First look at potential plots for this year’s Masters golf tournament in Augusta

A British author named James Hilton introduced a fictional paradise he called Shangri-La to the world in his 1933 novel “Lost Horizon.”

About the same time, acclaimed amateur golfer and visionary Bobby Jones and heralded architect Alister MacKenzie combined to convert a nursery named “Fruitland” into what would become golf’s version of perfection.

Though separated by more than 8,000 miles, Hilton’s place in Tibet’s Kunlun Mountains and the Jones-MacKenzie masterpiece in Augusta, Georgia share a common theme in the mind’s eye: utopia.

Explorers have searched in vain for Hilton’s fictional place where scholars who specialize in literature report that the people are almost immortal, living hundreds of years beyond the normal lifespan and very slowly aging in appearance.

But almost everyone — even those who couldn’t care less about sports — can identify with the Jones-MacKenzie creation: Augusta National Golf Club and its golf course, home of the Masters and a universal symbol of spring.

Augusta National opens its gates to the world a couple of weeks each year, and tranquility gives away to competition. The world’s finest women’s amateurs, youngsters seeking a title in Drive, Chip and Putt program and, of course, men chasing perhaps the sport’s biggest prize take turns in the spotlight.

Cloaked in green and embroidered by azaleas and dogwoods in bloom, the scene never ceases to impress, and so it will be again this year. Add the golf and ... well, what more could a fan want?

The Masters unfolds for the 89th time beginning Thursday and, like always, the year’s first major championship arrives with a plethora of questions that must wait for answers.

Sure, the pundits already have reduced the 72-hole battle to a showdown between the game’s top-rated players, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy. And, yes, that could happen.

Indeed, a popular wager would be a parlay pitting the Scottie-Rory duo against the field. That’s usually a sucker’s play, but this year? Maybe not.

The early story lines will center on that dynamic duo. Can Scheffler join Jack Nicklaus in being the only golfers to win the green jacket three times in four years? Can Rory shed the Augusta albatross and simultaneously end a major championship drought that dates to 2014 and complete the career grand slam?

Wonder, too, how the LIV golfers will fare. Players on the break-away circuit compete in 54-hole events and the level of competition is not nearly as deep as that on the PGA Tour, but do you discount Jon Rahm or Bryson DeChambeau or Brooks Koepka?

There’s Collin Morikawa with an iron game built to prosper on this second-shot golf course. There’s Justin Thomas on the rebound. There’s Jordan’s Spieth and his Augusta record to envy.

That just scratches the surface of potential plots, but history reveals the champion will be a “name” player. For evidence, look at the list of champions: Nicklaus 6, Woods 5, Palmer 4, and Snead, Demaret, Player, Faldo and Mickelson all with 3.

Danny Willett, in 2016, is the only surprise on the recent list of champions, and golf historians remind that he came to Augusta that year sizzling on the European Tour and ranked 12th in the world.

Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee, in a pre-Masters teleconference, emphasized that by noting, “You can say there’s a fine line between the best and the rest, but it’s not so fine a line at Augusta National.”

Nevertheless, the theater is always grand. Every time you think they have created the ultimate in golf thrills, they provide another Oscar-winning act. Moments to remember roll on.

Golf aficionados will debate endlessly on which of the game’s greatest players produced the better final act: Nicklaus in 1986 or Woods in 2019. What about Ben Hogan’s something-to-remember-me-by 66 in the third round in 1967? Which victory tugged harder at heart strings: Ben Crenshaw’s 1995 triumph the week after the death of his mentor? Or Jose Maria Olazabal’s 1999 win after medical issues threatened his golf career?

Nicklaus provided so many moments to remember, ranging from his first title at age 23 to his sixth at 46. He left “Bear Tracks” on the 16th green in 1975 and, in 1998 at age 58, had a place among the leaders with nine holes to play.

There’s Tiger in 1997, Mickelson’s shot from the trees on No. 13, Larry Mize’s chip-in ... on and on. What will the golfers produce these four days in April?

Specifics must wait, but count on moments to remember. Those are always a by-product of the game’s best tackling one of golf’s most treasured courses.

And that’s how it should be. This is the Masters, golf’s Shangri-La.

Masters TV, stream schedule

• Wednesday: Par 3 contest, noon, ESPN Plus; 2 p.m., ESPN
• Thursday: Round one, 3-7 p.m., ESPN
• Friday: Round two, 3-7 p.m., ESPN
• Saturday: Round three, noon to 2 p.m., Paramount Plus; 2-7 p.m., CBS
• Sunday: Round four, noon to 2 p.m., Paramount Plus; 2-7 p.m., CBS

This story was originally published April 4, 2025 at 9:44 AM with the headline "First look at potential plots for this year’s Masters golf tournament in Augusta."