The Masters - Preview Day One
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Tremendous stories always develop by the time the Masters rolls around in early April, and this year is no different. After an up-and-down couple of months in professional golf, some fascinating narratives are trailing players as they drive down Magnolia Lane.

That starts at the top with the undisputed No. 1 player in the world, Scottie Scheffler. The 2022 Masters champion has lost to one golfer in his last three tournaments, and he's been among the best at Augusta National in his four appearances there, notching four top 20s including his win.

Such is his dominance that you could feasibly create "10 storylines about Scottie Scheffler and the 2024 Masters" with plenty of angles. Everything else feeds off of him to constitute our biggest storylines going into the first major championship of the year.

1. Scottie's dominance: The list of golfers who have won the Players Championship and Masters in the same year looks like this:

  • Tiger Woods

Of course, Scheffler might be the best player we have seen since Tiger (he's at least in the conversation), so it would not be improbable for him to add his name to the list. We know he will contend; it's almost inconceivable for him to not contend given how well he's hitting the golf ball right now. 

What we don't know is whether he'll make enough putts to win. That's the focus for him this week. That sounds reductive and maybe even dismissive of Scheffler, but I promise, it is not. It's a nod to the fact that his baseline is currently as high as anybody we have seen in the last 25 years other than Tiger. It is inevitable that he will play well because he is disciplined and methodical in all the best ways when it comes to golf. 

The question for Scheffler at this year's Masters is not whether the golf will be good; we know it will be. The question instead is more binary: Will the No. 1 player in the world wear green on Sunday at Augusta like he did on Sunday at TPC Sawgrass in his recent Players Championship win? 

Watch all four rounds of the 2024 Masters starting Thursday with Masters Live as we follow the best golfers in the world through Augusta National with Featured Groups, check in at the famed Amen Corner and see leaders round the turn on holes 15 & 16. Watch live on CBSSports.com, the CBS Sports App and Paramount+.

2. Rory slam: New year, same story. Rory McIlroy is trying to become just the sixth golfer in history to complete the grand slam. Yes, he's been close before, finishing second here to Scheffler in 2023. No, there will not be an asterisk by his slam like Talor Gooch suggested there should be because the field is not to Gooch's standards. Yes, McIlroy destroys at Augusta National; he's third in all-time scoring behind Phil Mickelson and Woods (min. 50 rounds played). No, it is not common for a golfer to win in his 16th attempt at this tournament. Only Sergio Garcia won his first Masters after more attempts (19). If I had a dollar for every time I've heard the phrase "Rory just needs to ..." about Rory and the Masters, I'd be pretty high up on the LIV Golf money list. The truth is, nobody, not even McIlroy, truly knows what he needs to do. That's why all of this is so fascinating.

3. Off the schneid: Here is a non-comprehensive list of golfers who are trying to win their first major at the Masters.

  • Xander Schauffele (Data Golf ranking: No. 2)
  • Viktor Hovland (5)
  • Patrick Cantlay (8)
  • Joaquin Niemann (9)
  • Max Homa (11)
  • Tyrrell Hatton (12)
  • Sam Burns (14)
  • Tommy Fleetwood (17)
  • Cameron Young (19)
  • Tony Finau (24)

For players like Spieth and McIlroy, it's been so long that it probably feels like they're trying to win their first major (McIlroy has said this in the past). Augusta National is a life-changer -- just ask Danny Willett -- and odds are decent that somebody is going to have their life changed. Of the 12 major champions in the last three years, seven had never won a major championship previously (including two of the last three Masters champs).

4. LIV Golf: One of the storylines in the second season of "Full Swing" is that LIV Golf was legitimized by the performance of its players at the 2023 Masters. I don't know if that's totally true or completely fair, but I think one could actually argue that this year's edition is more of an us-vs-them event than it was 12 months ago. As with most things LIV these days, this revolves around Jon Rahm and his title defense at this Masters, but it's also that the two leagues have the appearance of being on more level ground from a talent standpoint -- at least at the top. A year ago, it would have been easy for the PGA Tour and its players to swat away talk of a LIV dominance over the PGA Tour, but that's becoming more difficult with each passing top-10 player that LIV signs. The narrative "Full Swing" tried to highlight from last year's Masters might actually be true at this year's edition. 

