Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, has now won three of his last four starts. While his pre-tournament price of around +450 to win The Masters looked so short, it also appears that trying to beat him looks a lot like trying to beat Tiger Woods during his prime when he too was trading at these types of prices.

It always feels like a long wait but I guess that is part of what makes it special when it shows up on the calendar yet again. Yes, early April has returned and it is Masters Week 2024. On Thursday, 89 golfers will renew this glorious, annual tradition, playing the 88th edition of this historic major championship at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.

We’ve always thought one of the greatest taglines in golf broadcasting was “Glory’s Last Shot,” a term used to describe the PGA Championship when it was positioned on the calendar as the final major of the season. The Valero Texas Open feels like a bit of a mini-version of such, as this is the last chance for the majority of this field to get an invitation to next week’s Masters. Players not yet qualified will either have to find their way into the top 50 in the OWGR after this week or simply win in order to become a part of next week’s field in Georgia.

The two-week trend of the pre-tournament favorite winning the golf tournament ended abruptly as the Tour reverted back to what we have seen as more of the norm this season. Peter Malnati was around 300- or 400-to-1 to win the Valspar Championship last week, becoming the sixth player this season to cash at triple-digit pre-tournament odds. If you are thinking it will be the favorite again this week in Texas, you’ll have to pay a “Tiger Woods-like” price on Scottie Scheffler, currently listed at less than 3-1 to win the Texas Children’s Houston Open.

The final stop on the PGA Tour’s 2024 Florida Swing takes place this week in Palm Harbor in what will be the 24th edition of the Valspar Championship. As in every year of its existence, the Valspar will once again be played at the Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course, famous for its three finishing holes, known as “The Snake Pit.”

It took 10 PGA Tour tournaments in 2024 season before we finally got a favorite that went on to win. Scottie Scheffler went off at roughly 7-1 before claiming the Arnold Palmer Invitational, winning convincingly by five shots last week at Bay Hill. Prior to that, Jake Knapp at around 40-1 was the shortest-priced winner of the season in his victory at the Mexico Open at Vidanta.

We have reached the 10th tournament of the 2024 PGA Tour schedule and with it, the fourth Signature Event of the young season. Sixty-nine players are in the limited field classic that is the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Country Club and Lodge in Orlando, Florida.

Welcome to the Sunshine State.

Across the country we go as the PGA Tour heads east to kick off the four-week Florida Swing this week, beginning with the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches (formerly the Honda Classic), in Palm Beach Gardens. Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Shane Lowry are the headliners with former winners Rickie Fowler, Chris Kirk, Russell Henley, Sungjae Im, Sepp Straka, and Keith Mitchell also in the field.

With football now in the rearview mirror, it really feels like golf has spiked, coming off of a star-studded Genesis Invitational that saw Hideki Matsuyama threaten pins — and a course record — with his magical round of 62 on Sunday to win the tournament and close out the West Coast Swing. Now we head south of the border for the Mexico Open at Vidanta, followed by the Florida Swing, and then, of course, a trip down Magnolia Lane for the Masters. Get ready for golf season, folks. It’s on.

It’s the last leg and arguably the crown jewel of the West Coast Swing: Historic Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif. is the venue for this week’s Genesis Invitational. Tiger Woods is your tournament host, and yes, he is one of the 70 players in the field for this Signature Event.

After rain and heavy winds reduced the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am to just 54 holes, a trip to the desert feels like a much-needed break. The West Coast Swing continues on the PGA Tour this week with its annual stop at TPC Scottsdale for the WM Phoenix Open — the Greenest Show on Grass. What the players this week will face weather-wise however, won’t be all that dissimilar to what they saw along the Monterey Peninsula.

The run of beautiful coastal golf continues this week on the PGA Tour’s West Coast Swing as we go from Torrey Pines in Southern California to iconic Pebble Beach in Northern California. It was a tough near-miss for us in this column last week with Nicolai Hojgaard (50-1) coming up one stroke short and finishing runner-up to Matthieu Pavon, the fourth consecutive triple-digit long shot to cash a winning ticket this season.

After two weeks in Hawaii, the PGA Tour moves from an island paradise to a desert oasis for the American Express, in La Quinta, Calif., the start of the West Coast Swing. This is the best field we’ve seen for this event in a long time. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler leads the way along with Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, and Wyndham Clark. Other notables include Jason Day, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, and Tony Finau.

Did you like Kevin Kisner in the tower last week? This week, you get to see him on the tee.

Fresh off a low-stress, no-cut gathering in Maui, where Kisner tried out for the the role of lead analyst for NBC Sports, more island vibes await. It’s on to Oahu for the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club.

There will be no cut this week. There will be no defending champion, either.

As the PGA Tour kicks back into swing in customary New Year’s fashion, 59 players will take part in the Sentry Tournament of Champions, on the Plantation Course at Kapalua.

Last we saw him in competition, at the Tour Championship in August, Keegan Bradley was a hot topic of conversation as a potential Ryder Cup captain’s pick. And he remained a subject of conjecture after Team USA got trampled in Rome.

Might Bradley’s presence on the American roster have made a difference?

We’ll never know.

Are you taking Lexi Thompson?

Thompson herself will be taking a page from the playbook of the likes of Michelle Wie and Annika Sorenstam when she becomes the latest top female player to compete against the men in a PGA Tour event.

It’s almost fall in Napa, harvest season. Talk about a good time to make some picks. The Fortinet Championship, at Silverado Resort, marks the start of the 2023 FedEx Cup fall season, a seven-event run that gives players outside the top-50 bubble a chance to rack up FedEx Cup points that might help that gain access to big events next year.

It’s Tour Championship week at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, the epic season-ender with a whopping purse and a weird format. With $75 million up for grabs and $18 million earmarked for the winner alone, the event gets underway with a staggered leaderboard based on the current FedEx Cup standings. As the top man in the points race, Scheffler will begin the tournament at 10 under, two shots ahead of Viktor Hovland, three clear of Rory McIlroy, four in front of Jon Rahm, and so on down the line.

Cinderella stories arise frequently, just as runaway favorites often shoot bad rounds. The game is fickle. Anyone who tells you they can see what’s coming is likely either lying or deluded.

None of which will stop us from giving it a stab.

And this week, at least, our odds are slightly improved. The BMW Championship is on tap, the second event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and the field has been whittled to 50 players. That’s three less than an NFL roster. With such a tiny pool, we stand a fighting chance.