US Masters Power Rankings

The first major of the year is almost upon us with the world's best players set to tee it up at Augusta National for the 2025 US Masters.

While the prize money is now into the millions of dollars for the winner, golfers are really playing for the famous Green Jacket, and the lifetime invitation to return to the Masters it comes with.

Augusta is a famously demanding course. It's extremely long with severe changes in elevation throughout. However, there's little trouble off the tee with almost no rough, significantly helping the longer drivers.

From there, approach play is key. The green complexes aren't small by any means, but if players hope to make birdies and avoid bogeys, finding the right portions of the greens is essential. In order to find the right portions of the greens, players want to give themselves the most lofted club available to them lest their approach shots be repelled by Augusta's fast and firm greens.

Akin to putting on glass, Augusta's greens are notoriously speedy and undulating. All in all, it's a brutal test.

Between the two betting favourites, there's Rory McIlroy, who could hardly have played better at Augusta over the years and yet still chases a first Green Jacket, and Scottie Scheffler, bidding for a third Masters title in four years, matching a feat only ever achieved by Jack Nicklaus.

Naturally, the pair feature in our US Masters Power Rankings, but who rounds out the top five? Find out below.

5 - Justin Thomas

It feels premature to say that Justin Thomas is back when he hasn’t won a tournament since his unlikely PGA Championship victory in 2022, but he’s certainly getting closer.

After a two-year dip between summer 2022 and summer 2024 with his irons, Thomas’s approach play has returned to its old elite level while his work around the greens has always been world class, two facets that need to be razor-sharp heading to Augusta.

Thomas has shown he’s got the perfect game for Augusta National, even despite his back-to-back missed cuts, which come with caveats. In 2023, amidst wretched weather, Thomas dropped six shots in his final eight holes to miss the cut on the number, and last year, the two-time major winner extraordinarily blew up to drop seven shots in his final four holes to miss the cut on the number once more.

With career figures of T39-T22-T17-T12-4-T21-T8-MC-MC, Thomas has shown he can get around Augusta, and with his improving form that has seen him record six top-10s in his last 10 starts, he may well contend for the year’s first major.

4 - Jon Rahm

It’s hard to know exactly where LIV players are considering they’re playing three rounds in reduced fields, but Jon Rahm is doing what he can.

His last eight LIV finishes read 1-2-1-T2-6-T6-T5-T9 and he’s had a T5 at the Olympics and three top-10s in four starts on the DP World Tour in that time.

On top of that, Rahm has a superb record around Augusta. Defending champions have a notoriously poor record at the Masters, so last year’s T45 can largely be ignored. Prior to that, Rahm’s Augusta finishes read T27-4-T9-T7-T5-T27-1.

Although his iron play isn’t what it was a couple of years ago, the Spaniard still hits the ball a mile and has one of the best short games in the world.

Given his form and course history, don’t be surprised to see Rahm in the mix once again.

3 - Collin Morikawa

It’s no secret that Augusta National is a course for long hitters with accurate driving of little use, and if it favours any ball shape, it is typically a right-to-left flight.

As such, it’s not a venue that Collin Morikawa should feel particularly comfortable at, and yet of his five appearances at Augusta National, the two-time major winner’s four most recent finishes read T18-5-T10-T3.

His unpredictable putter seems more at home on Augusta’s glass-like bentgrass greens, while he possesses a decent short game for the inevitable missed targets.

But it’s with his irons where Morikawa gains separation from the field. While Augusta is a bomber’s paradise, solid iron play is every bit as important as how far you hit it, and Morikawa is the best iron player in the world, currently edging out Scottie Scheffler; over the last three months, Morikawa has been the best player in the world in terms of iron play as well as ball-striking.

The biggest concern with Morikawa at the moment is that he’s seemingly forgotten how to win. You’ll recall him winning The Open at a serene Royal St George’s back in 2021 and he’s not won in the States since then. It’s a remarkable drought for a player of his calibre, though he’s every chance of ending it this week.

2 - Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy's record at the Masters

Rory McIlroy winning a Green Jacket feels a bit like correctly calling the outcome of a roll of the dice. You're unlikely to win any given roll, but given enough opportunities, double-six has to come up eventually. Unfortunately for McIlroy, he doesn't get infinite rolls of the dice and he'll be acutely aware that time is ticking.

Of course McIlroy has the game to win the Masters. He hits it a mile, is comfortable playing a draw, and this season he’s putting and chipping strongly. But the Northern Irishman needs everything to click over all four rounds as opposed to just two or three as we’ve seen in the past.

By a law of averages, McIlroy should have at least one Green Jacket by now, yet the Grand Slam eludes him.

If there’s something different in McIlroy’s favour this time, it’s that he’s a little less reliant on his driver than he has been in recent years. His iron play, short game and putting are all the best they’ve been in years, and he already has two wins at Pebble Beach and TPC Sawgrass to his name in 2025.

Everybody knows McIlroy has the golfing ability to win this tournament and yet every April we find ourselves asking: is this his year? Maybe 2025 is.

1 - Scottie Scheffler

There are some players who just love Augusta – the likes of Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods immediately spring to mind, and it might not be too long before Scottie Scheffler is named alongside them.

In five appearances at Augusta, Scheffler has finished T19, T18, 1st, T10 and 1st. In four of his five outings, his performance has been better than he averaged over the course of a season, suggesting he actually plays above his normal level when heading to Augusta. The one time he played below his level was as defending champion in 2023 when his shaky putter let him down.

It should be noted that Scheffler has given his rivals a little hope this year. While he routinely pulverised fields in 2024 in a genuinely Tiger-like fashion at times, he’s winless in 2025 since suffering a hand injury over Christmas.

That setback shouldn’t have any impact three months on, but his iron play is a little looser than it was 12 months ago.

There have been signs that Scheffler is returning to his old self with a T3 at Torrey Pines for the Genesis Invitational and a T2 at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, and if Scheffler is return to the winners’ circle anywhere, Augusta National seems a likely a place as any.