Augusta National finished as the 2nd hardest greens to putt on last year. Alister Mackenzie designed these greens with a ton of undulation, which will ask players to be exceptional lag putters. These bent-grass greens are very tricky for players, especially for the guys who lack experience on them.

We have seen in years past that players can finish high on the leaderboard solely with a hot putter. Last year, Ludvig Aberg finished solo second gaining 8 strokes on the greens, even as a debutant, which makes it even crazier.

Over the last four years, here are the top 10 players in the field who average the most strokes per round with the putter on Augusta greens:

Shane Lowry at majors is my comfort food. He was a core play for me both at Valhalla and Royal Troon, which both resulted in top-10 finishes. I would argue that he is playing much better golf right now than he was heading into either of those two majors. Lowry finished eighth at the Valspar Championship in his last start, gaining over four strokes off the tee and four strokes on approach.

He’s coming in with some of the best approach form of his career, gaining over three strokes on approach in four straight starts. Lowry is also chipping his butt off now as well, gaining strokes around the greens in five straight starts. Major pedigree? Check. Augusta form? Check. Lowry has finished top-25 in four out of his last five appearances at the Masters, and he led the field in approach play last year. Recent approach form and multiple top-10 finishes in the last two months? Check. Underwhelming finish last year? Check. It’s all coming up Lowry for me.

I don’t need to spend much oxygen on Rory’s woes at Augusta National in his career. Personally, I have never been a big Rory guy, but it’s hard to ignore how well he is playing right now.

You can argue this is the best form Rory has been in going into the Masters, as he has won both the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Players Championship already this year. The potential of softer conditions sets up perfectly for Rory with his length off-the-tee and being a great long iron player.

Rory or Scottie will capture the bulk of the ownership in your pools. If you are looking to pivot off of the big guns, I think Xander could be pretty sneaky, considering he is still coming back from injury. His majors record speaks for itself that I believe is worth a flier on.

If you think back to the earliest stages of your life, what are the clearest moments that define it? What are the memories that for whatever reason you remember like it was yesterday? Isn’t it so funny how some moments you couldn’t shake from the deepest recesses of your mind even if you wanted to, and some things you can’t remember no matter how hard you try?

My oldest memories in life are centered around sports -- around golf. I grew up in a household with a father who was golf-OBSESSED; in a household where it was sacrilegious to not have golf on the screen every Sunday; where my life was centered around what I used to think was just a game – and it took me years to figure out what the obsession was truly all about.

These moments that led me to understand this obsession firsthand all stem from a single golf tournament that is held in Augusta, Georgia once a year: The Masters. Let’s start with the good ones.

2005 Masters
“In your life have you seen anything like that?”

I will never forget as long as I live where I was and who I was with when those words were uttered. My dad had some buddies over for the 2005 masters, all watching this golfer who seemed to transcend the sport at the time. I’ve never seen a group of old men worship someone the way they were worshipping Tiger Woods that weekend. It seemed all but a certainty that Woods would slip on his fourth green jacket that week but a longshot by the name of Chris DiMarco had other ideas. Tiger sprays his shot on the par 3 16th on Sunday off the green to the left. The pin on 16 is in its iconic location. Tiger looks stymied.

Anyone who was watching that day remembers what happened next and exactly where they were for that moment -- a perfectly executed chip to the slope of the green that started to feed the ball down directly to the hole. The announcers themselves couldn’t believe the touch Tiger displayed. It almost appears that there is a magnet in the hole attracting the ball to come in. The ball stops on the edge, one roll away from perhaps the greatest golf shot you’ll ever see. And then it happens. One additional revolution and the ball drops into the hole. Tiger loses his mind and the tournament has seemingly shifted back directly into Tiger’s court. The gaggle of middle-aged men lost their minds and their drinks all over the carpet that my mom explicitly stated to not get dirty. Verne Lundquist has one of the greatest calls on the shot in any sports moment ever. The moment couldn’t have been scripted any better.

