Nothing signifies Spring more than the return of The Masters. Golf’s first major championship of the season not only marks the arrival of warmer weather, but also the first time the world’s best players all finally compete in the same tournament. With the ever changing golf landscape and players moving from the PGA Tour to LIV, the four majors will be the only time talent from both tours players come together and play for the biggest honors in golf.
Let’s take a look at the TV schedule and our favorite storylines to follow at Augusta National. DISH subscribers can enjoy the event starting on Wednesday, April 10th at 3pm ET with the Par 3 contest on ESPN. Then the tournament begins Thursday morning. The Masters TV schedule is as follows:
2024 Masters TV Schedule:
Par 3 Contest Wednesday: 3-5pm ET on ESPN
Round 1 Thursday: 3-7:30pm ET on ESPN
Round 2 Friday: 3-7:30pm ET on ESPN
Round 3 Saturday: 3-7 pm ET on CBS
Round 4 Sunday: 2-7pm on ET CBS
*Additional coverage of The Masters on Masters.com, The Masters App and ESPN+. Includes featured groups, and featured holes.
The Defending Champion
One of the 13 LIV players in The Masters field is defending champion Jon Rahm. Rahm won in a wet and soggy tournament last year, and faced a lot of scrutiny when he decided to leave the PGA Tour back in December. Since then, Rahm has been out of the public eye. The last time his golf was in the spotlight was during the Ryder Cup in September where he led the Europeans to a dominating win over the Americans. He’s played in five LIV events and has finished in the top eight in all of them. Meanwhile, Scottie Scheffler has solidified himself as the best player in the world with two wins in five PGA Tour events (along with a T2, T3 and T10). It’s hard to think that the defending champion would enter The Masters with a chip on his shoulder, but Jon Rahm will be looking to remind golf fans he’s still the top dog in the world.
Scottie Scheffler
Speaking of the world number one, the last time we saw Scottie Scheffler he barley missed a birdie putt to send teh Texas Children’s Houston Open to a playoff. As of writing this, Scheffler is a 4-1 favorite to win The Masters, which is the shortest odds since 2013 (Tiger Woods, obviously). Scheffler’s achilles heel has been the putter. But since switching to a mallet, the woes have dropped considerably. The new wand will be put to the test this weekend on Augusta’s greens which are always difficult. The one thing Scheffler doesn’t need to worry about is ball striking. He’s without a doubt the best in the world in that category. If he has just an average putting week, he will be tough to beat. For the bettors out there, the last time the favorite won The Masters was in 2005 (Tiger Woods, duh).
Tiger Woods
If Tiger Woods is in the field, it has to be mentioned. Sorry, we don’t make the rules. The five time Masters champion has only teed it up once this year (Genesis Invitational), and he only made it 24 holes before having to withdraw due to the flu. No one knows what to expect from Tiger’s game or health right now. Longtime friend and NBC Golf Analyst Notah Begay said Tiger has zero mobility in his ankle and has developed lower back issues. Augusta National is not an easy walk in the slightest, so navigating 72 holes seems to be the biggest challenge for Tiger. If there’s a course where Tiger can come in without many reps and play well, it’s at The Masters. Should he make the cut this week, Tiger would set the record for most consecutive cuts made at The Masters with 24. If the Big Cat is teeing it up, just sit back and enjoy it, because we don’t know how many more times we’ll be able to witness it.
The Field
We’ve talked about Jon Rahm, Scottie and Tiger. The next person to mention is obvious but we simply can’t give his own paragraph. Rory McIlroy is still on his quest to complete the career grand slam. Rory’s last four Masters appearances are cut, 2nd, cut, and T5. The Northern Irishman has not had his best stuff this season, and admittedly said he went to have a session with legendary coach Butch Harmon to get his perspective on his swing. Rory cashed in a 3rd place finish last week in Houston (9 shots off), so it seems that whatever he worked on helped. Other names to watch include Xande Schauffele, Jordan Speith, Hideki Matsuyama and Viktor Hovland. Xander has played great golf this season, but continues to struggle to close the door on tournaments. Spieth is coming into the tournament with a mixed bag of performances, while Matsuyama looks to be rounding into form. Then you have the LIV crew. Brooks Koepka is always a factor in majors and Chilean Joaquin Niemann has had a great season thus far with two wins. On the PGA Tour side, this has been a season of relatively unknown players taking home wins. Winners like Nick Dunlap, Matthieu Pavon, Jake Knapp, Austin Eckroat, Peter Malnati, Stephan Jaeger and Akshay Bhatia has been the theme this season. Could we see an unexpected long shot in the green jacket come Sunday?
The Course and Weather
Augusta National is always making little (or major) changes each year at The Masters. In 2023 the big change was adding nearly 40 yards to the famed par 5 13th hole. This year, it’s another par 5 that got some work done. The 2nd hole, also known as Pink Dogwood, had its tee box extended and shifted to the left by a bout 10 yards. This brings a fairway bunker more into play. Looking at the weather, the forecast is calling for some rain on Thursday which could soften the course and hurt some of the shorter hitting players. Playing at over 7,500 yards, it’s not a prerequisite to hit it far, but it certainly helps. Friday through Sunday looks to be great conditions and players may be able to take advantage of the rain before the course firms up on Sunday.
