Masters 2024: Predictions for Top Prize Money Before Opening Round
With the NCAA men's and women's tournaments now behind us, the next major event on the sporting schedule is The Masters, arguably golf's most prestigious event.
Augusta's top finisher will not only earned the esteemed Green Jacket, but also an expected amount of around $3.2 million. The overall prize pool will be a whopping $18 million, so quite a few players will earn some serious scratch by Sunday.
But who will take that top spot? Let's go through some of the favorites.
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Scottie Scheffler
The presumptive favorite, and for good reason—he's the best player in the world right now, with six straight top-10 finishes since February and two wins in that time.
Rock the boat if you want, but Scheffler comes into the Masters on a tear, finished top-10 in three of the four majors last season and has the right playing profile to win at Augusta. If his putting is even slightly above average, he could run away with this.
Jon Rahm
You can't rule out last year's winner, though you have to go back to 2002 to find the last repeat winner (Tiger Woods, of course). Rahm isn't being tested against the level of competition his PGA Tour contemporaries face, but he's a legit contender.
Brooks Koepka
Koepka has won five majors since 2017, albeit never at Augusta. But he's tied for second place twice at The Masters, including last year, and it wouldn't be a shocker if he finally got over the hump.
Rory McIlroy
Will this finally be the year the 34-year-old McIlroy completes the career grand slam? He's the No. 2 golfer in the world for a reason—don't rule him out.
Xander Schauffele
If you don't want to go chalk and pick Scheffler, Schauffele might be the next best thing. He has six top-10 finishes this year and has the right type of profile to win at Augusta, much like Scheffler. He tied for second at The Masters in 2019—he's due to finally get off the schneid.
Wyndham Clark
He won the 2023 U.S. Open. He has a win and two second-place finishes this season. If you want a sleeper but actually want a shot at getting it correct, Clark is your guy.
Hideki Matsuyama
He won in 2021 and always plays the course well, with eight top-20 finishes in the past nine years. He isn't the sexy pick, but past success at Augusta matters.
Tiger Woods
What, did you think you would make it through an entire article without seeing his name? C'mon, people. He might not even make the cut, but it's Tiger... you never know when a little bit of the old magic might reappear.
Prediction: Scheffler
Boring, but sometimes you gotta roll with the hot hand. UConn probably felt like a boring pick to win the men's NCAA tournament, but that's because it was the right pick to make.
If not Scheffler, Schauffele and Koepka feel like the next best bets.
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