I truly think that the 2013 Masters is the most underrated of my lifetime. It is also my personal favorite Masters moment. Adam Scott is -8 and tied for the lead coming down 18 in the pouring rain with Angel Cabrera. A birdie seemingly ends the golf tournament. Adam Scott hits one to about 30 feet on 18. He hits a putt that is tracking directly to the hole. “There is no way,” I remember thinking as the ball crept towards the hole. The left edge of the hole grabs the ball and the putt drops. Pandemonium breaks out. Adam Scott screams at the top of his lungs “come on Aussie!”

To read the rest of Kyle’s piece, you can find it here.

Growing up as a competitive junior player, golf was always the strongest through-line in my relationship with my dad, despite the fact that he never picked up a club until his late forties. No, I did not learn the game from my dad; I learned it from my grandfather on my mom’s side of the family. Yet my dad learned very quickly that the golf bug had caught ahold of me, and he made an incredibly honest attempt to learn the game as an adult while juggling a tenuous work schedule. What I always appreciated about my dad above all else was his ability to derive joy from his children and support them unconditionally. While he struggled to find personal success on the course, he became obsessed with its culture, history, and most of all, watching me play. 

I was always amazed at the amount of time he found to watch me hit golf ball after golf ball on the range, and how easy it was for him to find immense joy in my competitive journey, even if he had given up on finding the center of the clubface himself. As I got older and went away to boarding school and college, it became more difficult for my dad and I to connect over the game of golf. I no longer needed chaperoning for junior tournaments, and my dad spent less time traveling himself as he got into elder years. Yet the Masters was always our white whale.

The one golf experience we had always vowed to knock off together. Yet as is the case with many bucket list trips, life always just got in the way. After multiple failed attempts, and one COVID cancellation, we finally settled on 2024 as one of our last great opportunities to do this as father and son. My dad always made the joke, “Fifty is the new Forty. Sixty is the new Fifty. Seventy is the new Sixty, Eighty is just Eighty!” My dad is in excellent shape for his age, but navigating the full experience of Augusta is an extreme sport and one that takes both physical and emotional fortitude. Yet I would not be the first sportswriter to reckon the payoff was spiritual.

There wasn’t really anything about the 2024 Masters that deemed it any more special or out of the ordinary to any other Masters. Our favorite golfer (Rory McIlroy) suffered another disappointing week, and we were even rained out for half the day on Thursday. Yet what I’ll remember most is not watching Rory and Ludvig shoot a best ball 32 on the back nine alone on the course on Wednesday, the peach ice cream sandwiches, or even the scale of the property, although all deeply resonate, but the expression on my dad’s face knowing that he saw something through. Putting your blind support in something is not easy, especially when it’s difficult for you to understand.

I always wondered why my dad never questioned why I spent, and continue to spend, the vast majority of my life on a golf course. Not that he understood before, but I think it all came to life for him that weekend, in a way that it maybe hadn’t for him in the past. I would imagine most every human, golf lover or not, experiences a similar phenomenon at the Masters. Something about that vast property in Georgia, and a random collection of people from all walks congregating for this one weekend, explains my religion in a better way that I could ever articulate.

My obsession, and relentless pursuit of thinking about, talking about, writing about, and playing a game that many normal people find a massive waste of time, seemingly doesn’t seem all that futile. Oh, this is why you doeverything you do. I look forward to getting to experience this with my own children. Unconditional support is the greatest gift you can ever receive from family and friends. A trip to the Masters is a close second.

Top Debutant: Taylor Pendrith +700

If you are a follower of our content here at ISN, you know that Pendy has been a staple for us since the Presidents Cup. Augusta National will test all facets of your game and Pendy doesn’t necessarily have a glaring weakness in his game. He fits the mold of being an elite total driver of the golf ball and a great long iron player. Additionally, he historically has been a great putter on bent-grass greens. I love his chances to be the top debutant this week.

Top LIV Player: Patrick Reed +1200

Reed is one of the ultimate “horses for the course” at Augusta National, as he won the green jacket back in 2018. You can also add four T12 finishes or better to his Masters resume too. Reed has proven that you can separate yourself with just your short game around the greens and with the putter. I caught a little bit of LIV Doral this weekend and I thought Reed looked very confident with his game. With his course history alone, I like his odds to win this prop, with a ton of question marks with the more elite LIV guys in the field this week.