Dustin Johnson

Back to its regular April dates, the Masters Tournament will be getting underway Thursday as some of the top golfers in the world look to capture this year's green jacket. And with a stacked field, it's likely to be an exciting weekend of golf coming up.

Last year, the Masters was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, which caused it to not take place until mid-November. When it finally arrived, Dustin Johnson continued his impressive 2020 with a dominant showing, winning it for the first time in his career.

Johnson will look to become the first golfer to win the Masters in consecutive years since Tiger Woods won it in 2001 and 2002. But there will be some strong competition aiming to keep that from happening, as there are several top contenders who could easily end up atop the leaderboard Sunday evening.

Here's everything else you need to know heading into the Masters.

2021 Masters Information

Dates: Thursday, April 8, through Sunday, April 11

TV: ESPN (Thursday 3-7:30 p.m. ET, Friday 3-7:30 p.m. ET); CBS (Saturday 3-7 p.m. ET, Sunday 2-7 p.m. ET)

Tee Times: A complete list of tee times can be found at PGATour.com.

Prize Money: The purse has yet to be announced, but it was $11.5 million in 2020, with the winner earning $2.7 million.

Preview

Johnson will enter the Masters as the favorite to win—and for good reason. The 36-year-old shot 70 or better in each of his four rounds at Augusta National last year, finishing at 20 under par to capture his first career green jacket.

However, if Johnson is going to win again this year, he'll have to fend off some tough competitors while also bouncing back from a bit of a tough stretch. At The Players Championship last month (his most recent stroke-play event), Johnson tied for 48th and didn't shoot better than 70 in any of his four rounds.

Johnson has been consistently strong at the Masters, though, as he's finished in the top 10 in each of his past five appearances at the tournament. He finished second in 2019 and has shot a 70 or better in each of his past nine rounds at Augusta National.

Among the other golfers who are likely to contend for the win this weekend include the golfers behind the top-ranked Johnson in the Official World Golf Ranking: Justin Thomas (No. 2), Jon Rahm (No. 3), Collin Morikawa (No. 4) and Bryson DeChambeau (No. 5).

Each of those four golfers will be looking to win the Masters for the first time. And it's possible any of them could break through and do so.

Thomas is coming off his best career showing at the Masters in 2020, when he finished fourth at 12 under and shot a 71 or better in each of his four rounds. He's also been playing well of late, having won the Players last month by finishing 14 under.

Rahm has finished in the top 10 at the Masters each of the past three years, but he's still seeking his first career win at a major tournament. He's finished in the top 10 in four of the six stroke-play tournaments he's played in 2021.

Morikawa made his Masters debut last year and finished tied for 44th. However, he won his first major tournament in 2020 (the PGA Championship), and he could potentially get back on track this week.

DeChambeau hasn't finished better than 21st in his four Masters appearances, but he's greatly improved his game in recent years, which led to him earning his first career major victory at the 2020 U.S. Open. He also won the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month and followed that up by tying for third at the Players Championship.

Another golfer to watch this week is Jordan Spieth, the 2015 Masters champion who has had a resurgence of late. While the 27-year-old hasn't won a major tournament since 2017, he's been playing well recently, finishing fourth or better in four of his past six tourneys. Spieth is also coming off a win at last week's Valero Texas Open, as he finished 18 under by posting scores of 67, 70, 67 and 66.

After finishing third or better in four of his first five Masters appearances, Spieth has ended up tied for 21st and tied for 46th the past two years. But he should play much better this year, assuming he can keep his recent momentum going.

Tiger Woods won't be at the Champions Dinner in Augusta on Tuesday. But in the spirit of the event, the golf legend sent his regards via Twitter.

Woods is at his home in Florida, where he is recovering from injuries he sustained when he was involved in a single-car crash near Los Angeles on Feb. 23. 

As the rest of the top players on the PGA Tour readied to tee off in Augusta, they shared stories about Woods and honored him with face masks decorated with tigers. 

Rory McIlroy told reporters he visited Woods at home at the end of March and that the star was "in decent spirits," per ESPN's Mark Schlabach. 

Johnson, who won the Masters in 2020, will serve a menu that includes pigs in a blanket, filet mignon and miso-marinated sea bass before dessert courses of peach cobbler and apple pie. 

Reigning Masters champion Dustin Johnson will kick off his defense of the green jacket Thursday at 10:30 a.m. ET at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.

Johnson was a wire-to-wire winner of the 2020 Masters, holding a share of the lead after the first two rounds before pulling away over the weekend to win the tournament by five strokes. Last year's event was held in November because of the coronavirus pandemic, but it returns to its usual April time slot for 2021.

Here's a look at some of the notable pairings and their tee times for the first two rounds of the 2021 Masters, which were released Tuesday (all times Eastern):

10:06 a.m./1:12 p.m.: Bubba Watson, Brooks Koepka, Viktor Hovland

10:30 a.m./1:35 p.m.: Dustin Johnson, Lee Westwood, Tyler Strafaci

10:42 a.m./1:48 p.m.: Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy

1:36 p.m./10:30 a.m.: Adam Scott, Bryson DeChambeau, Max Homa

1:48 p.m./10:42 a.m.: Tony Finau, Louis Oosthuizen, Justin Thomas

2 p.m./10:54 a.m.: Jordan Spieth, Cameron Smith, Collin Morikawa

Johnson will attempt to fend off a long list of challengers for this season's first major title.

While the 36-year-old South Carolina native dominated the field, Bryson DeChambeau disappointed to finish in a distant tie for 34th. It raised further questions about whether the famed course can be tamed when the focus is just on raw power and distance.

DeChambeau remains confident, however, saying the "stress of the tournament" and poor play in areas other than the tee box were to blame for his mediocre performance in November.

"I look at Augusta ... there were plenty of opportunities that I missed with wedging, putting and iron play," he told reporters. "I wouldn't say it was necessarily the driver that got me into trouble for the most part, but definitely there were times where my putter and my wedges and my iron play did."

Jordan Spieth is the other player generating plenty of buzz heading into the Masters coming off his victory in the Valero Texas Open.

Spieth's play had dropped off in recent years—his win in last week's event was his first since the 2017 Open Championship—but he's showed signs of a return to top form this season with top-five finishes in three other events before the breakthrough in Texas.

"When you're coming in form, it's a good feeling when you arrive here, and I've had that a few times,'' Spieth said. "I love being here. I love being on the grounds. It's my favorite tournament in the world. I've expressed that many times here."

Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka, who's making his first start since knee surgery, are among the other top contenders in the star-studded field.