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Curtis Strange predicts the player who is going to win The Masters this year
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- Curtis Strange predicts the player who is going to win The Masters this year
Photo by A. Messerschmidt/Getty Images
The Masters is right around the corner, and expert picks are flying in!
We are less than two weeks away from the first major of the year at Augusta National, and this year's event feels more open than ever.
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Reigning champion Rory McIlroy is recovering from a back injury and hasn't teed off since The Players. Neither has Scottie Scheffler, who withdrew from the Houston Open as he and his wife were expecting the birth of their child.
Meanwhile, both Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau are in top form on LIV Golf, and both enter The Masters with high expectations. Matt Fitzpatrick has a win and a second-place finish in his last two events, and Cameron Young won The Players.
It feels like there are 20 likely candidates to win The Masters this year, but two-time US Open winner Curtis Strange somehow narrowed it down to the one player that he's picking this year.
Curtis Strange thinks Xander Schauffele will win The Masters
Among the many names who have been in top form in the build-up to The Masters is Xander Schauffele , who has found his swing after a down year in 2025.
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Schauffele was in contention to win The Players , finished in T4 at the Valspar Championship and T7 at the Genesis Invitational. All that's missing is a win, and that's what Strange thinks he'll do at The Masters.
He said, "I have picked Xander Schauffele because if you followed me the last years, I don't go with the normal guy. Xander is playing well. I think he is hungry to play well here. He has got the complete game, of course, and to add this to his resume should be terrific.
"We talk about these guys who should play well, but you still have to execute. Xander has played well, but he is really going to have to play well to beat Scottie and Rory I think. But I think he can do it."
It would be Schauffele's third major championship, and it would bring the American a US Open away from completing the Career Grand Slam. It would also resume his quest to overthrow Scheffler as the best player in golf, as he was threatening to do in 2024.
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Scott Van Pelt names his pick to win The Masters
ESPN's Scott Van Pelt hasn't been put off by Scheffler's break between competitive action going into The Masters. He said he's struggling to look past the world number one, but gave a few names who he thinks could also win.
He said, "I don't see how you can go there and not consider Scottie. He is Scottie Scheffler. It would be stunning if he did not play well. A couple of names that are certainly not long shot names, but I think Patrick Reed will play well here. He always has been and is a past champion.
"And Justin Rose, twice in his life, finished Sunday, and nobody had a lower score than him, but he lost in a playoff. He is a guy who won wire to wire essentially out at Torrey. He's played some really good golf and even in his mid-40s, his workout resume is incredible. He has great form.
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"I feel like Reed and Rose are a couple of guys who I expect to play well."
Despite losing to McIlroy in a playoff last year, Rose is being overlooked to win the Green Jacket this year. He's 45, but won the Farmers Insurance Open and has always played well at Augusta.
As for Reed, he's been in incredible form on the DP World Tour , but will also be battling some rust, having not played in over a month before The Masters. But it's almost impossible to write a past champion off.
