While most of us spent lockdown waiting for the postman to bring our latest Amazon order to kill the endless hours of boredom, the world’s leading golf players were keeping tabs on their letterbox desperately hoping an invite to the first major championship of the season would drop through.
The brightest and best in the game have descended on Augusta National Golf Club for the 2021 US Masters, desperate to get their hands on a green jacket after receiving their summons. It sounds like an exclusive event but the criteria for entry is pretty exhaustive.
Dustin Johnson, the defending champion and world number one, leads the pack which includes the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy.
Augusta is one of the most famous courses in the world thanks to its flourishing flora, lush greens and iconic holes. Below you’ll find the crucial tee times for the first two rounds and Paddy Power News has dug through the archives to assess some of the leading contenders and recent winners’ records at the course.
US MASTERS 2021 TEE TIMES
ROUND FOUR TEE TIMES (BST)
USA unless stated, times in BST
1500 A Scott (Aus), J Herman
1510 J M Olazabal (Esp), B Todd
1520 G Woodland, C Bezuidenhout (Rsa)
1530 B Horschel, P Casey (Eng)
1540 M Thompson, A Ancer (Mex)
1550 T Hatton (Eng), I Poulter (Eng)
1600 B DeChambeau, H English
1610 L Oosthuizen (Rsa), J Kokrak
1620 S Munoz (Col), C Champ
1640 C Morikawa, M Jones (Aus)
1650 M Fitzpatrick (Eng), T Fleetwood (Eng)
1700 B Watson, M Laird (Sco)
1710 C Schwartzel (Rsa), M Wallace (Eng)
1720 M Hughes (Can), S Lowry (Ire)
1730 J Rahm (Esp), S Scheffler
1740 J Niemann (Chl), W Simpson
1750 F Molinari (Ita), P Mickelson
1800 J Thomas, C Smith (Aus)
1820 R Palmer, V Hovland (Nor)
1830 S Cink, H Stenson (Swe)
1840 K Na, P Reed
1850 B Wiesberger (Aut), Si Woo Kim (Kor)
1900 R MacIntyre (Sco), T Finau
1910 B Harman, J Spieth
1920 C Conners (Can), W Zalatoris
1930 J Rose (Eng), M Leishman (Aus)
1940 X Schauffele, H Matsuyama (Jpn)
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US MASTERS 2021 FIELD IN FULL
US Masters Champions: Dustin Johnson, Fred Couples, Trevor Immelman, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Phil Mickelson, Larry Mize, Jose Maria Olazabal, Charl Schwartzel, Vijay Singh, Mike Weir, Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Danny Willett, Jordan Spieth, Zach Johnson, Ian Woosnam
US Open Champions (Last 5 Years): Bryson DeChambeau, Gary Woodland, Brooks Koepka
British Open Champions (Last 5 Years): Shane Lowry, Francesco Molinari, Henrik Stenson
PGA Championship Champions (Last 5 Years): Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Jimmy Walker
Players Championship Champions (Last 3 Years): Webb Simpson, Rory McIlroy
US Amateur Championship Winner and Runner-Up: Ollie Osborne, Tyler Strafaci
British Amateur Championship Winner: Joe Long
US Masters 2020 Top 12: Corey Conners, Dylan Frittelli, Sungjae Im, C.T. Pan, Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith
US Open 2020 Top 4: Harris English, Louis Oosthuizen, Matthew Wolff
PGA Championship 2020 Top 4: Paul Casey, Jason Day, Tony Finau, Scottie Scheffler
PGA Tour Event Winners since US Masters 2020: Daniel Berger, Patrick Cantlay, Stewart Cink, Brian Gay, Jim Herman, Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Viktor Hovland, Matt Jones, Si Woo Kim, Jason Kokrak, Martin Laird, Kevin Na, Carlos Ortiz, Xander Schauffele, Robert Streb, Hudson Swafford, Michael Thompson
2020 Tour Championship Qualifiers: Abraham Ancer, Cameron Champ, Lanto Griffin, Tyrrell Hatton, Mackenzie Hughes, Kevin Kisner, Marc Leishman, Hideki Matsuyama, Sebastian Munoz, Joaquin Niemann, Ryan Palmer, Brendon Todd
World Golf Ranking Top 50 at the end of 2020: Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Kuchar, Victor Perez, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, Matt Wallace, Lee Westwood, Bernd Wiesberger
World Golf Ranking Top 50 the week before the US Masters: Brian Harman, Robert MacIntyre, Will Zalatoris
US MASTERS 2021 LEADING CONTENDERS’ AUGUSTA RECORDS
Dustin Johnson
The defending champion progressively improved his play at Augusta after four finishes outside the top 10 and missing the cut in five appearances before tying for sixth in 2015.
