Majors Value Meter: Masters Rankings

Majors Value Meter: Masters Rankings

This article is part of our Major Power Rankings series.

Below are RotoWire's rankings for the 2022 Masters. 

This list is an asset for any format, from office pools to sportsbooks to fantasy golf and all offshoots.

The 86th Masters had a field of 90 as of the weekend, including Tiger Woods, who is listed in the rankings below but has yet to formally announce his intentions.

The field includes six amateurs and seven legacy champions -- long-ago Masters champions who don't play on the PGA Tour anymore. There's a chance someone like Bernhard Langer will make the cut, but the number will be small and, come Sunday, their effect on the tournament will likely be non-existent. That leaves 77 others, with the top 50 and ties making the cut. The 10-shot rule is no more, but still, about two out of every three golfers in that group will make the cut.
 
Augusta National is a par-72 that has been lengthened to a scorecard yardage of 7,510 yards. The tee at the par-4 11th has been moved back 15 yards, making the hole play 520 yards, and the tee at the par-5 15th has been moved back 20 yards, making it 550.

The forecast calls for thunderstorms on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with the wind speeds kicking up into the mid-teens. A warm Thursday in the mid-70s will be followed by temperatures hard-pressed to reach the 70s again. So, the weather could be a factor, and there could be an advantage to certain tee times, which remain as

Below are RotoWire's rankings for the 2022 Masters. 

This list is an asset for any format, from office pools to sportsbooks to fantasy golf and all offshoots.

The 86th Masters had a field of 90 as of the weekend, including Tiger Woods, who is listed in the rankings below but has yet to formally announce his intentions.

The field includes six amateurs and seven legacy champions -- long-ago Masters champions who don't play on the PGA Tour anymore. There's a chance someone like Bernhard Langer will make the cut, but the number will be small and, come Sunday, their effect on the tournament will likely be non-existent. That leaves 77 others, with the top 50 and ties making the cut. The 10-shot rule is no more, but still, about two out of every three golfers in that group will make the cut.
 
Augusta National is a par-72 that has been lengthened to a scorecard yardage of 7,510 yards. The tee at the par-4 11th has been moved back 15 yards, making the hole play 520 yards, and the tee at the par-5 15th has been moved back 20 yards, making it 550.

The forecast calls for thunderstorms on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with the wind speeds kicking up into the mid-teens. A warm Thursday in the mid-70s will be followed by temperatures hard-pressed to reach the 70s again. So, the weather could be a factor, and there could be an advantage to certain tee times, which remain as of press time.

These rankings were determined before the completion of the Valero Texas Open, which took place the week before the Masters and included 22 golfers already qualified for Augusta. The Texas Open winner, if not already in the Masters field, will get the final berth. We will account for any field changes or news in the comments section at the bottom.

The list below will be broken down into seven categories:

  • Favorites
  • Contenders
  • Making the Cut
  • Borderline
  • Long Shots
  • Legacy Champions
  • Amateurs

And away we go...

FAVORITES

1) Jon Rahm
Rahm has finished top-10 at the Masters four years running, and this year he arrives for the first time as a major champion, having won the U.S. Open last June. He was fifth last year, seventh the year before, ninth in 2020 and a personal-best fourth in 2019. He debuted in 2018 with a tie for 27th, so he's never missed a cut in five Masters appearances. Rahm does not enter in the best form -- the U.S. Open was his most recent title -- and in fact he ceded the No. 1 ranking to Scottie Scheffler just two weeks ago. 

2) Cameron Smith
Smith has been in five Masters and has finished in the top-10 three times. Two of those were top-5s, including a runner-up in 2020. He was 10th last year. The 28-year-old Aussie has really elevated his game in the past 12 months, and he is now ranked No. 6 in the world on the heels of the biggest win of his career at THE PLAYERS Championship last month. He also won the Tournament of Champions to kick off 2022.

3) Scottie Scheffler
Yeah, we know what you're thinking. Why is Scheffler this low? What Scheffler did over the past two months is jaw-dropping. He went from never having won a PGA Tour title to winning three times and ascending to the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking. He won in Phoenix, at Bay Hill and finally took home the title at the Match Play event all in six weeks. Scheffler has played in two Masters, finishing T19 in 2020 and T18 last year. But don't let that dissuade you. He's a far better golfer now. Scheffler also finished top-8 in the other three majors in 2021.

4) Jordan Spieth
This will be the ninth career Masters start for the 2015 champion. He also has two runners-up and two thirds, one of them coming last year. Now 28, Spieth has never missed a cut and is always a threat at Augusta, even though he doesn't arrive in the best form, with only one top-20 so far in 2022, the Texas Open results nonwithstanding.

