Augusta Nationwide is on the horizon.
True, winter continues to be clinging to the bushes and spring, when the well-known flowers bloom, appears a great distance off, however the notion of gamers strolling up Magnolia Drive is one we are able to use to bolster us by the ultimate weeks of icy chilly climate.
That is additionally a time to contemplate who would possibly truly win the Masters.
Will Rory McIlroy defend his Inexperienced Jacket?
Can Scottie Scheffler preserve his sensational main championship kind?
Is it time for Jon Rahm to emerge from his elite degree hibernation?
What we’d like are hints and the schedules present us with them.
Listed below are 5 occasions that happen between now and the beginning of April that we are able to use to create a brief checklist of Masters winners.
1. The Dubai Desert Basic
At first look a resort course in the course of the Center Jap desert and Augusta Nationwide don’t have a lot in widespread.
However the Majlis Course at Emirates GC has proved to be a advantageous pointer in the direction of Masters success.
It was most obvious in 2016 and 2017 when Danny Willett and Sergio Garcia each accomplished the double.
However there’s extra to it than that.
The 2011 Dubai Desert Basic winner Alvaro Quiros was the primary spherical co-leader at that yr’s Masters – and Bryson DeChambeau accomplished that double in 2019.
In 2018, Haotong Li received in Dubai and was fourth after 18 holes at Augusta. And 2022 Dubai winner Viktor Hovland didn’t thrive in Augusta three months later however he was one other to share the primary spherical chief 15 months later.
That lag additionally picks up Rory McIlroy who received back-to-back in Dubai in 2023 and 2024 earlier than profitable the Masters in 2025.
Even Jose Maria Olazabal is picked up by the delay – he received in Dubai in 1998 after which the Masters in 1999. However get this: the 1999 Dubai Desert Basic was held at Dubai Creek so Olazabal was the final man to win at Majlis forward of his Masters win, identical to Garcia and Willett.
If there’s a connection it may be that each again nines provide birdies and eagles so winners at Majlis are primed to assault Augusta Nationwide.
2. The Genesis Invitational
It has lengthy been mentioned that Augusta Nationwide fits a draw (for the precise handers) and it has additionally lengthy been mentioned that, though Riviera County Membership in Los Angles does the other (suiting a fade), the 2 programs are considerably linked by winners.
Fred {Couples} was a Masters winner and even into center age an everyday presence on the primary web page of the leaderboard – he additionally received at Riviera twice.
Three-time Masters champions Nick Faldo additionally received at Riviera.
So did different Inexperienced Jacket wearers reminiscent of Craig Stadler, Mike Weir, Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm and Hideki Matsuyama.
Rahm accomplished the seasonal double in 2023. So did Weir in 2003 (the person he beat in additional holes, Len Mattiace, had received at Riviera in 2002!). And so did {Couples} in 1992.
3. The Arnold Palmer Invitational
Within the final 4 years Scottie Scheffler has gone win-no win, win-no win at Augusta.
Does that imply he’s due a win?
Regulate what he does at Bay Hill in March as a result of he has received the Arnold Palmer Invitational there twice – and each occasions it was within the lead-up to the Masters tournaments that he received in 2022 and 2024.
It’s a small pattern but when Scheffler is a winner at Bay Hill he may also develop into one at Augusta Nationwide.
4. The Gamers Championship
That is one other small pattern. Really a really small pattern, however it’s a pattern that’s going for the hat trick.
In 2024 Scottie Scheffler received the Gamers Championship at TPC Sawgrass … after which received the Masters.
And in 2025 Rory McIlroy received the Gamers Championship at TPC Sawgrass … after which received the Masters.
Possibly bear in mind because the trophy is lifted in Florida on March fifteenth.
5. Final yr’s majors
Cling on. Does this fifth occasion match the remit on the high of the article?
In fact, after all, not fairly. However this can be a good pattern – one which has carried out solidly during the last decade – so it’s price dishonest a bit.
What do the final 10 Masters champions have in widespread? Each single considered one of them had contended in considered one of their earlier two main championship begins.
Danny Willett in 2016 was second at midway and completed sixth within the 2015 Open. Sergio Garcia in 2017 had been fifth on the 2016 US Open.
Patrick Reed in 2018 and Tiger Woods in 2019 had been second within the earlier yr’s PGA Championship.
Within the disrupted 2020 season Dustin Johnson was second within the PGA Championship and sixth within the US Open earlier than profitable at Augusta late within the yr.
Hideki Matsuyama, winner in 2021, had been fourth with 18 holes to play within the 2020 US Open. Scottie Scheffler had additionally been fourth with 18 holes to play (and completed eighth) within the 2021 Open forward of profitable the 2022 Masters.
Jon Rahm had been third after 54 holes (ending twelfth) within the US Open earlier than his triumph in Georgia, Scheffler’s second Masters was preceded by third place within the US Open and McIlroy’s triumph got here after he was second within the US Open.
Briefly: Masters winners are inclined to have spent the winter with a serious championship itch – and at Augusta they scratch it.
Learn subsequent: The secrets and techniques to Rory McIlroy’s success in Dubai revealed
