The Masters marks the beginning of the season in the eyes of many golf fans since it's the first major of the year, but several golfers have established themselves as top contenders due to strong play in 2017 already.Dustin Johnson is chief among them, and he enters the Masters as the odds-on favorite to capture the green jacket for the first time in his career.He'll be met with plenty of resistance in his attempt to do so, however, with other top players such as Rory McIlroy and Jason Day looking to join the club as well.Ahead of Thursday's opening round at Augusta National Golf Course in Georgia, here is a full rundown of Masters odds, along with predictions for how the top-ranked golfers will fare.Dustin JohnsonJohnson finally conquered his major tournament demons last year by winning the U.S. Open, and based on the way he is playing currently, there is every reason to believe he will add to that haul in 2017.As seen in this video courtesy of Masters Tournament, DJ is currently on an impressive roll:In addition to wins in the Genesis Open and Mexico Championship, Johnson lived up to his status as the No. 1 seed by winning the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.He has been unbeatable since finishing third in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and there is no other golfer performing at his level currently.Johnson has found himself in the hunt at the Masters in each of the past two years with sixth- and fourth-place finishes to his credit.Now that Johnson has ascended to the No. 1 ranking, the next step in the process of establishing himself as an elite player like McIlroy and Jordan Spieth is winning multiple major championships.Johnson's remarkable power off the tee should give him a significant advantage over most of the field at Augusta, as should the fact that he is putting better than ever before.The world No. 1 has shown no weaknesses as of late, which means there is no reason to pick against him until he does.Prediction: Johnson wins the 2017 MastersRory McIlroyMcIlroy is a four-time major champion who is just a Masters win away from the career Grand Slam, but his struggles at Augusta are well-documented.The Northern Irishman had a four-stroke lead entering the final round of the 2011 Masters before an 80 destroyed his chances of capturing the green jacket.McIlroy's Masters issues seem to be mental more than physical, and he lent credence to that with comments made in a recent interview withGolf Digest(h/t ESPN.com):"Stressful. I am, ask anyone who knows me, a complete p---y in the week leading up to Augusta. But they understand and know that. It's a stressful situation."Although McIlroy has been unable to seal the deal at Augusta, he often finds himself in the running.He has finished inside the top 10 in each of the past three years, and while he settled for 15th in 2011, he was in position to win that tournament through three rounds.McIlroy is in the midst of a major drought, with no titles since the 2014 PGA Championship, but he is playing solid golf.Coming off a fourth-place finish in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, McIlroy will once again be in the running at the Masters, but he won't have enough to best the next-level play of Johnson.Prediction: McIlroy finishes fifth in the 2017 MastersJason DayThe 2017 season has been a difficult one for Day thus far, as he has just one top-10 finish to his credit.Day has 23rd- and 64th-place results in his past two official tournament appearances, and he withdrew from the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play two weeks ago.The Aussie revealed his mother's battle with cancer contributed to his decision to pull out of the event, but with the Masters approaching, he is now in a better state of mind, according to Jim Litke of the Associated Press:My mom, she went through a successful surgery on her left lung and she was told by the doctor, don't have to do chemo, which is really, really exciting stuff. Obviously we have to be cautious because the first two to three years are very, very important. ...I'm very, very pleased and very, very happy with how things have progressed from the start of the year to now. And I feel kind of a lot lighter in a sense, in that my mind is not weighing very much heavily on the situation that my mom was going through. So to be able to have that happen and then be able to come here and get my mind off things is quite nice.Provided Day is entirely focused on golf, he is undoubtedly a threat to capture the green jacket, which is something he has narrowly missed out on multiple times.Day finished second in the 2011 Masters and third in 2013 before registering a 10th-place result last year.He finished inside the top 10 in three of the four majors last year and has top-10 results in 10 of the past 16 majors.Day figures to find himself in the mix, but his current form isn't quite strong enough to keep pace with Johnson.Prediction: Day finishes seventh in the 2017 Masters
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