5) Brooks Koepka
The two-time U.S. Open and PGA Championship winner came close to adding a fifth major title at the 2019 Masters, when he finished co-runner-up behind Tiger. Koepka finished seventh the following year before missing the cut for the first time in six career Masters in 2021. He went on to finish runner-up at the PGA, fourth at the U.S. Open and sixth at the Open Championship last year, once again fueling the narrative that he pays more attention at the majors. Despite all those close calls, Koepka has fallen way out of the top 10 in the rankings, with not even one win over the past 14 months.

6) Justin Thomas
Thomas has never missed a cut in six Masters, though he has only one top-10 – a tie for fourth in the 2020 tournament in November. But he does have five straight top-25s, including a tie for 21st last year. Thomas has done everything but win so far in 2022, with four top-8s, and he remains winless since the 2021 PLAYERS Championship 13 months ago.

7) Rory McIlroy
A Masters win is all that stands in the way of a career grand slam for the four-time major winner. McIlroy has finished in the top-10 six times in 13 starts, three of them top-5s. But something always seems to go wrong. He missed the cut last year for only the second time and first in 11 years. He has won twice since last April, at the Wells Fargo and CJ Cup. McIlroy was playing at the Valero Texas Open, the first time in eight years he was playing the week before the Masters, but he missed the cut.

8) Dustin Johnson
A few weeks ago, Johnson might not have been in the Favorites category despite an exemplary record at Augusta through the years. By far the oldest in this top category at age 37, DJ won in 2020, was runner-up to Tiger Woods the year before and has five top-10s through the years. He's missed the cut only twice in 11 tries, but one of them was last year. Johnson remains winless on Tour since that 2020 Masters and briefly fell from the top-10 in the rankings for the first time in seven years, but he had a backdoor top-10 at THE PLAYERS and reached the semifinals at the Match Play to climb back in.

9) Xander Schauffele
In four career Masters, Schauffele has finished second in 2019 and third last year. He was challenging Hideki Matsuyama a year ago until agonizingly finding the water on 16 on Sunday. He also finished 17th in 2020. It's now been more than three years since he last won any tournament, not including the Olympics last summer. Also of note, Schauffele has fallen to 10th in the world with only one top-10 finish in eight starts so far in 2022.

10) Collin Morikawa
Morikawa has won two majors, one each in 2020 and 2021, but his best in two Masters was a tie for 18th last year (same as Scottie Scheffler). He also tied for 44th in his debut in 2020. He has played only five PGA Tour events in the first three months of the year, plus two on DP World Tour. Morikawa's results have been mixed, with a runner-up at Riviera in February but followed by a missed cut at THE PLAYERS and a tie for 68th at the Valspar.

CONTENDERS

11) Viktor Hovland
It's virtually unfathomable that a golfer ranked in the top-5 in the world can be ranked dead last on Tour in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green. But Hovland is, at 210th. That tells you how incredible the rest of his game is to still be ranked No. 4 in the OWGR. But wedge play is paramount to success at Augusta, which is why Hovland is not in the Favorites category. Only 24, this will be his third Masters. He tied for 32nd as an amateur in 2019 and for 21st a year ago. He won three times worldwide bridging the end of 2021 and start of 2022, then had a pair of top-5s at Riviera and Bay Hill.

12) Patrick Cantlay
It's easy to forget in the aftermath of Tiger Woods' historic Masters win in 2019 that Cantlay was actually leading the tournament with three holes to go, after an eagle on 15. But with bogeys on 16 and 17 he tumbled to ninth place. That's his best showing in five trips, including a missed cut last year. Cantlay has not had a top-10 in his past nine majors. He finished in the top-10 in his first four starts of 2022 but outside the top-25 in his past three.

13) Will Zalatoris
Zalatoris has yet to win on the PGA Tour but he came pretty close here last year, finishing second in his first start at Augusta. The now 25-year-old was the only player to break par in all four rounds. Not even winner Hideki Matsuyama did it. Zalatoris went on to finish eighth at the next major, the PGA Championship, after a sixth-place showing at the 2020 U.S. Open. For all his close calls, including a recent runner-up at Torrey Pines and a top-5 at the Match Play, Zalatoris has never been ranked higher than 27th in the world.

14) Sam Burns
It's hard to believe that a three-time winner on the PGA Tour and someone who has been ranked in the top-10 in the world has never played in the Masters before. But the 25-year-old Burns, now ranked 11th, is set for his Augusta debut. His three victories on Tour have all come since last April's Masters, including his last start at the Valspar. Burns has been in six majors and made only three cuts with no top-25s.

