major events
The weather has remained clear throughout the week. Temperatures warm up to the low 70s on Thursday and Friday, into the mid 80s on Saturday and Sunday. Rain is not expected on any of the four days, something that has not happened at the Masters since 2011, and so the course will almost certainly be even livelier than usual. Spring fairs. Firm and fast greens. Some swirling air. As a result, length may not be such a deciding factor this week, bringing a lot of shorter hitters into the equation. Good news for guys like Brian Harman, Collin Morikawa, Zach Johnson… and the shortest hitter on the PGA Tour in 2025, Brian Campbell, whose average drive is just (!) 278.4 yards. Moral? Children, don’t get caught up in distance. Campbell won twice on Tour last year, while Harman, Morikawa and Johnson have five major titles between them.
The first amateur to make a mark this week is Jackson Harrington. The 19-year-old from the University of Tennessee is making his first major championship appearance, having finished runner-up at last year’s U.S. Amateur. It is often a springboard to success at the Masters: past runners-up in the U.S. Amateur to become Low Amateur at Augusta National include Ben Crenshaw (1973), Patrick Cantlay (2012), Doug Ghim (2018) and Neil Shipley (2024). Harrington had birdies on 2 and 4 this morning, followed by bogeys on 1 and 5. He is performing well at par level.
Sometime today, someone will need to put a comforting hand on Carlos Ortiz’s shoulder. Especially because he has been here before, in a way, when he scored 82 in his first round in 2021. Perhaps they should remind them of Nick Dunlop’s struggles last year. The 22-year-old Dunlop shot a round of 90 on the first day, which was 18 shots over par. He bounced back with a strong round of 71 on Friday, the best round-to-round improvement since Craig Wood’s score of 88-67 in 1936… and Wood won the tournament in 1941, so these stories may have a happy ending. Not that it would feel that way right now.
While we’re on the subject of blowouts, also spare a thought for poor Carlos Ortiz. The 34-year-old Mexican is making his second start at the Masters, and first since 2021. A fourth-place finish at last year’s U.S. Open at Oakmont suggests the guy has reasonable major-championship game, but Augusta National is capable of besting any guy, and Ortiz has suffered a nightmare start. A drive into the bay on the left side of turn 2. A blown chip from the fairway bunker at 5. He started 5-7-5-4-6, with three bogeys and a run of two doubles. At +7 to 5, he’ll already be wishing he was back in the clubhouse, and stopping that disastrous run at 6 isn’t going to improve his mood much.
This is also its 30th anniversary. Oh Greg.
As chas and dave almost sangIt’s lucky for Jack Nicklaus when the year ends in six. This year marks the 60th and 40th anniversaries of his two wins at Augusta, and luckily we’ve covered two of them in deeply retro style before. If nothing else, these articles should fill some free time while we wait for the big companies to come out. Don’t forget to come back.
It may be very early doors, but for now, the old guard is in charge! Jose Maria Olazabal, winner in 1994 and 1999, rolls in a 15-footer for birdie on 2, then a big right-to-left swinger on 3, and the 60-year-old Spaniard takes the Masters lead! The only other person in red figures during these early moments? 2009 winner Angel Cabrera also with birdie on 2nd. Take a snapshot, because it won’t stay like this for long.
-2: Olazabal (3)
-1: Cabrera (3)
News of another Masters debutant. Naoyuki Kataoka is making his major championship debut at the age of 28, having earned his spot by coming back from seven strokes behind in the final round to win last year’s Japan Open. It is a prestigious award that has been won in the past by Jumbo Ozaki, Isao Aoki, Hideki Matsuyama and Seo (twice). Kataoka now had the honor of making his first birdie of the week on the par-five second, steering a 20-foot left-to-right swinger. This gave him the lead for a while, although he messed up in the third, failing to clear the bank with his approach, then falling short of the green on his next attempt. Double bogey, and welcome to Augusta National.
The first shot of the tournament was hit by 25-year-old Masters debutant John Kiefer. He split the fairway at T Olive like Gary Player and Tom Watson before him. However, he missed a five-foot putt for his par and so also recorded his first bogey of the week. As for the first double bogey…that misfortune happened to 2025 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, Edrich Potgieter. The 21-year-old South African zig-zagged down the first before hitting a wedge through the green to a gathering of stunned patrons. He couldn’t get up and down near the bleachers behind the hole, and that’s very easy to do at Augusta National. Hey, if Rory can do it by putting everything on the line on Sunday, anyone can.
Honorary Initiator. Gary Player, who won the title in 1961, 1974 and 1978, took the first ceremonial tee shot on the first hole, the tee olive. The 90-year-old sent his drive down the middle before unleashing a high kick that would be beyond many men half his age.
86-year-old Jack Nicklaus – a record six-time winner in 1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975 and 1986 – was next, and displayed some sharp pedantic skills. “Oh boy, be careful, and I don’t mean it to be pretentious,” he told the assembled patrons before sending a wild hook to left side. No high kick came from the Golden Bear, who simply smiled to himself.