5. Six for Brooks? The list of golfers who have won six major championships and at least one of the U.S. Open, PGA Championship and Masters is not long. It looks like this.

  • Gene Sarazen
  • Ben Hogan
  • Gary Player
  • Tiger Woods
  • Jack Nicklaus
  • Brooks Koepka?

That's the insane company Koepka is trying to join with a victory at Augusta National this year. He's been close before. He was close last year when he led after Saturday before being chased down by Rahm and finishing T2. He also finished T2 in 2019. 

Everything Koepka does from here on out at the majors is historic. He could tie Mickelson's career total at an age (33) when Mickelson himself had not won a single major championship. In the recent season of "Full Swing," Koepka opined about getting to double digits ("10 or 12"), which sounds crazy until you realize his winning percentage at the majors is an astounding 13% (five victories in 38 tries). There is definitely some luck in there, but it's also not difficult to envision him getting to six (Mickelson and Nick Faldo) or seven (Arnold Palmer!) over the next few years. 

6. Rahm's repeat: Rahm is quietly playing great golf on the LIV Golf tour and is trying to become the first golfer to go back to back at Augusta since Tiger Woods in 2001-02. Because this is such a difficult feat, it's not normally a primary storyline. Rahm is different. One of the best major players of his (or any) generation and somebody who could win five majors in his career. On a recent call with various media folks to discuss his Augusta National return, including his champion's dinner meal, he was clearly moved and maybe even a bit nervous about all the responsibilities of a champ. This aspect of trying to repeat as a Masters champion is underrated.

7. Classic duel: When is the last time we had a truly breathtaking duel down the stretch at Augusta National? Last year's 30-hole Sunday was supposed to be that, but Rahm went ahead early and never let Koepka in it. Scheffler rolled the year before that. Matsuyama was the primary story in 2021. Same with Dustin Johnson in 2020. Tiger's win in 2019 was close, but it wasn't a great duel. Same with Patrick Reed in 2018. I suppose you could go back to 2017 with Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose. Garcia hit the stick on No. 15 in the final round that year and made eagle. Rose went ahead by one with a birdie at No. 16 but then gave it away with a bogey at No. 17. They ended up in a playoff, which Garcia went on to win. I'm talking about that level of drama from some of the current best players in the world. It's been a long time since we've seen that between two stars at Augusta National, and given how tepid the first three months of the season have been, it does feel like we're a bit due.

8. Spieth's kingdom: Spieth's run at Augusta National is extraordinary.

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Data Golf

That's six (!!) top-four finishes in 10 starts at the Masters, all of which have been spread out over the full decade. He is again playing solid golf going into this year's edition, which usually bodes well for how he finishes at this tournament. 

He has entered the Masters gaining over 1.0 shots against the field in the three months leading into the Masters seven different times, and all seven have been top-11 finishes. This year, he enters at right around 1.5, which portends for a great week from one of the great players in Augusta National history. Among golfers with at least 30 rounds, nobody's scoring average is better than Spieth's 70.66.

9. Phil and Tiger: Collectively, their run at the Masters has been truly incredible. Since the early 1990s, here are their accomplishments at Augusta National.

  • 55 starts
  • 51 cuts made
  • 39 top 25s
  • 30 top 10s
  • 24 top 5s
  • 4 runners up
  • 8 wins
  • $19.4M earned
  • 210 rounds
  • 61 rounds in the 60s

They also are No. 3 (Tiger) and No. 4 (Phil) in career scoring average (min. 25 rounds), even though they have played a combined 210 rounds at that course. The players ahead of them, Rahm and Spieth, have not even played a combined 100 yet. Woods and Mickelson have the two best scoring averages of anyone who has played more than 50 rounds. 

It's probably silly to expect much from two champions at their age, but Mickelson finished T2 last year in a season when he did basically nothing else. There is magic at that place, and something special from one of them would be both surprising and also somehow completely expected.

10. The fourth first-timer: It's been since 1979 that a first-time Masters golfer has won the tournament. It has only happened three times overall and once since World War II. This year's group of debutantes is more impressive than most and includes Data Golf's No. 6 golfer in the world, Ludvig Aberg, as well as the No. 10 golfer in the world, Wyndham Clark, who is the current U.S. Open champion. It would not be surprising to see one of those players win the tournament and break the 44-year streak.