15) Daniel Berger
Berger is back for his fifth Masters, having made his first three cuts before missing last April. His best was a T10 in his 2016 debut. That's one of only four career top-10s in majors, though two of them came last year at the two Opens. Berger had top-5s at the Tournament of Champions and Honda earlier this year before a tie for 13th at THE PLAYERS.

16) Shane Lowry
The Irishman has not won anywhere in the world since his remarkable triumph at the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush. He has finished in the top-25 at the past two Masters, then tied for fourth at last year's PGA and 12th in defense of his Open Championship. The 35-year-old Lowry had a great Florida Swing, with a runner-up at the Honda followed by top-15s at The PLAYERS and Valspar.

17) Corey Conners
The 30-year-old Conners coming off back-to-back top-10s at Augusta, including last year's tie for eighth. He also finished in the top-20 at last year's PGA and Open Championship. Just two weeks ago, Conners made a strong run through the Match Play tournament and wound up third, his first top-10 in what had been a disappointing start to 2022. He was playing in the Valero Texas Open, meaning he's played a lot of golf in the two weeks prior to the Masters.

18) Justin Rose
This will be the 41-year-old's 16th Masters. He's come very close to winning, finishing second in 2015 and again in 2017, when he lost in a playoff to Sergio Garcia. Rose wound up seventh last year after leading for a good chunk of the tournament, one of his six career top-10s at Augusta. He then was eighth at the PGA a month later. Rose has fallen outside the top-50 in the world with only one top-25 in 2022.

19) Louis Oosthuizen
It was quite a year in the majors for Oosthuizen in 2021. After tying for 26th at the Masters, he went 2nd-2nd-3rd at the next three. The 39-year-old South African has had great success in all the majors through the years, winning the Open Championship in 2010, but he's had perhaps his least success at Augusta. His runner-up to Bubba Watson remains his lone top-10, though he has made eight straight cuts. Oosthuizen has played five times on Tour so far in 2022 without a top-10; his best was a T14 in his first start at Phoenix.

20) Russell Henley
Henley was among the last handful of qualifiers who got in thanks to being ranked in the top-50 in the world last week. This will be the former Georgia Bulldog's sixth Masters, and he's done quite well with top-25s in his past three starts, with a best of T11 in 2017. Henley has not played Augusta since 2018, though. He has had a great start to 2022, finishing runner-up at the Sony Open and then notching three more top-15s, including Bay Hill and THE PLAYERS.

21) Tyrrell Hatton
Hatton has had a confounding history in the majors, with five top-10s but also 13 missed cuts in 26 starts. This will be his fifth Masters, and he had done next to nothing before last year's tie for 18th. The Englishman rides four straight top-25s into Augusta, highlighted by a runner-up at Bay Hill.

22) Adam Scott
This will be the 21st Masters for the 2013 champion and 2011 runner-up. He's made the cut in all but two of them, including 12 straight, though he has only one top-10 and another top-20 in the past seven years. Now 41, Scott has four worldwide top-10s this year, including a T4 at Riviera. But he hasn't had a top-10 in a major since 2019.

23) Tony Finau
Finau has been in four Masters and finished in the top-10 three times, including last year's tie for 10th. He's been stellar in all the majors, with top-10s in almost half of 22 career starts and top-25s in 13 of them. But since ending his long winless drought at the Northern Trust playoff event last summer, he has yet to notch a top-10 in 13 starts (not including the Hero World Challenge) entering the Valero Texas Open.

24) Patrick Reed
The 2018 Masters winner has finished in the top-10 the past two years, and he's always a threat. But after top-20s at last year's PGA and U.S. Open, Reed's game has slipped precipitously. He has one top-10 in 23 starts since that Open, has missed three of five cuts with no top-25s in 2022 and has fallen outside the top-30 in the world.

25) Matt Fitzpatrick
The 27-year-old Englishman has already played in seven Masters, making six cuts, though he's never come close to repeating his tie for seventh in 2016. It remains Fitzpatrick's one top-10 in 26 career majors and he has only six top-25s. Last year, he tied for 46th at Augusta. Fitzpatrick is off to terrific start in 2022, with four top-10s plus a top-20 at the Match Play, where he took eventual winner Scottie Scheffler to a sixth playoff hole before falling in group play.

MAKING THE CUT

26) Bryson DeChambeau
The good news is, DeChambeau has been in five Masters and made every cut. The downside is, he's never had a top-20. He tied for 46th last year, shooting three rounds of 75 or worse. Recently, he returned from a two-month absence caused hip and hand injuries to tee it up at the Match Play. He looked healthy but also rusty. As such, DeChambeau was getting more reps at the Valero Texas Open, but he missed the cut.

