The 86th edition of golf’s Masters Tournament, with a purse of $11.5 million, is set to tee off on Thursday April 7th and will wrap up three days later with with Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama as the reigning champion. The Masters is the first of four major men’s golf tournaments to be held in 2022 and will take place in America at the famous Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia
The par-4, 11th and par-5, 15th holes at the Augusta National Golf Club have respectively been lengthened by 15 yards and 20 yards from last year’s event. The par-72 course is now a total of 7,510 yards.
The invitation-only tournament features past winners of the event as well as recent champions of major tournaments, leading finishers in last year’s majors, leading golfers on last year’s PGA Tour, winners of last season’s full-point tournaments and top-ranked golfers in the World Golf Ranking. It also includes some of the world’s top amateur gofers.
This means the field of approximately 92 will also include top golfers such as Fred Couples, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Zach Johnson, Sandy Lyle, Bernhard Langer, Vijay Singh, Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, Mike Weir, Bubba Watson, Jon Rahm, Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas, Cameron Smith, Xander Schauffele, Laird Shepherd, Webb Simpson, Justin Rose, Louis Oosthuizen, Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy, Ryan Palmer, Lee Westwood, Russell Henley, Scottie Scheffler and possibly Tiger Woods.
Some of the best major winners yet to win a Masters include Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy. For McIlroy, this will be his 14th attempt at winning the Masters to complete a career Grand Slam. Thee 33-year-old from Northern Ireland missed the cut last year but finished in the top-10 in six of his previous seven appearances.
In addition, when it comes to the current top-10 ranked golfers in the Official World Golf Rankings, 37-year-old Dustin Johnson of America is the only one to have won a Masters tournament.
Fans should be aware that 51-year-old Phil Mickelson, a three-time Masters champion, won’t be playing at this year’s Masters as he’s currently taking a break from golf. Forty-six-year-old golf legend Tiger Woods could play after missing last year’s Masters due to injuries suffered in an auto accident in February, 2021.
Twenty-five-year-old American Scottie Scheffler enters the tournament as the number-one ranked men’s golfer in the world after three victories in his past five events. He won his initial PGA Tour championship at the WM Phoenix Open and followed up with wins at the Arnold Palmer Invitational tournament in Florida and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play which was held in Austin, Texas.
This will be the third Masters appearance for Scheffler after finishing in 19th place in 2020 and in 18th position in 2021.
As for the reigning Masters’ champion, 30-year-old Hideki Matsuyama, he missed the recent Players Championship in Florida due to a back injury. He’ll be attempting to become only the fourth golfer to capture back-to-back Masters titles.
According to the most recent odds from bet365, Jon Rahm is favored to take the 2022 Masters at +900. He’s followed by Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas at +1200. Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson both come in at +1600 with Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka and Cameron Smith all at +1600. Hideki Matsuyama is +3000 while Tiger Woods sits at +5000.
The bet365 longshots to take the tournament include Sandy Lyle at +500000, Aaron Jarvis at +250000 with Austin Greaser and Stewart Hagestad both at +150000.
