THE PLAYERS, as well as a runner-up at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, preceded his victory at Augusta National last year.

He arrives at the Masters again in 2025 after finishing second in Houston. While the similarities to last season end there, Scheffler said he is trending in the right direction.

“I would say that I feel very prepared for this golf tournament,” he said Tuesday. “This is definitely the most prepared that I've felt all year.”

Matching his success of 2024 was always going to be hard to do this year. Scheffler won seven PGA TOUR titles in 2024, as well as the Olympic gold medal and the Hero World Challenge. He also claimed his first FedExCup and third straight PGA TOUR Player of the Year award. The task was made more difficult when Scheffler cut his hand on a wine glass while making ravioli on Christmas day. The injury required surgery and delayed the start of his season until the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

“Stepping up on the tee at Pebble feeling like I wasn't exactly where I was when I ended the year just because I had taken so much time off,” he said.

While Scheffler hasn’t won yet in 2024, he has played well considering the injury. He has finished in the top 10 in half of his six starts and has not finished outside the top 25.

His father’s ravioli are on the menu as Scheffler hosted his second Champions Dinner on Tuesday night, and a reporter asked if Scheffler would give a hands-on demonstration on how to make the dish.

“If I was trying to take out the competition, I would definitely do a demonstration, something along those lines,” he said.

Such steps may not be necessary for Scheffler to claim his third Masters in the past four years, however.