27) Sungjae Im
This will be the third Masters for the 24-year-old, who finished runner-up in his 2020 debut. He missed the cut last year, and he's missed the cut in five of his 10 career majors. Im won the Shriners during the Fall Swing for his second PGA Tour title. So far in 2022, he has two top-10s and two top-20s but hasn't really contended.

28) Marc Leishman
Leishman has been all over the map in nine career Masters, twice finishing in the top-5, adding another top-10 and a top-15 but also missing three cuts. Last year, he tied for fifth. After a strong start to this season in the fall, Leishman has tailed off, with only one top-10 in eight starts – a T10 at the limited-field Tournament of Champions in early January. He's dropped into the 40s in the OWGR.

29) Abraham Ancer
The 31-year-old is back for his third consecutive Masters, now as a PGA Tour winner, having captured the WGC-FedEx last summer. Ancer tied for 13th in his 2020 debut and for 26th last year. He also was eighth at last year's PGA Championship. He has struggled in stroke-play tournaments in 2022, with not so much as a single top-25. Ancer was scheduled to play in the Valero Texas Open before withdrawing very late on the eve the tournament. No reason was disclosed.

30) Webb Simpson
Simpson's best three Masters have been his last three – T5, T10 and T12 a year ago. Otherwise, his game has been slipping over the past year, in part because of injury. He's made only four starts so far in 2022 and has yet to crack the top-30. A tough guy to get a read on.

31) Paul Casey
The 44-year-old is set for his 16th Masters – as of now. Casey had to concede all three of his matches at the WGC-Match Play two weeks ago because of a bad back. He has had a great track record at Augusta, with five top-10s and three more top-25s. He just missed another last year with a tie for 26th. Casey finished third at THE PLAYERS and is still ranked in the top-25, but his injury status is a great unknown. If he were healthy, he'd be ranked higher.

32) Si Woo Kim
Only 26 years old, this will be Kim's 20th career major. He's made only eight total cuts. But he's made four of five at the Masters, including three top-25s, with his tie for 12th last year resulting in a return invite for this year. Kim had twin T11s in January at The American Express and Farmers Insurance Open, but had been pretty quiet since then before playing in the Valero Texas Open.

33) Joaquin Niemann
Niemann debuted at Augusta in 2018 as a 19-year-old amateur and missed the cut. He was back last year and tied for 40th. Still only 23, he already has made 11 major starts but has yet to crack the top-20 in any of them. The Chilean recently won at Riviera with a dominating performance, offering hope this major will be different from the others.

34) Robert MacIntyre
MacIntyre made quite a splash as a Masters rookie last year, tying for 12th to immediately get invited back for this year. The 25-year-old Scotsman has also finished in the top-10 twice at the Open Championship, in 2018 and 2020. He's been trying desperately to secure his PGA Tour card but so far has had little success. MacIntyre tied for 15th at Riviera in one of only two PGA Tour starts in 2022 before teeing it up at the Valero Texas Open.

35) Max Homa
For all the success that Homa has had with three PGA Tour wins, he's been dreadful in the majors. He's missed the cut in seven of his nine starts, including both Masters, and hasn't so much as cracked the top-25. Homa has had a very good but not great start to 2022, with five top-20s, though only one was a top-10 – a T10 at Riviera. It's a little surprising he's never been ranked higher than 31st in the world.

36) Billy Horschel
Horschel is playing perhaps the best golf of his career at age 35 – he's ranked 13th in the world. But in seven prior Masters, he's done astoundingly little, finishing inside the top-35 only once (T17 in 2016) with two missed cuts. After a T11 at the Farmers, T6 at Phoenix and runner-up at Bay Hill, will this year be different for Horschel?

37) Tommy Fleetwood
Fleetwood was speeding downward in the world rankings, almost out of the top-50, before a strong Florida Swing with three top-25s halted the slide. He's never been great at the Masters, notching a pair of top-20s in five starts but finishing 46th last year.

38) Kevin Kisner
If only the Masters were match play. Now 38, Kisner has only one top-25 in six career Masters and missed the cut in the past two. He's had only six top-25s in 27 career majors. Kisner does the bulk of his work at his favored tracks, one of them Austin Country Club, where he finished runner-up to Scottie Scheffler at the Match Play a couple of weeks back.

39) Christiaan Bezuidenhout
The 27-year-old South African appeared to be a rising star but his upward trajectory has slowed. Bezuidenhout is now in the 60s in the world rankings. He does have four top-25s in nine starts in 2022 with only one missed cut, but a T14 at Pebble Beach has been his best. This will be Bezuidenhout's ninth major. He's never had so much as a top-25, with T38 and T40 the past two years at the Masters.

