Our eclectic stable of experts this year sports a halfback for the Sydney Roosters, a two-time winner on the Korn Ferry Tour, and the usual coterie of golf media figures, including one who's tipped a former champion to win, to surprise, and to go home in disgrace.
Mark Hayes – Golf Media Figure
BANKER: Obviously it's hard to line up form, but I think you can rule out plenty at the top of the market this year. Not Collin Morikawa. The Open and PGA champion has played limited golf in 2025, but seems to be at the pointy end whenever he does. Has three consecutive top-10 finishes at The Masters and a win here will put him within one of the career Slam.
SURPRISE PACKET: Sahith Theegala had a top-10 finish on Augusta debut and has the prototypical Masters game to contend again - plus I just have a feeling Jim Nantz will have some cool background stories to tell...
TELL HIM HE’S DREAMING: A LOT of players who could fit this billing this week, but none will give me more pleasure than to write Patrick Cantlay. He'll probably look good for a while, won't smile even if he skims one up off the water in front of 15 or 16 - or both! But he'll eventually cool to the point you won't know if he's frozen or just playing so slowly he just looks that way.
Chad Townsend – Sydney Roosters, @PlayersGolfClub
BANKER: It’s time. It's Rory time. Finally, at his 17th attempt, it’s now time for Rory McIlroy to wear the green jacket. The Northern Irishman has seven top-10 finishes at The Masters and is in good form having won this season in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Players. It is time.
SURPRISE PACKET: Long-hitting Aussie, Min Woo Lee, is coming off his first PGA Tour victory at the Houston Open and with confidence growing after holding off a fast finishing Scottie Scheffler don’t be surprised if you see The Chef cooking near the top of the leaderboard come Sunday.
TELL HIM HE'S DREAMING: Jon Rahm has not had the results he would have liked since joining LIV and I really think this has affected his golf and his appeal in the golfing world. Although his results have been okay on the LIV tour - he's running third behind Joaquin Niemann and Sergio Garcia after five events - he finished poorly at The Masters last year with T45 and would go on to a mixed bag of results for the other two starts he had at majors, missing the cut at the PGA and tying for 7th at The Open.
Matt Cleary – Golf Australia Senior Writer
BANKER: I wrote a big feature in the April issue about why he was going to win, the editor splashed him in the cover with the line "McIlroy's Masters", and we've since spruicked him on a thousand different mediums this week, most recently on the Joel & Fletch Show on SEN, so! I have to remain staunch and, with head, heart and professional integrity in tip Rory McIlroy. Nobody in better form. Nobody in a better head-space. Nobody more capable of upsetting Scottie Scheffler's apple cart, though it would help if the mad bastard gets arrested again.
SURPRISE PACKET: There's a couple of cracking roughies in the Masters field, as there always is (hello, Russell Henley, winner this year on Tour, fourth in the Masters of 2023). But if you can find a better 80-1 shot than Sepp Straka in your metropolitan or country gallops, harness or dog meetings this weekend, gamble responsibly there upon, and let us in on the tip. Why am I struck by Straka? In this year's Fed-Ex Cup standings the big Austrian is second on the order of merit, second in grees in regulation, and third for strokes-gained approach, pin-proximity and eating up par-5s like so many delicious weiner schnitzels.
TELL HIM HE'S DREAMING: Going to be a touch controversial, even un-Australian, here, and hopefully reverse kiss him to death, or something. But! Cameron Smith has been only middling on the 54-hole LIV Golf circuit and he'll have 72 holes to play here against the very best in the world. And I opined last year that Xander Schauffele was dreaming before he won the Open Championship at Royal Troon, so Smithy? Thank me later.
Mike Clayton – Mike Clayton
BANKER: Rory Mcilroy. An absolute certainty this year!
SURPRISE PACKET: Corey Conners. Perfect timing for a Canadian to stick it to a Republican stronghold.
TELL HIM HE'S DREAMING: Bryson DeChambeau is still paying for his “Augusta is par 67 for me” comment. Never tempt fate.
Jimmy Emanuel – Contributor-at-Large, Host of Playing From The Tips podcast
BANKER: Sure he loses that bounce in his step normally when he gets out of the courtesy car at the end of Magnolia Lane during tournament week, but if there was ever a year Rory McIlroy was going to win, it is this year. Form, preparation, all of it … ready to be shamefully proven wrong, though.
SURPRISE PACKET: Would be easy to go with one of the past champions, especially those from the LIV contingent, who are long odds. But let’s offer some interest. Michael Kim has become an internet favourite, and he can seriously play. Took his time converting amateur play to the pros but is now consistent as you like, clearly loves golf and has been to Augusta National once before so won’t be completely overawed.
TELL HIM HE’S DREAMING: Again, the chance here to take one of the easier outs, yet like Min Woo Lee, we are here to entertain! Matt Fitzpatrick has been one of the most consistent Augusta specialists in recent years, however, his form has been non-existent of late and the split with legendary caddie Billy Foster will show here more than anywhere.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO PLAYING FROM THE TIPS.
Ewan Porter - Tournament Director, Next Gen Amateur Tour
BANKER: Rory McIlroy tees it up at Augusta every year under the same cloud of attempting to complete the grand slam. Capitulated in 2011 when leading, holed a bunker shot on the 72nd in 2022 to shoot 64 and finish 2nd. But his form has never been better entering the first major of the year. A pair of wins already in 2025 at Pebble Beach and The Players, coupled with his quote earlier this year about trying to be a little more Scheffler-like in plotting his way around golf courses, will be key for him to earn his first green jacket.
SURPRISE PACKET: Can you call a former Masters champion a surprise packet? No major Top-10s in eight years, 15 missed cuts in majors since 2018 and MC in five of his previous six Masters starts does not make for impressive reading. And yet, in 2025, Sergio Garcia is primed to add a second green jacket. As enthusiastic about his golf as he’s ever been, Sergio was a winner at LIV Hong Kong and the leader in driving accuracy on LIV Golf. And it may surprise many (not yours truly) to see him contend down the stretch this year.
TELL HIM HE’S DREAMING: Brian Campbell won this year’s Mexico Open and you can’t deny the fact this was a genuine Cinderella story. He had never even registered a Top-10 on the PGA Tour prior to winning, with the majority of the past couple of years spent on the Korn Ferry Tour. He's only ever played in three major championships (all U.S Opens) and has less clubhead / ball speed than Adrian Logue with a persimmon. I love the Brian Campbell story thus far, but he will be back home by the weekend of The Masters.
John Huggan – Columnist-at-Large
BANKER: Experience counts for a lot at Augusta National. And this is Angel Cabrera’s 21st start in the Masters “Toonamint.” So the 55-year old Argentinian knows his way round. Winner in 2009, he also endeared himself to the Australian nation when he lost a play-off to Adam Scott four years later. There’s that experience thing again. This is a man who knows how to win - and lose - at the highest level.
SURPRISE PACKET: Not many 55-year olds have the game to do well at Augusta National. Length off the tee is normally a problem at that age. So is lack of a young man’s nerve on the super-slick greens. But there’s a first time for everything, which makes Angel Cabrera an intriguing outside bet. He’s long enough. And there is no evidence that his stroke has gone.
TELL HIM HE’S DREAMING: This is a man who is lucky to be in the country, never mind the Masters. Convicted of some pretty despicable crimes against more than one of the females in his life, Angel Cabrera is clearly not one of golf’s more pleasant characters. Still, returning to the Masters for the first time since his spell in an Argentinian pokey, the 55-year old will surely be motivated with maintaining a low profile more than winning a second green jacket.
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