PGA vs. LIV Rivalry Takes Center Stage at Augusta for 2026 Masters

The golf world is set to congregate in the Deep South again next week, getting all of its fractured parts back together again for one week amid the bursting azaleas, carpeted fairways, pine straw thatch and sea-salt sand traps.

Adding flavor to the proceedings in recent years has been the rare opportunity for players from both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to butt driver heads again.

Even LIV, and all its money, can’t create what the Masters represents with its traditions, challenges and visual splendor that springtime in Augusta, Ga., brings.

With Phil Mickelson bowing out of the season’s first major, LIV will now have 10 participants in the Masters field and two among the four top favorites that are battling to take ownership of a green blazer that would be more offbeat than stylish if it wasn’t so revered.

According to DraftKings, the PGA Tour’s Scottie Scheffler is still the prohibitive favorite at +405, even as his early season has not gone to plan. Scheffler did win the American Express in the California desert to start his season, but it has been slow opening rounds and late scrambles ever since.

Scheffler won the Masters in 2022 and 2024.

Second favorite is Spain’s Jon Rahm at +850, who leads the LIV standings after finishing in the top five of all five events this season. He was runner-up in three of them and won at Hong Kong last month.

Rahm won the Masters in 2023.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy is the third favorite at +1000. Once the loudest critic of those departing to LIV Golf, McIlroy has maintained his focus on the course, winning five times since the start of 2024.

McIlroy won the Masters to complete a career grand slam last year.

Bryson DeChambeau is the fourth favorite at +1075. LIV’s true wild card had a 17th-place finish and a 24th-place finish over the first three tournaments. Since then, he has roared to life with consecutive victories at Singapore and South Africa in March.

DeChambeau has never won the Masters but finished a career-best fifth last year when he played in the final group with McIlroy.

Also among the favorites at Augusta are PGA Tour standouts like Xander Schauffele (+1800). Ludvig Aberg (+2000), Cameron Young (+2350), Matt Fitzpatrick (+2500), Tomy Fleetwood (+2500) and Collin Morikawa (+3100), who likely would have been listed with shorter odds if not for some recent back issues.

A pair of departing LIV players, who are transitioning back to the PGA Tour this year, are further down the list with Brooks Koepka at +3800 and Patrick Reed at +4400. Reed won the 2018 Masters title.

The remaining LIV competitors are clustered further down the list. Tyrrell Hatton (+6800), Cameron Smith (+10000), Sergio Garcia (+22500), Dustin Johnson (+24000), Carlos Ortiz (+26000), Tom McKibbin (+27500), Charl Schwartzel (+57500), and Bubba Watson (+57500) all will stake their claim to a major title.

Of that group, Johnson won in 2020, Garcia won in 2017, Bubba Watson won in both 2012 and 2014 and Schwartzel won in 2011. Mickelson won three times, but none since 2010.

In fact, of the last 16 Masters titles since 2010, eight of them were won by current LIV Golf members or somebody who used to play on the Saudi Arabia-backed league.

The Masters does not, and likely never will have a team competition, but two-man squads of Scheffler/McIlroy vs. Rahm/DeChambeau would be hard to ignore.

The subplot of this Masters is that the tournament field is a reminder that golf’s top players remain divided, even as it started to look like LIV and the PGA Tour were starting to find a middle ground one year ago.

Those dreams were dashed as no updates emerged throughout the year and the tours appeared to stop talking with each other. And then the PGA Tour announced its Returning Player Program in January that helped to bring Koepka back on board.

Reports indicated that the plan was not hatched for Koepka specifically but was in consideration as early as last year.

The program also opened the door for DeChambeau, Rham and Smith to return to the U.S.-based tour but none of the three elected to follow Koepka’s lead. In a separate move, Reed also announced he was leaving LIV for a return to the PGA Tour.

Now on the DP World Tour, Reed will be eligible to play in PGA Tour events on Aug. 25.

So while the flowers might be in bloom next week, getting a unified tour to blossom will take more work. For the third consecutive year DeChambeau has played rounds at Augusta early in the year to get a better feel for the course. The prep work has shown in his results.

If DeChambeau continues to respect tradition like that, perhaps his return will happen soon enough.

Until then, Masters week will continue to show golf in its full glory, with the world’s best players reunited for one of the few times each year.