40) Brian Harman
The 35-year-old Harman played in only his third career Masters last year, and by tying for 12th, it guaranteed him another appearance. The other two starts came in 2015 (MC) and 2018 (T44). His lone top-10 in a major came in 2017 when he was co-runner-up at the U.S. Open won by Koepka. Harman has a pair of top-5s in 2022, at The American Express and more recently at the Valspar Championship.

41) Talor Gooch
Gooch will be making his Masters debut, courtesy of winning the RSM Classic during the Fall Swing. But the 30-year-old also is firmly entrenched in the top-50 in the world rankings. This will be his fifth major and he's made three cuts, including both the PGA and Open Championship last year. Gooch recently tied for seventh at Bay Hill and also had a top-20 at the Farmers.

42) Bubba Watson
The two-time champion in 2012 and 2014 is now 43 years old and set for his 14th Masters. He's missed only one cut. He's finished 57th and 26th the past two years but has had some good results in 2022, as runner-up in Saudi Arabia and tying for 14th at Phoenix.

43) Luke List
The Augusta resident's first Masters came way back in 2005 when he was the low amateur and now this, at age 37, will be his second. List won at Torrey Pines in January to qualify. He's been in 13 career majors, seven of them in the past three years, with a best of T6 at the 2019 PGA. That's one of only three major cuts he's made. He was playing in the Valero Texas Open.

44) Kevin Na
This will be Na's 11th Masters. He finished 12th last year to earn a berth this year – the third time he's finished 12th. That's his best showing, and he also has a T13. But curiously, nothing else inside the top-45, so there's some real feast or famine going on here. Na has finished in the top-10 in only two of 41 career majors. He'd done very little in 2022 before tying for ninth at the Match Play.

45) Erik van Rooyen
This will be the 32-year-old South African's second Masters. He qualified in 2020 but had to withdraw after the first round with an injury. Van Rooyen won the Barracuda Championship last year, but it was a berth in the Tour Championship that qualified him for Augusta. This will be his 11th career major, and he has top-25s in the other three. Van Rooyen recently tied for 13th at THE PLAYERS.

46) Stewart Cink
The 48-year-old Cink will be making his 20th Masters start. He's coming off a fantastic tie for 12th last year, which ensured a return trip this year. But for good measure, he won the RBC Heritage the week after Augusta. His best Masters finish was a tie for third in 2008. Cink's most recent start was an impressive tie for seventh at the Valspar.

47) Jason Kokrak
Kokrak is 36 years old but has played in only two Masters, missing the cut in 2020 and tying for 49th last year. He's a little hard to gauge on anything pre-2020, when he suddenly learned how to putt. He's won twice more since then, including Colonial and Houston in the past year. Kokrak has only one worldwide top-20 in eight starts since winning at Houston.

48) Francesco Molinari
Now 39, Molinari will always rue the lost opportunity in 2019, when as the 54-hole leader he found the water twice on the back nine on Sunday, opening the door for Woods. He wound up tied for fifth. Molinari missed the cut in 2020 and tied for 52nd last year. His game has fallen far since 2019, but he'll play in his 11th Masters thanks to winning the 2018 Open Championship. He's made five of six cuts in 2022, with a best of T6 at The American Express.

49) Seamus Power
Power is making his first major start at age 35. His career took off soon after last year's Masters, as he started compiling a series great results – ninth at the Byron Nelson, eighth at the Rocket Mortgage, winning the Barbasol, fourth at the RSM, third at the Sony, ninth at Pebble Beach and now T5 at the Match Play. It all added up to Power zooming into the top-50 in the world at No. 41.

50) Tiger Woods
Well, well, well, look who's here in the final "Making the Cut" slot. Look, we don't know whether Woods will even play. As of the weekend it looked that way when you read the tea leaves. Woods showed up at Augusta last week and reportedly played all 18 holes Tuesday. He has not competed in a real tournament since the November 2020 Masters. Three months later, he was recovering from yet another back surgery when he was critically injured in a single-car accident, and there was significant damage to his right leg and foot. Not only has Woods not competed in 17 months, Augusta is perhaps the toughest course to walk that the pros play. If the 46-year-old Woods does tee it up, it will be his 24th Masters. He has won five of them, most recently in 2019, and missed only one cut, way back in 1996. In that 2020 Masters, he tied for 38th. While this position for Woods in our rankings is somewhat symbolic, if anyone can return to action after a year and half away from the game and make the cut, it is Woods, in this tournament and at this course. Accomplishing such a feat would in some ways be even more remarkable than winning his 15th major in 2019 almost 11 years after winning his 14th. Will the legend of Tiger grow even more this week? Get your popcorn ready.

