It's time for the 86th edition of The Masters. The team at Women & Golf have made five predictions of potential winners. Who are you backing?
All the team at Women & Golf have put forward who they will be backing this week. We don't think you will be surprised by the strong American presence in our 2022 Masters predictions. Who is going to follow in Hideki Matsuyama's footsteps?
Let's start with the 2021 DP World Tour Champion...
Collin Morikawa
We’re sure that Morikawa will be on most 2022 Masters prediction lists after having a pretty phenomenal few years since turning professional. In 2020 he won the PGA Championship on his first attempt and then followed it up with a win at the 2021 Open Championship at Royal St. George’s. He became the only golfer in history to win two majors on his first attempt.
After victory with Team USA and the Ryder Cup, the 25-year-old finished the year off in style by winning his first Rolex Series title and the 2021 DP World Tour Championship. Another first as no American had won the Race to Dubai before.
This will be Morikawa’s third visit to Augusta National where his best finish was 18th last year. We’re certainly expecting an improvement on this and for Morikawa to be in the mix at the top of the leaderboard on Sunday afternoon.
Cameron Smith
Cam Smith comes into The Masters as another firm favourite, some may say that alongside Scottie Scheffler, he’s the hottest golfer on the planet at the moment.
He comes into this week after holding his nerve to capture his biggest win and largest pay cheque of his career to date. He became the fifth Australian to win the PGA Tour's flagship event The Players Championship and took home $3.6m, the largest prize in golf.
The 28-year-old is making his fifth appearance at Augusta National, with a second-place finish in 2020. In fact, he was the first player to shoot in the 60s in all four rounds.
Smith’s confidence is high coming into a Major week, in the Monday press conference he said:
“I feel I can compete against anyone in any given week.”
Scottie Scheffler
The World Number one and three-time PGA Tour winner this year would be a pretty safe bet this week. He may not have a Major to his name but he has form from last year’s Majors is impressive.
Scheffler has finished inside the top 20 in both of his Masters appearances, finishing 18th last year and in 2021 posted top 10s in the U.S. Open (7th), the PGA Championship (8th) and The Open (8th).
The 25-year-old was also part of the victorious USA Ryder Cup team.
In 2022, the American has won the Waste Management Phoenix Open, the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the WGC Match Play. The WGC Match Play win saw Scheffler rise to World Number one after beginning 2022 at 13 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
We’re only just four months into the year and we think there’s plenty more to come from Scheffler this season – a Major has to be on the cards.
Dustin Johnson
The 2020 Masters Champion Dustin Johnson needs very little introduction. His victory in 2020, when the event was held in November due to the global pandemic, broke the previous 72-hole scoring record by two shots when he finished on 20-under-par.
We’ll admit that the defence of his title last year, just five months after winning the coveted green jacket, didn’t quite go to plan when he missed the cut. Plus, the 37-year-old hasn’t won since that Masters victory.
However, it would be foolish of us to discount him and with five top-ten finishes in his last six starts – Johnson has to be one to watch.
Brooks Koepka
Koepka was another player that missed the cut last year but that’s not stopping us from putting him in our predictions.
The four-time Major champion thrives on the biggest occasions. Although he didn’t make the cut at Augusta National he finished in the top 10 at the other three Majors last year. Second at the PGA Championship, fourth at the U.S. Open and sixth at The Open.
The 31-year-old has been struggling with injuries, most recently to his left wrist. He comes into this week after a 5th place finish at the WGC Match Play and 12th at the Valspar Championship the week before.
Our American heavy predictions give an indication of the dominance of the U.S. players on the men’s tours at this point in time. Could a European or Asian player win? Of course, anything is possible at The Masters, as last year’s winner Hideki Matsuyama showed.
All about Tiger
And what of Tiger Woods? Everything looks to be pointing to him teeing it up on Thursday morning, after a successful practice round on Monday which, unsurprisingly, had the largest number of Patrons following.
At the moment there seems to be more talk about his shoes. For those that don't know he's wearing FootJoys. As for the green jacket - we're not so sure... he couldn't make the greatest of all comebacks for a second time could he?! Watch this space.
In the UK - watch live coverage of The Masters on Sky Sports Golf from 2pm (BST) on Thursday and highlights from day one on the BBC 12:15am (BST) Friday.
Follow 2022 Masters live scoring here.
