The 89th iteration of the Masters, one of sport’s most iconic events, begins this week in Augusta, Ga. A field of 95 golfers will tee off at Augusta National on Thursday to begin their hunt for a chance to wear the coveted green jacket, which is given to the tournament champion every year.
Only one Canadian has donned the jacket: Mike Weir, who won the 2003 Masters in a playoff. Because winning the tournament also comes with a lifetime invitation, Weir will be in the field on Thursday, along with three other Canadians: Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith and Nick Taylor.
The world’s No. 1 golfer, Scottie Scheffler, is the favourite to win his third Masters, followed by 2022 runner-up Rory McIlroy.
The field will also include golfers from the breakaway LIV Tour, including 2023 champion Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka. Golf’s four major tournaments are some of the only places you’ll see PGA Tour pros and LIV golfers compete in the same event, at least until the two warring tours settle their differences.
● When: April 10–13
● Where: Augusta, Georgia
● How to watch on TV In Canada: On TSN and RDS. (CTV and CBS will carry the third and final round)
● Where to stream in Canada: On TSN+ and RDS (CTV will carry the third and final rounds.)
Players to Watch
Scottie Scheffler
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The world No. 1 is looking to follow up on a historic 2024 season. The seven-year pro won seven official PGA Tour events, including The Players Championship, the Tour Championship, four signature events, and the 2024 Masters. Scheffler won his first green jacket in 2022, and winning this week would put him in the elite category of golfers who have won back-to-back Masters, joining only Jack Nicklaus (1965-66), Nick Faldo (1989-90) and Tiger Woods (2001-02). However, Scheffler has yet to notch a win in 2025.
Rory McIlroy
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McIlroy enters the 2025 Masters not only looking to win his first green jacket, but also to end an 11-year drought in golf’s majors. That’s not to say the four-time major winner has been performing poorly. He is consistently ranked in the top 10 worldwide, currently sitting at No. 2 behind Scheffler, and last month he took home the US$25-million grand prize for winning The Players Championship.
Jon Rahm
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Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
Last year, Jon Rahm was in a bit of an awkward situation as both the 2023 defending Masters champion, but also the top-ranked golfer for the new and controversial LIV Golf League. After signing a US$350-million deal with the Saudi-backed competitor, Rahm said that he noticed “hostile attitudes” from some of his former PGA Tour acquaintances at Augusta, and although tensions between the PGA Tour and LIV have cooled somewhat, Rahm remains the biggest challenge to the PGA’s perceived dominance of the golf world. But the Spaniard has been a solid staple in Masters play, never failing to make the cut and finishing in the top 10 in five of his eight Masters starts.
Bryson DeChambeau
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LIV Golf/The Canadian Press
One of the most polarizing figures in professional golf, DeChambeau became more even divisive when he decided to join LIV Golf in June 2022. Last year, DeChambeau continued to ruffle feathers by claiming that Augusta National was a “par 67″ for him, implying that he could reach all of the par 5s in just two shots. Good to his word, the 19th-ranked golfer had a strong showing, placing sixth in 2024, and will look to continue that success in 2025.
Canadian Faces
Corey Conners
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Mike Mulholland/Getty Images
The 10-year pro from Listowel, Ont., is currently the highest-rated Canadian, currently sitting at 23rd in the PGA world rankings. Conners has performed well in 2025, climbing steadily up the leaderboards thanks in part to four top-10 finishes. Conners has a history of strong showings at the Masters, having notched top-10 finishes in three consecutive years. He is also one of six golfers to have registered a hole-in-one on the sixth hole at Augusta National, leading him to an eighth-place finish in the 2021 tournament.
Nick Taylor
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Nick Taylor has yet to win a major championship, but the veteran from Winnipeg has been a mainstay on the professional circuit for more than 15 years. Taylor has had mixed results in 2025. On the low end, Taylor placed outside the top 20 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Phoenix Open, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and most recently failed to make the cut at The Players Championship and the Houston Open. At his best, Taylor has been excellent. The Canadian finished ninth at the Genesis Open, 11th at the American Express and took home first place at the Sony Open in Hawaii after beating out Nicolas Echavarria in a playoff in January.
Taylor Pendrith
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Taylor Pendrith is making his Masters debut in 2025, but has a steep climb to the top of the golf rankings, currently sitting as the PGA’s 45th-ranked golfer. The 33-year-old native of Richmond Hill has had top-10 finishes at both the Farmers Insurance Open and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am tournament, but has also failed to make the cut in a number of tournaments in 2025. Pendrith notched his first PGA Tour victory last year by winning the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, and was one of three Canadians on captain Mike Weir’s team at Royal Montreal Golf Club, alongside Conners and Mackenzie Hughes.
The Green JacketOpen this photo in gallery:
The green jacket has been presented to Masters winners since 1949.Michael Reaves/Getty Images
A symbol of golfing greatness, the hand-crafted notch lapel, single-breasted, single-vented blazer with custom brass buttons and an embroidered patch on the left breast pocket is a custom-made work of art that takes roughly a month to make by hand.
There are two stories for how the green jacket came to be. One story says that founding Augusta member Bobby Jones attended a dinner at Royal Liverpool in England, and saw that club captains wore matching jackets to denote their position. Another says that fellow founder Clifford Roberts thought it was a clear way to identify club members as a “reliable source of information” to visitors, and to let waiters know who got the cheque at dinner.
