AUGUSTA — Taylor Pendrith’s name doesn’t yet ring with the greats, but it’s one that the rest of the golf world could be praising by the end of the Masters.
Pendrith has played Augusta National Golf Club but never before the estimated 40,000 patrons walking the grounds this week. The Canadian played the course again on Tuesday, calculating minute details that could make the difference between mediocrity and greatness.
“Certain shots are tough and you really got to kind of work the angles and be smart with some things,” Pendrith said. “The greens for sure are tighter and there’s some putts that I hit a couple weeks ago that I hit today and you got to add another three feet of break.”
Pendrith is one of 21 golfers trying to join the likes of Will Zalatoris and Ludvig Åberg as recent household names built on incredible Masters debuts.
Here are some of the top names that could introduce themselves to the world during the next four days in Augusta.
Maverick McNealy - WR: 10
The highest-ranked player making his Masters debut is coming off one of his best outings of the season, a T3 finish at the Valero Texas Open. McNealy finished second at The Genesis Invitational on Feb. 16, one of three top-10 finishes in his nine tournaments in 2025.
McNealy qualified for the Masters with a win at the 2024 RSM Classic, the first PGA win of his career. The best major finish of his career also came in 2024, a T23 at the PGA Championship.
Thomas Detry - WR: 27
Detry is the highest-ranked first-timer with a PGA win already on his 2025 resume. The 32-year-old from Belgium won the WM Phoenix Open on Feb. 9 and had a T5 finish in The Sentry.
Detry qualified for the Masters with a T4 finish in last year’s PGA Championship. He has made the cut in every major he’s played in since 2021.
Aaron Rai - WR: 28
Rai is yet to win in 2025 and only had one top 10 finish so far this season, but he’s also only missed two cuts in eight tournaments. Rai qualified for the Masters with his Wyndham Championship win on Aug. 12, 2024.
The 30-year-old Englishman played in the other three majors last season and made the cut in all of them. His best major finish was a T19 in the U.S. Open.
Taylor Pendrith - WR: 41
Pendrith could be playing his best golf of the season just before his Masters debut. His best finish of 2025 was a T5 in the Texas Children’s Houston Open on March 30.
The Canadian also had top 10 finishes in the Farmers Insurance Open and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Pendrith qualified with his win at The CJ CUP Byron Nelson last season.
At 33, Pendrith is one of the oldest first-timers in the field.
Max Greyserman - WR: 45
Greyserman is yet to earn a PGA win, but he did make the cut in the first seven tournaments of the 2025 season. His season’s highlight so far was a T7 finish in The American Express.
Greyserman missed the cut in two recent tournaments, though. He qualified for the Masters with a top 50 world ranking finish last season.
Greyserman has little major experience, as he made his debut in last year’s U.S. Open. The 29-year-old did leave with a respectable T21 finish.
Nicolas Echavarria - WR: 48
Echavarria’s 2025 has already seen its ups and downs. The Colombian missed the cut in four of his first eight tournaments but also earned a second-place finish in the Sony Open in Hawaii on Jan. 12.
That was the only top-10 finish of Echavarria’s season so far, though. He qualified for the Masters last season with his win in the ZOZO Championship and also finished the year with a top-50 world ranking.
The 30-year-old doesn’t have much major experience, as he made two in 2023 and missed the cut in both. He finished 54th in last year’s U.S. Open.
Davis Thompson - WR: 49
Thompson looked his sharpest on the biggest stage so far this season, finishing at T10 in THE PLAYERS Championship.
He’s also likely to receive a little extra love from the Augusta National crowd, as Thompson is an Atlanta native and University of Georgia alum. The former SEC Player of the Year won his second PGA tournament last year, the John Deere Classic.
Thompson also logged an impressive T9 finish at the U.S. Open last year. At 25 years old, he’s one of the youngest non-amateur first-timers in the field.
14 other first-timers, ordered by Official World Golf Ranking
Laurie Canter - WR: 50
Rasmus Hojgaard - WR: 55
Matt McCarty - WR: 56
Joe Highsmith - WR: 62
Thriston Lawrence - WR: 70
Kevin Yu - WR: 72
Davis Riley - WR: 109
Brian Campbell - WR: 113
Rafael Campos - WR: 194
Justin Hastings* - WR: 982
Jose Luis Ballester* - WR: 1180
Noak Kent* - UR
Hiroshi Tai* - UR
Evan Beck* - UR
*Denotes amateurs
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