6 Players Who Will Not Win The Masters (and Talor Gooch)
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Bryson DeChambeau: In his last 16 rounds in the Masters, DeChambeau has racked up an incredible 15 double bogeys or worse. DeChambeau has missed the cut twice (2022 and 2023) in seven starts at Augusta. His best finish is T29. Bryson has had four top 10 finishes in a row on the LIV Tour, but in a 48-man field, that feels a lot less impressive. DeChambeau has the same problem he always does, he hits a monster drive and then his short game crumbles. You’ll see more of that at Augusta this year.
Xander Schauffele: Xander has had a very good start to his season – 6 top-10s in 8 tournaments this season with no missed cuts. He is 8th in strokes gained off the tee and 19th in strokes gained on approach. Schauffele has 3 top-10s in the last five years at the Masters. He just got a runner-up at The Players. But Xander just can’t seem to get an outright victory. Schauffele has never won a major, and this one will not be his first.
Patrick Cantlay: This will be Cantlay’s 8th Masters appearance. He’s made the cut 5/7 times with one top-10 finish in 2019. Last year, Cantlay finished T14. Cantlay has had a decent start to 2024 with 7/7 cuts made, 1 top-10, and 2 top-15 finishes. Cantlay has been solid putting this season, but is a putrid 149th in strokes gained on approach. That will not get it done at Augusta. Cantlay has also opted to miss the last three PGA events. That is a lengthier time away from competition before a major. Maybe it will help, but Cantlay’s track record says otherwise.
Collin Morikawa: Morikawa is 4/4 on cuts made at the Masters. Morikawa finished 5th at the Masters in 2022 and T-10 in 2023. Morikawa started this season boom or bust, either finishing top-20 or missing the cut in his first five tournaments. This season, Morikawa ranks 164th in putting. Putting is everything with the rolling greens at Augusta.
Justin Thomas: JT is without Bones for the first time since 2021. Although the duo only had one PGA Tour win together (2022 PGA Championship), changing caddies before a major is a very interesting move. Matt Minister will be JT’s temporary caddie and on his bag for the Masters. Minister was formerly Cantlay’s caddie and helped him for all 8 of his PGA Tour wins (no majors). JT is a heck of a golfer, but with his slump the past two years and a brand new caddie, Augusta may look rough for him. JT missed the cut at the Masters last year.
Dustin Johnson: DJ won the 2020 Masters. In his 13 appearances at the Masters, he has 5 top-10s (including his win). However, in the last three years, he finished cut, T-12, and T-48. Since joining LIV, DJ only has three wins (albeit one of them recently– Feb 10, 2024). Fans keep waiting for DJ to be the dominant golfer they remember, but he just doesn’t seem to have the same fire he once used to. He has struggled with driving accuracy for much of his career and he’s only hitting about 50% of fairways this year on LIV. The thick rough at Augusta is going to make things very difficult for DJ.
Talor Gooch: Talor Gooch is not even in the field this year, but we had to make the point that even if he was, he would have no shot. Gooch made the bold statement that if Rory McIlroy were to complete the Grand Slam by winning the Masters in April, it will come with an asterisk. This is because “some of the best players wouldn’t be in the field.” He was referring to himself, but Gooch has never been one of the best players and would have no shot at winning the Masters even if he was in the field. So no, Talor, you will likely never win a Masters and if Rory wins, there is definitely no asterisk since all of the actual best players were invited.
Ok, now that that’s out of the way, here are the only 16 guys with a chance to earn a green jacket this weekend.