Eventually 76-year-old Tom Watson, the 1977 and 1981 winner, took his turn. He noticed that Nicklaus had left his tea stick on the ground. “Can I use your tee?” Watson asked. Niklaus replied, “That’s why I left it.” Watson stopped his drive midway.
A total of 252 years, 140 Masters appearances and 11 green jackets between them. We will miss him a lot when he leaves.
With the important things out of the way, let’s focus our attention on the tournament itself. Our other man here at Augusta is Evan Murray, who got a major preview of the first Masters without Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods. 1994.
Four long, lovely days lie ahead of us. There’s no need to run there, first of all, let’s grab a breakfast spot outside on the veranda. That’s what our man Andy Bull has tried to do at Augusta. Iced tea and one of the famous egg salad sandwiches. That will be $3.50, please. Now have a nice day.
Preface
Patrons, welcome to the 90th staging of the Masters Tournament. And Rory McIlroy finally got his hands on his holy grail, as the man himself wondered: What’s left for all of us to talk about?
Okay, how about… Can world number one Scotty Scheffler, who is in trouble with just one win (!) on Tour this year, sort himself out in time to clinch a third green jacket? Will Jon Rahm or Bryson DeChambeau prepare for LIV Golf? Can Xander Schauffele, Ludwig Aberg or Justin Rose, who are often at or near Augusta National, make the final move? Will Cameron Young repeat Rory’s feat with success here after last year’s win over the Players? Will Tommy Fleetwood be the hottest winner? Or is that Bob McIntyre? Oh, and what’s the price of Rory becoming the fourth man to successfully defend his title, after Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods? What about all that?
All this will be washed away in the next four days. But first, some admin, and a reminder that contestants are invited guests and should be treated with courtesy and respect. Although cheering and positive reactions to great play are encouraged, unsolicited or persistent calls from the gallery are prohibited. Running is considered unacceptable behaviour. Prohibited items include cell phones, beepers, electronic devices, tablets, any device with recording and/or transmission capability, flags, banners, signs, ladders, periscopes and weapons of any type (regardless of permit). The pimento cheese sandwich is $1.50 and the iced tea is two bucks. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler is the favorite, all tee times are down, and This is the famous CBS theme on Loooong Loop To get you in the mood. It’s on! Masters fever is real; Won’t someone please call Dr. Golf?
First-round tee times (USA unless stated, all times BST, A denotes amateur)
1240 Johnny Kiefer, Haotong Li (CHN)
1250 Max Homa, Naoyuki Kataoka (JPN), Carlos Ortiz (Mex).
1302 Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (Den), Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa), Aldrich Potgieter (RSA)
1314 Angel Cabrera(ARG), (A) Jackson Harrington, Sami Valimaki(FIN)
1326 Ryan Fox(NZ), Max Gresserman, Charl Schwartzel(RSA)
1338 Rasmus Højgaard (Den), Matt McCarty, Vijay Singh (Fiji)
1350 Casey Jarvis(RSA), Kurt Kitayama, Christopher Reitan(NOR)
1402 Nicolas Echavarria (Col), (A) Brandon Holtz, Bubba Watson
1419 Sam Burns, Jake Knapp, Cameron Smith (Australia)
1431 Keegan Bradley, Ryan Gerrard, Nick Taylor (Can)
1443 Jason Day(Aus), Dustin Johnson, Shane Lowry(IRL)
1455 Akshay Bhatia, Tommy Fleetwood (England), Patrick Reed
1507 Bryson DeChambeau, Matthew Fitzpatrick (England), Xander Schauffele
1519 Russell Henley, Hideki Matsuyama (JPN), Collin Morikawa
1531(a) Mason Howell, Rory McIlroy(NIRL), Cameron Young
1543 Patrick Cantlay, Victor Hovland (North), Alexander Noren (Sweden)
1603 Sung-jae Im (core), Sam Stevens
1615 Brian Campbell, Tom McKibbin(NIRL), Andrew Novak
1627 Windham Clarke, (A) Matteo Pulcini (Arg), Mike Weir (Can)
1639 Nikolai Højgaard (Dane), Zach Johnson, Michael Kim
1651 (a) Ethan Fang, Davis Riley, Danny Willett (England)
1703 Daniel Berger, Brian Harman, Adam Scott (Australia)
1715 Fred Couples, (A) Pongsapak Lopakdee (W), Min-Woo Lee (Aus)
1727 Jacob Bridgman, Sergio Garcia(Spa), Aaron Rae(Eng)
1744 Michael Brennan, Corey Connors(Can), Harry Hall(Eng)
1756 Tyrrell Hatton (England), Maverick McNally, JJ Spawn
1808 Ludvig Åberg (Sweden), Chris Gotterup, John Rahm (Spa)
1820 Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose (England), Jordan Spieth
1832 Ben Griffin, Sepp Straka(out), Justin Thomas
1844 Robert McIntyre (SCO), Scotty Scheffler, Gary Woodland
1856 Harris English, Si-Woo Kim(Cor), Marco Penge(Eng)