BORDERLINE

51) Hideki Matsuyama
Another great unknown, necessitating  a cautious approach pending more information. Matsuyama pulled off a historic victory last year by becoming the first Asian-born man to win a golf major. But his title defense was in jeopardy after he withdrew from the Valero Texas Open on Friday citing a neck injury that also forced him to miss THE PLAYERS Championship and the WGC-Match Play. His Masters victory really came out of nowhere, as he had not been playing especially well at Augusta the previous few years or really anywhere else, either. That was his 10th Masters and, while he had two priors top-10s, they came in 2015-16. But Matsuyama continued his hot play the rest of the year, winning the ZOZO Championship and then the Sony Open in January. Without the neck injury, he would've been listed in the Favorites category.

52) Sergio Garcia
You'd think the 2017 Masters champion would be more of a sure thing to make the cut, but Garcia is zero for three since winning (and he missed the 2020 tournament after testing positive for COVID-19). In fact, he's made only 14 cuts in 22 Masters starts. Now 42, Garcia is still ranked in the top-50 in the world, though with no top-25s in four starts on Tour in 2022 he'll likely soon fall back out.

53) Charl Schwartzel
This will be the 13th Masters for Schwartzel after he won in his second try back in 2011. He was also third in 2017. He then missed two straight cuts before rebounding with a tie for 25th two years ago and a tie for 26th last year, when he notably had three eagles on the week and two on Sunday to climb the leaderboard. So basically, Schwartzel is all over the place at Augusta, a difficult guy to gauge. What we know for certain is that he has missed all six of his cuts in 2022 and is ranked 171st in the world.

54) Mackenzie Hughes
After a missed cut in his Masters debut in 2017, the Canadian tied for 40th last year. He then was T15 at the U.S. Open and T6 at the Open Championship. That all helped Hughes finish top-50 in the OWGR at year's end to qualify for this year's Masters. And that British result will get him into this year's historic 150th Open at St. Andrews. Hughes has struggled so far in 2022, with four missed cuts in seven starts.

55) Thomas Pieters
The Belgian is having a second act in his career at age 30. He won twice on the DP World Tour in November and January to zoom into the top-50 in the world rankings and qualify for his third Masters. Pieters finished T4 in 2017 and missed the cut in 2018. He has played in only two majors the past wo years, a top-25 at the 2020 U.S. Open and a missed cut at last year's PGA. Pieters has made four PGA tour starts in 2022 with two missed cuts and no top-25s.

56) Gary Woodland
This will be the 37-year-old Woodland's 10th Masters, and it's been his worst major. He's made only five of nine cuts with one top-25, and that was in his debut 11 years ago. With his game struggling until very recently, the only way Woodland qualified for this Masters was as the 2019 U.S. Open champion. He played well during the Florida Swing and looked to keep it going at the Valero Texas Open.

57) Harold Varner III
This will be the first career Masters for the 31-year-old Varner, who used a win at the Saudi International in February to crack the top-50 in the world rankings. He's played in eight previous majors, making four cuts but without a top-25. Varner was in the final group alongside Koepka on Sunday at the 2019 PGA, but he ballooned to an 81 to plummet to 36th place. He recently tied for sixth at THE PLAYERS.

58) Tom Hoge
One of the numerous Masters rookies, thanks to his win at Pebble Beach earlier this year, this nonetheless will be Hoge's eighth major. He made his past four cuts, including last year's U.S. Open and PGA. He's made four of five cuts since Pebble, including a tie for 14th at Phoenix.

59) Cameron Champ
Champ has fared great in his first two Masters – T19 and T26 the past two years – but has really struggled since winning the 3M Open last July. Then again, he was struggling entering last year's Masters and nearly crafted a top-25. Champ is quite an enigma, with three Tour wins since 2018 but only four other top-10s. He missed the cut at the Valero Texas Open.

60) Padraig Harrington
This will be one of the feel-good stories of this Masters, as the 50-year-old is back after a seven-year absence. Harrington qualified by finishing an out-of-nowhere fourth at last year's PGA Championship won by Phil Mickelson. He has four top-10s at Augusta through the years. This will be his 78th career major, and of course he's a three-time winner – at the 2007-08 Open Championship and 2008 PGA. Harrington is still ranked an impressive 145th in the OWGR and recently tied for 42nd at Bay Hill.

LONG SHOTS

61) Lee Westwood
The 48-year-old Englishman continues to extend his record for most major starts without a win. This Masters, his 21st, will be his 89th major overall. Westwood has been a two-time runner-up at Augusta, but since the second one in 2016, he's gone T18 and T38 before missing the cut last year. He'd fallen to 60th in the world without a top-30 in five PGA Tour starts in 2022, including a missed cut at the Valero Texas Open.

