It’s Masters time coming up, and there is one big name on everybody’s lips for the first Major of the year.

World number one Scottie Scheffler won the Players Championship in style thanks to his bogey-free last round of 64 to beat Brian Harman and Wyndham Clark, who nevertheless have excellent shouts at decent odds.

It came on the back of his Arnold Palmer Invitational success just a week earlier, and there are even the earliest rumblings of comparing him to Tiger Woods, such is his consistency at the moment.
This colossal form has seen him rushed into early and firm favouritism, and at the moment, it would take a brave man to go against him. It’s also the shortest field in Masters history, so who could possibly overhaul him?

Who else has a chance?

One of the great things about previewing the Masters is the fact that it’s the only major that takes place on the same course every year. With that in mind, it would be foolish to rule out last year’s winner Jon Rahm, who has justifiably been installed as one of the front-runners for the 2024 edition. Previous Augusta form is usually a great indication of who to pick out, and when you look at last year’s top six, there were three former winners there in Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed.

There will no doubt be continued talk about Rory McIlroy and whether he can complete the career Grand Slam. The World number two managed to defend his Hero Dubai Desert Classic title in January, so there is some form there, and he is second favourite at the time of going to press.

Any outsiders?

The former amateur world number one Ludvig Aberg is making his debut appearance and, having only recently turned pro, he has already won the Omega Masters last September, and the RSM Classic in November. Will Zalatoris finished second in the event in 2021, and he is an accurate ball-striker, so he could have claims around the 40/1 mark. Other players that we think represent good value include Cameron Young at around 66/1, Matt Fitzpatrick at 40/1, Tom Kim, who was joint-runner-up at The Open at Royal Liverpool last year and is around 150/1, and at 200/1, Nicolai Højgaard posted some solid results at the end of last year, so don’t rule him out.

LIV and the veterans - what threat do they pose?

It will be interesting to see how the LIV golfers perform this year. In 2023, Rahm, Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Reed all made the top four, so keep an eye on golfers from that tour, especially if any are previous winners.

Veterans nearly always find a place on the Sunday leaderboard, and you can rest assured that the ones who do make it up there have competed heavily for honours previously. Justin Rose, 43, was runner-up in 2015 and 2017, and his form has stayed true in his 40s, so at 100/1, he could represent a nice each-way bet.

Which 3 to go for?

It would be remiss to look beyond Scheffler for this year’s championship, as unimaginative as that sounds. All the form is pointing his way, he is the World No. 1, and he really is going to take some beating for the rest of the field.

So with that in mind, there may be some better value in each way bets, or top 10 finishers. Hideki Matsuyama has only finished outside the top 20 once in the last nine years, and he won it three years ago. He was fourth in the US Open in 2022 as well, so his form in Majors is clearly solid, and he could represent some value at around the 25/1 mark.

For our last pick, we’re going to have to let our hearts rule our heads. Tiger Woods won this event in 2019 as a 40+ year old, so he has previous history of surprising everybody, and as they say, form is temporary, class is permanent. Let’s cheer him on for the older ones out there.