Johnson tied for fourth, 10th and second before finally getting his hands on a green jacket in last year’s rescheduled tournament. The South Carolina native set a tournament record score of 20-under-par on his way to winning the second major championship of his career but history is not on his side as only three players have successfully defended their crown.
Bryson DeChambeau
The big hitter has never finished inside the top 10 although he’s made the cut on all four of his appearances.
Bryson DeChambeau heads to Augusta having won the recent Arnold Palmer Invitational and landed his maiden major championship at last year’s US Open. It’s no surprise to see him prominent in the betting with Paddy Power.
Justin Thomas
The world number two is one to note thanks to his gradual progress at Augusta over the years. He tied for 39th on his debut in 2016 and has since climbed the leaderboard every year culminating in last year’s fourth-place finish.
Justin Thomas has shown he can handle the big tournament pressure by securing the PGA Championship in 2017 and he won The Players Championship at Sawgrass last month so it’s fair to say he’s in decent form.
Jordan Spieth
If you can forgive his last two efforts at Augusta – including the 2020 tournament affected by the coronavirus pandemic – then the Texas native’s record is quite something. He tied for second on his debut before demolishing the field in 2015 and almost defended his title the following year.
Jordan Spieth has never missed the US Masters cut in seven appearances and he overcame some recent poor form by winning the Valero Texas Open before heading to Augusta.
Jon Rahm
Perhaps we could have a maiden major championship winner? Jon Rahm’s finished in the top 10 in his last three US Masters and his career trajectory has been upwards for a while.
The Spaniard doubled-down on a promise to quit the tournament if his wife went into labour during the tournament, but he arrives as a new father after his son was born the weekend before.
Patrick Reed
It all came together for the 30-year-old in 2018 as he shot 15-under-par to pip Rickie Fowler to the green jacket. It remains Patrick Reed’s only major championship and he otherwise has a relatively unspectacular record at Augusta.
In seven appearances at Augusta, Reed has managed just one other top-10 finish and missed the cut twice. He’ll have to go against the form book to triumph although he was buoyed by winning the Farmers Insurance Open in January.
Rory McIlroy
Could it be 13th time lucky for Rory McIlroy? The 31-year-old is back at Augusta for another crack at the famous fairways – and his record at the course isn’t actually that bad. He’s only missed the cut once and managed six top-10 finishes.
We have to go back to 2015 for County Down native’s best result when he placed fourth while he was tied for fifth in last year’s rescheduled tournament – nine shots behind Dustin Johnson.
Sergio Garcia
It’s pretty incredible to think the Spaniard has just one major championship title to his name, although the green jacket probably looks incredible in his wardrobe.
Sergio Garcia will be back after missing last year’s tournament due to COVID, although he missed the cut on his two appearances after winning the whole thing in 2017. It’s fair to say his record at Augusta is mixed.
READ MORE ON THE US MASTERS 2021
- US Masters 2021 main contenders and antepost punts
- US Masters 2021 early thoughts on contenders and outsiders
- Paddy traders’ 5 US Masters 2021 selections
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