62) Zach Johnson
The 2007 winner is back for his 18th Masters. He's now 46 and is the newly named Ryder Cup captain for Team USA in Rome in 2023. Johnson missed the cut last year, something that's coming with greater regularity in recent years. He's missed four of seven cuts on Tour in 2022 heading into the Valero Texas Open.

63) Ryan Palmer
The 45-year-old is back for his seventh Masters. He tied for 34th last year. Palmer's best was a tie for 10th way back in 2011. He qualified this year by ending last year in the top-50 in the world rankings but has now fallen all the way to 75th. Palmer opened 2022 with top-16s at the Sony and Farmers but has missed three of his past four cuts before playing in the Valero Texas Open.

64) Cameron Young
The Korn Ferry grad has impressively made the Masters as a PGA Tour rookie. Young has cracked the top-50 with a series of good results, including a pair of runners-up at the Sanderson Farms and Riviera. This won't be his first major, however. Young missed the cut at the 2019 and 2021 U.S. Opens.

65) Takumi Kanaya
The former world No. 1 amateur tied for 58th at the 2019 Masters but this will be his first since turning pro. Kanaya missed the cut in his four other major appearances, The 23-year-old Japanese sensation qualified by ending last year in the top-50 in the world rankings, with the vast majority of his world-rankings points coming via the Japan Tour. Kanaya did win his group at the Match Play but then missed the cut at the Valero Texas Open.

66) Lucas Herbert
The 26-year-old Australian will be making his Masters debut – but eighth career major -- after winning in Bermuda during the Fall Swing. Herbert's best showing was a tie for 31st at the 2020 U.S. Open. He also won the Irish Open last year on the DP World Tour and was recently seventh at Bay Hill.

67) Harry Higgs
Rest assured that Higgs will be keeping his shirt ON at his first Masters (if he wants to play in a second). He tied for fourth at his first career major, last year's PGA, to qualify for Augusta. Good thing, because Higgs has missed five of nine cuts in 2022, with no finish inside the top-35. He just MCed at the Valero Texas Open.

68) Sepp Straka
One of the last players in the field, Straka won the Honda Classic in February for his first career title and a berth in his first Masters. This will be the third career major for the 28-year-old Austrian, who made the cut at the 2019 U.S. Open and 2020 PGA. Straka was ninth last month at THE PLAYERS.

69) Lucas Glover
The 42-year-old won the John Deere to qualify for his ninth Masters. He's made four cuts and missed four, with a best of T20 way back in 2007. Glover has been in 45 career majors, making only 18 total cuts, but he'll always have his victory in the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage. He has had only one top-25 since winning the Deere, a tie for fifth at the Sony, before playing in the Valero Texas Open.

70) Matthew Wolff
Wolff is still only 22 and this will be his third Masters. The first two were not great – a missed cut in 2020 and a DQ after one round last year. He was enduring personal issues back then, took a break, returned, and played decently into the fall. But Wolff has not played well in only four starts in 2022, missing two cuts with two other finishes in the 60s.

71) Cam Davis
The 27-year-old Aussie is set for his first Masters, having qualified by winning the Rocket Mortgage Classic for his first PGA Tour title. This will be his third major for Davis, who made the cut at the 2018 Open Championship and 2021 PGA Championship. He's had only one top-25 in his 17 starts since his victory, a tie for 10th at the limited-field Tournament of Champions.

72) Danny Willett
Since his surprise win at the 2016 Masters, the Englishman has missed the cut every year but one, tying for 25th in 2020. Now 34, Willett won a tournament on the DP World Tour last year at St. Andrews. He's missed three of seven worldwide cuts in 2022.

73) Hudson Swafford
Swafford is back for the second straight year thanks to his American Express win in January. This will be his third Masters, and he's yet to make a cut. In fact, he's zero for six at majors. Since winning the Amex, Swafford missed four of six cuts before playing the Valero Texas Open.

74) Garrick Higgo
The 22-year-old South African was soaring last year, winning twice on the DP World Tour. But what got him into the Masters field was his surprise win at the Palmetto Championship. This will be the first Masters and fourth major for Higgo, who tied for 64th at last year's PGA. After climbing as high as 38th in the world rankings, he's now 82nd and without a top-20 anywhere in the world since winning the Palmetto 10 months ago. He had missed four of seven worldwide cuts in 2022 before teeing it up at the Valero Texas Open.

