The Masters hands out invitations to the top 50 players in the world, the reigning amateur champions and past Masters Tournament champions who have a lifetime guarantee to compete.
The stage is set for a blockbuster event with many predicting one of the ‘Big Three’, either Rory McIlroy, Jason Day or Jordan Spieth, to be victorious around Augusta. However, this is not always the case at the Masters and this year looks to be a well contested field and no out-right winner.
Nobody expected 46-year-old Jack Nicklaus to claim victory at the 1986 Masters, especially after not winning a Major Championship in six years, the 1980 PGA Championship, and defying the odds on the back nine making an eagle at 15 and beating both Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros.
Past champions could still impress amongst a very young and talented field this year, with the likes of Zach Johnson still the reigning Open Champion and the still capable Bernhard Langer, who has one win on the PGA Champions Tour as well as 5 Top 10 finishes out of 5 starts. Langer has always been successful around Augusta, even in recent years with a T8 finish in 2014 and he made the cut last year.
Likewise it is very rare for first-time invitees to win round Augusta, as the last first-time invitee to ever win the Masters was Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979. But when taking a closer look at the field of ‘newbies’, there are a multitude of very good options to choose from.
We’ve chosen the players we expect to be the most exciting and could stand a chance of winning against some of the assured favourites at the 80th Masters Tournament.
