Coming into Masters week, we rank the 10 players most likely to find themselves in the Butler Cabin on Sunday evening alongside Scottie Scheffler and the leading amateur.
08. Xander Schauffele
Widely criticised for failing to get over the line in big events, 2024 was the year that Xander Schauffele silenced his critics once and for all, not just becoming a major champion when winning the PGA Championship at Valhalla, but backing it up by claiming the Claret Jug at Royal Troon.
He also overtook Rory McIlroy in the world rankings, leaving only Scottie Scheffler looking down on the now 31-year-old, and finished inside the top 10 on a dozen occasions not including his two major wins.
His sole missed cut at Augusta National came in 2022, and he’s got four top-10 finishes in his last six visits, including a T2 in 2019 and a T3 in 2021, so he’s a player that clearly has what it takes to complete the third leg of the Career Grand Slam.
But a rib injury curtailed his start to the 2025 season, missing big events like the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational, returning to action at the Arnold Palmer Invitational where he rallied late on Friday to keep his cut streak alive.
A week later, his lack of match sharpness was glaring when playing alongside Scheffler and McIlroy at The Players Championship – the latter of course going on to win – but improved to finish just outside the top 10 at the Valspar Championship in his last start pre-Augusta.
His iron play hasn’t suffered, ranking third in Strokes Gained: Approach on the PGA Tour, but he’s struggled off the tee and lies 161st in Strokes Gained and arguably, more importantly at a course like Augusta National, on the greens, losing strokes to the field at both the Valspar and Players Championships and ranking 165th.
You can certainly argue that at least some of the tardiness in those aspects can be put down to returning to action before he’d fully healed or had time to come to terms with a rehabilitated body, but Augusta National is not the sort of golf course that looks kindly upon those searching for their games.
The big question for Xander is whether he’s had enough time to sharpen up his long and short games for the unique test that The Masters presents. He’s got every other attribute that a Green Jacket-worthy player requires.
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