75) Min Woo Lee
The 23-year-old Australian finished 2021 at 49th in the world rankings to qualify for his first Masters and second career major – he missed the cut at the Open Championship last year. Lee, whose older sister is LPGA star Minjee Lee, has won twice on the DP World Tour, including last year's Scottish Open. He has missed the cut in his four stroke-play starts on the PGA Tour this year, including at the Valero Texas Open, to fall to 59th in the world.

76) Guido Migliozzi
The 25-year-old Italian made quite a debut in the majors, finishing fourth in last year's U.S. Open to earn trips to the Open Championship and this Masters. Migliozzi subsequently missed the cut at the Open Championship. He won twice on the DP World Tour in 2019 but has struggled in 2022, missing five of six cuts. He hadn't made a PGA Tour start this year before missing the cut at the Valero Texas Open.

77) K.H. Lee
A win at the Byron Nelson last year landed the 30-year-old South Korean in his first Masters. But this will be Lee's fifth major, and he's yet to make a cut. He had made 11 straight cuts on Tour before missing at the Valero Texas Open.

LEGACY CHAMPIONS

In order of predicted finish

Bernhard Langer
The 1985 and 1993 champion will be making his 39th appearance at the Masters. Now 64, Langer has the best chance of the legacy champs to make the cut. He's made six of the past nine cuts, including two years ago, when he tied for 29th at age 63 to become the oldest player to ever make a Masters cut. He is still churning out victories on the Champions Tour, winning as recently as two months ago.

Mike Weir
The 2003 champion missed the cut in six of the past seven years, tying for 51st in 2020. Now 51 and relatively new to the Champions Tour, this will be Weir's 23rd Masters.

Fred Couples
The 1992 champion, despite being well past his prime, impressively made the cut almost annually for a decade. But now, at age 62, he missed the past three. This will be Couples' 37th Masters.

Vijay Singh
Now 59, the 2000 champion made the cut only once over the past six years, and that came in 2018. This will be Singh's 29th Masters.

Jose Maria Olazabal
The two-time champion (1994, '99) will tee it up for the 33rd time. Now 56, the Spaniard made the cut last April for the first time in seven years.

Larry Mize
The 63-year-old Augusta native famously beat both Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros in a playoff in 1987. Now back for his 39th Masters start, Mize last made the cut in 2017.

Sandy Lyle
This will be the 64-year-old Englishman's 41st trip to Augusta. He won the Green Jacket in 1988. Lyle has made the cut only 17 times and hasn't done so since 2014.

AMATEURS

In order of predicted finish

Stewart Hagestad
The 2021 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion. Hagestad is perhaps one of the most well-known amateurs ever because he never turned pro and still competes now at age 30 (he'll turn 31 on Masters Sunday). He also qualified in 2017 as the 2016 Mid-Amateur champ, tying for 36th to win low amateur.  Hagestad has also played in three U.S. Opens, missing the cut from 2017 to 2019, and has also qualified for this year's U.S. Open. He is ranked 14th in the world among amateurs.

Keita Nakajima
The 2021 Asia-Pacific Amateur champion from Japan is the world's top-ranked amateur and also No. 238 in the Official World Golf Rankings. Nakajima won on the Japan Tour last September and also finished 28th at last year's ZOZO and 41st the Sony Open this past January.  Nakajima also has qualified for this year's U.S. Open and Open Championship.

Laird Shepherd
The 2021 British Amateur champion from England is the 49th ranked amateur in the world. The 24-year-old Shepherd missed the cut at the 2021 Open Championship and also has qualified for the upcoming U.S. Open. He made the cut at last year's DP World Tour Cazoo Classic in England.

James Piot
The 2021 U.S. Amateur champion at Oakmont is the 63rd ranked amateur in the world. The 23-year-old is a fifth-year senior at Michigan State. Piot missed the cut at last month's Arnold Palmer Invitational. He also has qualified for this year's U.S. Open and Open Championship.

Austin Greaser
The 2021 U.S. Amateur runner-up is a 21-year-old junior at North Carolina and 21st in the world amateur rankings. He also has qualified for the upcoming U.S. Open.

Aaron Jarvis
The 2022 Latin America Amateur champion is a mere freshman at Nevada-Las Vegas and is ranked 829th in the world among amateurs. He also has qualified for this summer's Open Championship at St. Andrews. He is the first LAAC winner and first Masters entrant from the Cayman Islands.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Len Hochberg
Len Hochberg has covered golf for RotoWire since 2013. A veteran sports journalist, he was an editor and reporter at The Washington Post for nine years. Len is a three-time winner of the FSWA DFS Writer of the Year Award (2020, '22 and '23) and a five-time nominee (2019-23). He is also a writer and editor for MLB Advanced Media.
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