{"id":7180,"date":"2025-04-10T07:18:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T07:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/7180\/"},"modified":"2025-04-10T07:18:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T07:18:13","slug":"lee-westwood-names-two-liv-golf-players-who-can-shock-everyone-at-the-masters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/7180\/","title":{"rendered":"Lee Westwood names two LIV Golf players who can shock everyone at the Masters"},"content":{"rendered":"

LIV Golf star Lee Westwood believes Sergio Garcia and Charl Schwartzel could catch people by surprise at the 2025 Masters.<\/strong><\/p>\n

All eyes turn to Augusta National<\/a> on Thursday as the PGA Tour and LIV Golf reunite for the first major of the season.<\/p>\n

\"Westwood<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Westwood has played in the Masters 18 times and delivered six top-ten finishesCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Former Masters<\/a> champion Jon Rahm is always highly-fancied, along with multiple major winners Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka.<\/p>\n

Golf icon Phil Mickelson came from nowhere with a second-place finish in 2023 – and former world No.1 Westwood believes Garcia and Schwartzel could pull off a similar shock this week.<\/p>\n

The two former Masters champions are both in their forties – with little to shout about in recent years. <\/p>\n

However, both have shown signs of a career resurgence in the opening months of the LIV Golf season – just in time for Augusta. <\/p>\n

“I don’t think you can discount Sergio, the way he’s been playing at the moment,” Westwood told the talkSPORT Breakfast Show. “He’s in an incredible vein of form.<\/p>\n

“And Charl Schwartzel finished second in the LIV event last week, he’s a former Masters champion. <\/p>\n

“I think it’s very much horses for courses around Augusta, that’s why you get so many repeat winners. <\/p>\n

“You’ve really got to know the golf course well, so any previous Masters champion that is playing well and carrying a bit of form, I think he’s got a chance.”<\/p>\n

The Masters often throws up a surprise in the top ten – with success around the iconic venue so heavily dependent on course knowledge. <\/p>\n

Westwood, who was runner-up in 2010 and 2016, insists his experiences at Augusta were always more of a strategic battle. <\/p>\n

\"Schwartzel<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Schwartzel was a surprise Green Jacket winner in 2011 after Rory McIlroy’s infamous collapseCredit: Getty\"Garcia<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Garcia is a winner on the LIV tour this season and his only career major so far came at AugustaCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

“I’ve always felt like Augusta is the kind of place, where you don’t need to have your A game, but you need to know where your misses are going to be,” the Englishman continued. <\/p>\n

“Because it’s very much a golf course where you’ve got to miss it in the right place. <\/p>\n

“You’re going to hit a few good golf shots close to the hole, but it’s really keeping away from the big numbers, and playing it into areas strategically, where you know you can get it up and down from.”<\/p>\n

Besides his outside bets from the world of LIV Golf, Westwood also admitted it is difficult to look past this year’s top dogs. <\/p>\n

Reigning champion Scottie Scheffler is the overwhelming favourite, although a slight dip in form has led many to suggest this could be Rory McIlroy’s year<\/a>. <\/p>\n

McIlroy has won twice already on the PGA Tour this season, as he bids to finally end that long wait for a fifth major and the career grand slam.<\/p>\n

\"As<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

As always, much of the focus will be on McIlroy this weekCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Ryder Cup star Ludvig Aberg is another winner on Tour this season – and finished second on his Masters debut last year.<\/p>\n

Westwood added: “I like Ludvig Aberg’s chances this week, he played well there last year. <\/p>\n

“I don’t think you can discount Scottie Scheffler, he’s not lit it up this year yet. <\/p>\n

“But I don’t think Rory will ever have a better chance. If ever there’s a golf course that’s going to suit Rory, it ought to be Augusta. <\/p>\n

“He’s just got that little bit of added pressure of it being for a career grand slam if he wins this one.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LIV Golf star Lee Westwood believes Sergio Garcia and Charl Schwartzel could catch people by surprise at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4106],"tags":[4305,4304,4302,2826,4300,4299,4286,4301,79,4297,4303,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-7180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-augusta","9":"tag-betting","10":"tag-charl-schwartzel","11":"tag-golf","12":"tag-lee-westwood","13":"tag-liv-golf","14":"tag-masters","15":"tag-sergio-garcia","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-the-masters","18":"tag-tips","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114312452777116513","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}