Golf fans will undoubtedly be excited about next week’s Masters – but some of the pros could probably use a little more time.
The first major of the 2025 season, the Masters, will be held at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia between April 10 and April 13. Almost 100 players will compete for glory. However, a number of the world’s leading golfers will head into the coveted contest nursing injuries, which may impact their chances of snagging the first major trophy of the year—while others have been ruled out completely.
Tiger Woods will not play in the Masters this year (Image: Getty Images)
Of course, that will all add to the allure of the tournament – potentially allowing far fresher up-and-comers and lesser-known stars to capitalise and find themselves in contention as the event plays out.
It could also mean sub-par golfing from several players struggling to play at their full potential through irks and ailments. But which stars are looking a little compromised headed to Georgia next week? Here, The Mirror US breaks it down…
Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods gave golf fans a glimmer of hope about seeing the 49-year-old return to the links and fairways on Monday, by taking to social media to write: “I can’t believe I am saying this, but a few weeks after rupturing my left Achilles, the sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber plus the explosive lifts my doctors and trainers have me ready to play the Masters next week!”
However, the post which landed on April 1 ultimately came as Woods’ idea of an April Fools joke, later confirming on X: “P.S. April Fools my Achilles is still a mess.” The 15-time major champion hasn’t competed on the PGA Tour since last July, when he missed the cut at The Open – having undergone micro-decompression surgery on his spine in September to relieve nerve impingement on his lower back.
While the golfing legend looked likely to make a return at The Genesis Invitational back in February, he ultimately withdrew from contention in the wake of his mother’s passing. The star then announced last month that he had undergone surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon sustained through training and practicing ahead of the Masters, adding to the list of injuries which have held him from competing over the years. As a result, Woods will not be contending at the 2025 Masters.
Tiger Woods will not play at the Masters ( Image: AP)
Rory McIlroy
Four-time major champion Rory McIlroy has been in flying form across 2025 thus far, clinching the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February before dispatching JJ Spaun at last month’s Players Championship through a tense play-off. However, the current World No. 2 will head to the masters with an elbow injury which could limit his performance.
Speaking to The Golf Channel, McIlroy said: “My right elbow has been bothering me a little bit, so I’ll maybe just get some treatment on that and make sure that is OK going into Augusta. I’ve got my coach, Michael Bannon, coming in [on Monday]; we’ll do some work and make sure everything is in good shape for a week’s time.”
Rory McIlroy has had issues with his elbow ( Image: Getty Images)
McIlroy will hope to be in tip-top shape headed into Augusta, especially given his recent run of good form – as he aspires to clinch his first major title in 11 years, his last coming at the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla. With two PGA Championships, a US Open and an Open Championship to his name, the elusive green jacket is the only major accolade that McIlroy is yet to achieve too.
His best performance at the tournament came in 2022, when he missed out on the major by three strokes to current World No. 1, Scottie Scheffler.
Bernhard Langer
PGA Tour Champions star Bernhard Langer, meanwhile, has no illusions that he will win next week’s Masters at Augusta to add to his current tally of two titles at the competition, but he has admitted that he may be hindered by his own Achilles injury headed to the links. The 67-year-old was initially set to say farewell to the tournament last year, but an injured Achilles in February forced him to miss the tournament altogether.
Instead, Bernhard will potentially take part in this year’s competition for the last time despite admitting that he has difficulty walking at present. He explained: “To get back to where I was and I always thought I would come back, it was just a matter of when and how.
“So it was a long and tough process. It still is. I’m not 100 per cent and maybe I never will be, but walking is still difficult. So I’ve been riding a cart for the most part — well, walking 18 holes. I can walk, I’m okay walking nine holes, but then I get a little fatigued and stiff and all that kind of stuff. It’s still a process trying to get better in that department.
Bernhard Langer has had problems with his Achilles ( Image: Getty Images)
“I’m hoping to play great, and I have to play great to make the cut because the course is so long for me that nothing but great will do it. I’m coming in with two and three-irons where the other guys are hitting nine-irons on every hole, and that’s just hard to compete.”
Xander Schauffele
Xander Schauffele, meanwhile, has been forced to take time out of the 2025 PGA Tour due to a rib injury that initially started causing him problems back in December. Schauffele played the Sentry at the turn of the year.
Schauffele is returning to competition this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, having not played since the season-opening the Sentry with a rib injury he said he actually felt for the first time just before Christmas, which turned out to be an intercostal strain and a small tear in the cartilage.
Speaking about the injury, which saw him laid off for eight weeks, the 31-year-old said: “I wasn’t sitting there like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m in so much pain’. You know what I mean? It was sort of abrupt, like if I would wake up and roll over to grab my phone, or to grab something, or sneeze if I’m like sitting on the couch in a weird position.
Xander Schauffele has missed a number of events this year ( Image: Getty Images)
“Stuff like that is kind of where I would remind myself like, ‘Oh, okay, I’m not great right now.'” After receiving “clean” CT, MRI and ultrasound scans, Schauffele returned to the fold at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, where he finished T40. While he seems to be back to full fitness, having such a large lay-off early in the season could leave him slightly rusty headed into the Masters.
Scottie Scheffler
Schauffele isn’t the only PGA Tour pro who suffered an injury in 2024, with World No. 1 Scheffler damaging his right hand on Christmas Day while making ravioli. Surgery was required to remove shards of broken glass from the star’s hand, after he used a wine glass to roll out his dough, which ultimately shattered.
Speaking about the incident, Scheffler said: “It’s one of those deals where immediately after it happened I was mad at myself because I was like gosh, that’s so stupid, but you just don’t think about it when you’re in the moment. It really wasn’t like terrible, but I knew I kind of messed something up just because the way my hand wasn’t really moving much and if I did, it hurt pretty bad.
Scottie Scheffler injured his hand in December ( Image: Getty Images)
“So I kind of knew something was up.” Scheffler subsequently missed playing the Sentry and the American Express before returning to the PGA Tour at Pebble Beach and finishing T9. The 28-year-old has not clinched a win on the Tour from the six events he has participated in this season so far and will hope to return to the win column at the Masters for the third time in his career.
Jordan Spieth
Jordan Spieth has been battling wrist issues for the best part of two years now, and after undergoing surgery last summer, the 31-year-old aggravated it at Pebble Beach in late January. Spieth explained that he felt pain after hitting a bunker shot on the tenth hole of his opening round, before his wrist “locked up”.
Jordan Spieth has had trouble with his wrist ( Image: Getty Images)
He said: “I had to flick one and it jammed it pretty good, and it locked up on me for a little while.” Speaking at the Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale the following week, he continued: “My wrist kind of hurt in the first round last week and I went away from all the work that I had been doing just to kind of manipulate what I could, and then I said, you know what, I just have to get through it.
“So I was back to the status quo Sunday on all the stuff that I had been doing, and it paid off there.” While the pro’s wrist has held up this season thus far barring the pain he felt at Pebble Beach, it may take the American some time to get to grips the mental side of returning to Tour Golf after surgery.
