The 90th Masters is set to open on a course built to play fast and firm, and that should sharpen the pressure on the players expected to matter most when the first shots are struck in Augusta. Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele and Cameron Young are the names drawing the most attention in the lead-up to the tournament, with the opening round expected to reward control as much as power.
McIlroy arrives with the freshest Masters memory of anyone in the field, having won on April 13, 2025, in Augusta, Georgia, after beating Justin Rose in a playoff. That finish gave him a long-awaited Masters title and reset the conversation around him at the same course where he will again be watched closely. For Scheffler, Schauffele and DeChambeau, the setting matters for a different reason: Augusta is not being presented as a soft test. It is meant to play fast and firm, which puts a premium on precision and creativity as the tournament begins.
Young is another player to watch after a stretch that changed his profile. In August, he won the Wyndham Championship for his first PGA Tour victory, then followed it with his first Players Championship. That sequence is enough to make him one of the more interesting names in the field, especially in a Masters that is opening under conditions designed to bring the best players into focus quickly.
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The tension around this Masters is not who can survive a familiar venue, but who can handle it when Augusta is playing the way it is supposed to play. Fast and firm can turn a routine shot into a problem and a good round into a very good one. That is why the preview circles back to the same small group: McIlroy, Scheffler, Schauffele, DeChambeau and Young are the players most likely to shape the early story once play starts.
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What happens next is simple enough. The 90th Masters opens on a course that should test touch, discipline and nerve from the first tee shot, and the players to watch are the ones with recent form, major pedigree or both.