After winning the Masters in 1949, Sam Snead became the first Masters winner to be presented with the green jacket, and with it an honorary membership to the storied Augusta National Golf Club. Every year since, the previous year’s champion will participate in the jacket ceremony for the incoming Masters champion.
Green jackets are kept on club grounds, and taking them off premises is expressly forbidden for everyone save for the reigning Masters champion, who can take the jacket home and return it to the club at the next year’s Masters.
Read more: Why the Masters iconic green jacket is the real prize of the tournament
The FoodOpen this photo in gallery:
Sandwiches available at a concession stand by the eighth hole during a practice round prior to the 2025 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 08, 2025.Andrew Redington/Getty Images
If the Masters is “a tradition unlike any other,” then the reputation of the food is also in a class of its own. The concessions at Augusta National Golf Course have become nearly as renowned as the course itself, and the quality and price of the meals are as much a staple as Magnolia Lane or Amen Corner.
Where other venues might charge their patrons an arm and a leg for a cold burger and a lukewarm beer, Augusta National Golf Course prides itself on delivering high-quality concessions for reasonable prices.
“We want the experience to not only be the best but to be affordable. And we take certain things very, very seriously”, said Billy Payne, the Augusta National chairman at the time. “Like the cost of a pimento cheese sandwich is just as important as how high the second cut [of grass] is going to be.”
The iconic pimento cheese sandwich retails for US$1.50 in 2025, the same price as it did when Payne said those words in 2007. A beer or glass of wine goes for US$6; a soft drink just US$2.
The concessions aren’t the only place where food is the main focus of Augusta National. Each year the club hosts the Masters Club Dinner, a five-course meal open to only past Masters winners and the Augusta National chairman himself. The courses are hand picked by the previous year’s winner, and are typically a reflection of their home country’s national fare, and their personal preference. When Weir won in 2003, he served guests elk, wild boar, Arctic char, and of course, good old Canadian beer.
This year, reigning champ Scheffler will offer guests a similar slate to the last time he picked as defending champion in 2023. The first course will be a Texas-style chilli, the main a choice of Texas ribeye or blackened redfish (served with family-style mac and cheese). The night will be finished off with a dessert of warm chocolate chip skillet cookie, served with vanilla bean ice cream.
Augusta National Golf Club and the weatherOpen this photo in gallery:
The 12th hole is shown at “Amen Corner,” where golfers turn the corner on the 11th, 12th and 13th holes, at the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Like Fenway Park, Lambeau Field, or Wembley Stadium, Augusta National Golf Club is one of the world’s iconic sports venues, and the Masters is the only major golf championship that is played on the same course every year.
Known for its pleasant natural beauty and undying character, Augusta has many signature features. Amen Corner is the area between the 11th and 13th holes, and a particularly challenging stretch of the course, which has come to be known as the place where ‘Masters dreams are made and shattered.’
Upon entering the grounds, visitors and competitors alike will drive down Magnolia Lane, with its towering magnolia trees that have stood for more than 170 years, symbolizing the storied history of Augusta.
But the iconic venue looks different this year, after being battered by deadly Hurricane Helene in September. The course lost some of its hallmark pines in the storm, thinning out the terrain and presenting possible new routes to the greens, though players and officials say it will likely play essentially the same as before.
And after rain kept some players off the course earlier this week, the weather in Augusta looks clear for the tournament ahead. Highs between 17 and 22 C are forecast starting Thursday, with a mix of sun and cloud and winds between 11 and 18 kilometres per hour over the weekend.
LIV vs PGAOpen this photo in gallery:
Captain Jon Rahm of Legion XIII hits his shot from the fifth tee during the final round of LIV Golf Miami at Trump National Doral on Sunday, April 06, 2025 in Miami, Florida.LIV Golf/The Canadian Press
When reports first surfaced in 2020 detailing the hopes of a rival golf league with the potential to challenge the PGA’s dominance, the concept was known as the ‘Premier Golf League.’ Experts and casual viewers alike were skeptical that something could come along to challenge the perennial professional golfing juggernaut that was the PGA.
When LIV Golf teed off its first event in May 2022, behind the backing of big names like Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and, shortly after, Phil Mickelson, those hopes became reality.
Nearly three years later LIV Golf has gone through its fair share of ups and downs and legal battles with the PGA, but the Saudi Arabian-backed league is still standing strong. With a roster featuring star-studded talent like Rahm, DeChambeau, Garcia, and Joaquin Niemann, LIV has offered a different perspective on a sport that has long been seen as slow to accept any shaking up of the status quo.
LIV Golf changed the tournament format, featuring 54-hole shotgun start events without a cut line, compared to the PGA Tour’s 72-hole format with staggered starts and a cut line. LIV also incorporates team elements into its league, incorporating team names and logos. The idea was to make the game more viewer friendly, action packed and dynamic, in hopes of capturing a younger audience, but it has been criticized for overly “commercializing” the sport.
After a long ban on LIV golfers competing in PGA events, the PGA of America added LIV to its list of ‘approved tours,’ making LIV golfers eligible for the Ryder Cup and PGA Championship. This came after a merger was announced in June 2023, although negotiations and details surrounding the agreement are still ongoing, and have stalled significantly since the announcement in 2023. Tensions between the two organizations and their golfers are still high, with Rory McIlroy saying last month that the merger doesn’t feel “any closer.”
