The Masters 2025 LIVE: Tee times for Round 1 and tips as Rory McIlroy eyes green jacket at Augusta

A Masters golf coach endured a problematic start to the tournament after being escorted off Augusta for breaking a surprise golden rule.

Arizona State University coach Matt Thurmond is at this year’s Masters alongside rising Spanish amateur star Josele Ballester, but was left red-faced after a fashion blunder forced him to separate from his player during a last-minute practice session ahead of the major.

Amidst all the excitement in Georgia, Thurmond let Augusta’s fierce guidelines slip his memory and turned up to the course wearing shorts – a sin of seismic proportion.

Even on practice days, shorts are strictly forbidden at Augusta, something Thurmond evidently forgot, with his eyes solely focused on pre-major preparations.

Bad news for Scottie Scheffler’s rivals this week. The dominant world No 1 says he feels fully prepared for a tournament for the first time this season.

Scheffler missed the start of the season due to surgery on a freak hand injury suffered while preparing Christmas dinner but is now fully fit and finished second at the Houston Open a couple of weeks ago.

“I would say that I feel very prepared for this golf tournament,” said Scheffler. “This is definitely the most prepared that I’ve felt all year.

“I talked a lot about my preparation and stepping up on the tee at Pebble [Beach] feeling like I wasn’t exactly where I was when I ended the year just because I had taken so much time off.

“This year coming off an injury was definitely a different feeling than I’ve had in the last few years. But as far as preparedness goes, this is definitely as prepared as I’ve felt going into any event this year and I’m excited to get the tournament going.”

Rory McIlroy’s four-year-old daughter showed her father how it was done by delighting the Augusta National crowd with a monster putt on the eve of the Masters.

The Northern Irishman, who needs to win the Masters to complete the career grand slam, helped Poppy sink a long birdie putt on the final hole.

“Yeah, very cool,” McIlroy said when asked about that moment. “It’s just such a fun afternoon. Being out there with Shane (Lowry) and Tommy (Fleetwood) and their families, we’re all very, very close, so to have the kids out there and them having fun is the most important thing.

“It’s a really nice way to sort of end the preparation going into what is the serious part of the week. So it’s nice to be able to get out here and do this.”

The players are getting ready for the opening day of the 2025 Masters, with the first tee times a little under three hours away.

• Xander Schauffele to finish in top-10 – 9/4 Unibet
• Rory McIlroy as top European – 5/2 BetVictor
• Bryson DeChambeau as Top LIV Golfer – 4/1 Betfred

The Masters returns this week as the first major of the 2025 season gets started on Thursday at Augusta National in Georgia, USA.

Scottie Scheffler aims to defend the title he won in 2024 having finish 11-under par across the four rounds and four shots ahead of Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg.

Scheffler made light work out of a particularly tricky week for the rest of the field with the United States’ Max Homa and Collin Morikawa tied for third place, alongside England’s Tommy Fleetwood, at four-under par.

Rory McIlroy, who comes into the first major of the season having made a strong start to the year, finished in a tie for 22nd in 2024 and will hope to perform better this time around as he aims to complete a golfing grand slam.

The Northern Irishman, who needs to win the Masters to complete the career grand slam, helped Poppy sink a long birdie putt on the final hole.

“Yeah, very cool,” McIlroy said when asked about that moment.

“It’s just such a fun afternoon. Being out there with Shane (Lowry) and Tommy (Fleetwood) and their families, we’re all very, very close, so to have the kids out there and them having fun is the most important thing.

When Rory McIlroy won the Zurich Classic with Shane Lowry last year, he chose Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ as his karaoke song for the traditional post-victory party.

It was, he said, because it was one of the few songs to which he knows the words, but it is also easy to read meaning into the lyrics as the Northern Irishman’s bid to end his major drought goes on and on and on and on.

“Every year I come back with the goal of winning this tournament and after the start I’ve had this year I don’t feel like I’ve ever been in better form coming into this week,” McIlroy admitted.

It is one of the great traditions of the Masters and will bring emotional scenes at August National this week. Former champions and winners of the green jacket receive a lifetime exemption for future tournaments, free to turn up year after year and walk the iconic course until they call it quits. Bernhard Langer, now 67, will be playing the Masters for the 41st and final time this week. With no expectations of contending, it is the feeling of stepping inside the ropes along the immaculate fairways that he will miss the most. “I’m expecting it to be very difficult emotionally,” he said.

It is the return of another former champion, though, that has asked more difficult questions of the lifetime exemption rule ahead of this year’s Masters, as Angel Cabrera, winner of the green jacket in 2009, makes his first appearance at Augusta National in six years and since his release from prison.

Cabrera spent a total of 30 months behind bars in Brazil and Argentina after he was convicted of domestic abuse charges. He was sentenced to two years in prison in July 2021 for assaulting, threatening and harassing a former partner, before he was convicted of a second assault against another ex-girlfriend. He was released on parole in August 2023.

1240: Davis Riley, Patton Kizzire

1251: Kevin Yu, Jhonattan Vegas, Nicolai Hojgaard

1302: Mike Weir, Michael Kim, Cameron Young

1313: Zach Johnson, Joe Highsmith, Chris Kirk

1324: Danny Willett, Nico Echavarria, Davis Thompson

1335: Bernhard Langer, Will Zalatoris, Noah Kent (a)

1352: Cameron Smith, J.T. Poston, Aaron Rai

1403: Fred Couples, Harris English, Taylor Pendrith

1414: Corey Conners, Brian Harman, Stephan Jaeger

1425: Patrick Reed, Max Greyserman, Byeong Hun An

1436: Robert MacIntyre, Billy Horschel, Nick Dunlap

1447: Collin Morikawa, Joaquin Niemann, Min Woo Lee

1458: Phil Mickelson, Jason Day, Keegan Bradley

1515: Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Jose Luis Ballester (a)

1526: Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, Tyrrell Hatton

See the full schedule and list of tee times below:

Welcome to the Independent’s Masters coverage and what promises to be a gripping four days at Augusta National.

Golf’s first major offers an opportunity for Rory McIlroy to complete the career grand slam, with the green jacket the only missing piece to a glittering career.

But Scottie Scheffler is a daunting defending champion, with the world No.1 ready to push for a third green jacket out of four. Likewise, Xander Schauffele, yet to hit the heights of 2024 this year, could snatch a third major in four following victories at the Open and PGA Championship just last year.

LIV Golf’s contingent of 11 players could contend too, with Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka all posing a threat. Follow all the latest updates, scores and a live leaderboard once the first ball is hit at 12:40pm BST below: