The China Mail - 'Totally new': Scheffler readies for Masters defense

"At the end of the day, when I tee it up on Thursday, I start the tournament even par just like everybody else," Scheffler told reporters on Tuesday.

"Last year doesn't have a lot to do with this year, outside of I can go back on some of the experience that I've had playing well on this golf course and reflect on that.

"Let's say I get off to a bad start on Thursday, and I can use some stuff that I've done here the past few years as confidence to kind of turn things around," he added.

"But at the end of the day, when I step on there on Thursday, we're at even par, and it's a totally new golf tournament. Last year means nothing."

Scheffler is chasing his third green jacket, having won the Masters for a first time in 2022.

He joined Horton Smith as the only players to win two Masters titles in their first five or fewer starts, and he's never finished outside the top 20.

But Scheffler said Augusta National, so familiar as the only course to host a major every year, remains a constantly changing challenge.

"A lot of the golf course changes with the weather here," he said. "A lot of the strategy for this place, I think, changes with the conditions of the course.

"I think a lot of it's pretty fluid around the way you play the course because, depending on the firmness of the greens, there's certain pins you can try to attack and there's certain pins you've got to steer clear of."

Scheffler's Masters triumph last year was part of a nine-win campaign, but after suffering a hand injury in a Christmas cooking accident he has made a slower start to 2025.

That has plenty of pundits tipping world number two Rory McIlroy, a two-time winner already this year, to challenge for a first green jacket that would complete the Northern Ireland star's career grand slam.

Scheffler, however, said any number of golfers could emerge as contenders in a field that features top PGA Tour and DP World Tour pros -- including reigning PGA Championship and British Open winner Xander Schauffele -- along with top LIV Golf players who have slumped in the rankings but own formidable major resumes.

That includes 2023 Masters champion Jon Rahm, reigning US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and five-time major winner Brooks Koepka.

- Go out and take it -

The depth of talent, Scheffler said, makes it anybody's tournament.

"It's one of our jobs to go out there and take it," he said.

All the contenders will be facing an Augusta National layout that was battered in September by deadly Hurricane Helene, losing a number of the towering pines that line so many fairways.

"I actually don't think it changes the golf course, but it just visually changes some holes," said Ireland's Shane Lowry. "You can see some stuff that you were never able to see, but I don't think it changes the golf course one bit."

McIlroy largely concurred, saying there were "a couple of tee shots that are maybe a little less visually intimidating."

McIlroy noted the loss of trees on the left side of the 10th hole and "a little bit more room on the right side of three if you want to hit driver up there.

"But really, apart from that, I think it's pretty much the same," McIlroy said.

V.Liu--ThChM