Your Augusta guide from prizes to previous champs

For golf fans the true sign that spring is finally here isn’t the clocks changing, but the arrival of the Masters Tournament.

The Masters is the first men’s major of the year and takes place from Thursday 11 April until Sunday 14 April, kickstarting a big five months for the sport.

The remaining three majors will be held over the course of the following three months, while come August there is an Olympic gold medal up for grabs at Paris 2024.

But first, it’s all about winning that green jacket at Augusta National Golf Club. Here i runs through details of how to follow the Masters, explains why broadcasters cannot show all of the action, and looks at the top contenders – including an incredibly strong contingent from LIV Golf that boasts seven Masters champions.

How to watch the Masters 2024

The Masters will be shown on Sky Sports in the UK. Coverage is not wall-to-wall (which is explained below) but the red button will capture some of the early action.

The Masters can also be streamed on Sky Go, while a NOW sports membership pass costs £11.99 for 24 hours – providing access to all 12 Sky Sports channels – or £34.99 for the month.

The Masters 2024 schedule on Sky Sports

All times BST

Thursday 11 April

• 2pm to 7.30pm – Featured groups on Sky Sports Golf
• 7.30pm to 12.30am – Full coverage on Sky Sports Golf

Red button options

• 1.45pm – Holes 4, 5, 6
• 3.45pm – Amen Corner
• 4.45pm – Holes 15, 16

Friday 12 April

• 2pm to 7.30pm – Featured groups on Sky Sports Golf
• 7.30pm to 12.30am – Full coverage on Sky Sports Golf

Red button options

• 1.45pm – Holes 4, 5, 6
• 3.45pm – Amen Corner
• 4.45pm – Holes 15, 16

Saturday 13 April

• 7.30pm to 12.30am – Full coverage on Sky Sports Golf

Red button options

• 3.15pm – Featured groups
• 3.30pm – Holes 4, 5, 6
• 4.45pm – Amen Corner
• 6.30pm – Holes 15, 16

Sunday 14 April

• 6.30pm to 12.30am – Full coverage on Sky Sports Golf

Red button options

• 3.15pm – Featured groups
• 3.30pm – Holes 4, 5, 6
• 4.45pm – Amen Corner
• 6.30pm – Holes 15, 16

Why isn’t all of the Masters on TV?

The Masters will continue to be more elusive than its major counterparts, once more limiting what broadcasters around the world can air, including in the USA – and UK.

The final few hours each day are broadcast without limitations, but Sky Sports’ coverage highlights what feeds they are allowed to show earlier in the day, including featured groups and Amen Corner.

It is believed organisers want to maintain the air of exclusivity around this prestigious tournament, forgoing more lucrative TV deals for, essentially, mystique. This is, after all, an event that prohibits spectators (patrons) from using mobile phones and cameras, while one Augusta member once told Rickie Fowler to turn his cap around to face forwards. Fowler, at the second time of being asked, obliged.

The Masters 2024 leaderboard

The leaderboard will be updated here at the end of each day’s play.

Heading into the tournament, world No 1 Scottie Scheffler is in red-hot form and is therefore the bookmakers’ favourite to win his second Masters title.

The Masters 2024 odds

Odds correct as of 5 April:

• Scottie Scheffler – 4-1
• Rory McIlroy – 11-1
• Jon Rahm – 12-1
• Brooks Koepka – 18-1
• Xander Schauffele – 20-1
• Jordan Spieth – 20-1

Rory McIlroy is always popular with the punters, and he is deemed second favourite as he resumes his bid for a first Masters. He finished second here in 2022, behind Scheffler, and famously crumbled in the 2011 edition – leading by four shots going into the final day, staying ahead even going into the back nine, but then dropping six shots across holes 10, 11 and 12 to finish T15.

Both Scheffler and McIlroy will face stiff competition in the form of the 13 LIV golfers…

LIV Golfers in the Masters 2024 field

“We’re coming for that green jacket,” declared Sergio Garcia when posting a picture of the 13 LIV Golf players set to feature at the Masters.

Garcia is one of seven LIV players in this year’s Masters field to have previously won the major (2017), along with defending champion Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson (2020), Patrick Reed (2018), Bubba Watson (2012, 2014), Charl Schwartzel (2011) and Phil Mickelson (2004, 2006, 2010).

Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith qualify as recent major winners, so too five-time major winner Brooks Koepka, who finished tied second last year and says “I like the chances” of a LIV golfer winning at Augusta this month.

Tyrrell Hatton, who spoke to i about crossing golf’s divide, Adrian Meronk and Joaquin Niemann complete the 13-man LIV line-up at the Masters.

The Masters 2024 tips

i’s chief sports correspondent Kevin Garside has backed five players at Augusta, including LIV rebels and a Swedish wonderkid. Below he explains why Scheffler is the man to beat:

Scheffler’s record in his last three tournaments reads 1st, 1st, 2nd. In the last example he missed a five-footer at the Valspar Championship to force a play-off. The speed was a fraction out.

One pundit picked Scheffler in his top four predictions to win, i.e. if everything is in order he wins by six shots, if his putting is a little off he wins by four, if the full blown yips return he wins by two and if his recent neck injury flares up he wins by one.

But in every scenario, the world No 1 and 2022 Masters champion was his winner this week.

Click here to read the four names Kevin Garside is backing to challenge Scottie Scheffler

The history of Augusta

The Masters was established in 1934, with two of the game’s greatest players going on to conquer Augusta multiple times – Jack Nicklaus holding the record of six triumphs, with Tiger Woods trailing on five.

The course’s iconic status is helped by the fact the Masters is the sole men’s major that does not move around, making Augusta an annual test that golfers learn to love or come to hate.

It is also visually stunning. HD television – Ultra, 8K, or whatever the latest in broadcasting technology may be – was made for events like this, and there is perhaps no better-looking sports tournament on TV thanks to the pristine conditions at Augusta.

The surrounding pine trees and blooming azaleas add to the spectacle, so too Rae’s Creek, which offers the threat of finding the water as players make their way through Amen Corner – the most notorious three-hole stretch (holes 11, 12, 13) in golf.

The bridges that cross this creek are synonymous with the event, too, and providing the players aren’t fishing for their golf balls underneath, you’ll find the cameras honing in on their walks over for the perfect shot – particularly if it’s a sunny final day and the back nine is about to define the all-important final leaderboard.

Past Masters winners

The 10 most recent Masters champions:

• 2023: Jon Rahm, winning score of -12
• 2022: Scottie Scheffler, -10
• 2021: Hideki Matsuyama, -10
• 2020: Dustin Johnson, -20
• 2019: Tiger Woods, -13
• 2018: Patrick Reed, -15
• 2017: Sergio Garcia, -9
• 2016: Danny Willett, -5
• 2015: Jordan Spieth, -18
• 2014: Bubba Watson, -8

The Masters prize money

The purse is yet to be confirmed, but last year 2023 winner Rahm picked up a cheque for $3.24m (£2.6m).

The top three earned more than $1m in prize money last year, while even 34th was enough for a six-digit payday.