A phenomenal week is ahead at Augusta National. McIlroy will try to fend off the other three clear favorites while defending his green jacket against a deep 91-man field that will make that effort particularly, News.Az reports, citing CBS Sports.
While McIlroy aims to become the fourth back-to-back winner and first since Tiger Woods (2001-02), there is more history on the line at the Masters. Scottie Scheffler is eyeing his third green jacket in five years, which would put him alongside the likes of Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. Meanwhile, Jon Rahm seeks his second Masters and third major title, while Bryson DeChambeau aims to fill the green jacket-sized hole in his major resume.
Big names flying up the leaderboard
World No. 2 Rory McIlroy is moving his way up the leaderboard as he traverses through Amen Corner. After playing his first seven holes in even par, the reigning champion has added three birdies in his last six holes to climb within two strokes of Sam Burns. Meanwhile, Scottie Scheffler curls in an eagle bid on the par-5 2nd after a beautiful approach to get off and running early in his first round.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler starts his seventh Masters
Scottie Scheffler starts his 2026 Masters with his good friend, Sam Burns, atop the leaderboard at 5 under thanks to a birdie on the par-5 15th. While Burns attempts to get his round into the clubhouse, Scheffler just exited it as he eyes his third Masters title in the last five years. Iron play has been the hot topic for the world No. 1 coming into the week as he ranks outside the top 80 in strokes gained approach. As it stands, the top four iron players from the early tee times are all inside the top five of the leaderboard.
Bryson DeChambeau triples the 11th after needing three tries to get out of the bunker
DeChambeau hasn’t had his best on Thursday at the Masters, but he was grinding it out at even par when he arrived at the always-difficult 11th. After a good drive, DeChambeau bailed out right on his approach and rolled into the right greenside bunker and had a nearly impossible shot left on the downslope to a back flag on a green running away from him to the pond. He, somewhat understandably, left that shot in the bunker trying not to find the water, but then compounded his issues by chunking a second — much easier — bunker shot and leaving it in the sand. His third attempt was heavy again and he barely got onto the green surface, needing two putts to get down for a triple-bogey 7.
He’s now 3 over on his first round, which is not the start he was hoping for after last year’s final round struggles.
Rory McIlroy makes the turn at 2 under in his title defense
McIlroy got off to bit of a slow start, but back-to-back birdies to close out the first nine has him to 2 under, good for T5 on the leaderboard currently. The defending Masters champion comes back to Augusta National with positive feelings for the first time since his first couple Masters appearances, and the noticeably relaxed Rory is fully embracing his position as a defending champ.
That seems to be extending to on the course, as there was some wonder about the state of his game after his back injury at Bay Hill and relative struggles at The Players the week after. While it wasn’t a perfect first nine, his experience shined as he scrambled his way around for pars to stay on track until he finally started to piece together some good swings to create birdie opportunities.
It’s not Thursday at the Masters until Fred Couples is in red figuresWhile he doesn’t have the most green jackets of anyone, there may not be a past champion that loves playing Augusta National more than Fred Couples. The 1992 Masters champion returns to play every year and seemingly always plays well when he tees it up. Three years ago he became the oldest player in history to make the cut at 63 years old, and now at 66 he’s looking to post a new benchmark for longevity at Augusta National.
Couples is -2 thru 2 to open his first round, making birdies on No. 1 and No. 2 to get going on what has otherwise been a very challenging day in Augusta. He’ll almost assuredly run into some road blocks as he makes his way around the course, but given his history (including recent history) at Augusta National, it wouldn’t be a shock to see Couples hanging around solidly inside the top 50 after the first round.
Patrick Reed makes another eagle to take the lead at 5 under
The 2018 Masters champion is back on top of the leaderboard by himself after his second eagle of the first nine on the par-5 8th — making an absolute bomb of a putt for the three.
Reed has now eagled both par 5s he’s played and is 5 under overall as he looks to post the number to beat early in the first round.
Reed’s played extremely well this year on the DP World Tour and came into the Masters with more buzz than he’s had in recent years. He’s backing that up with some sensational golf early in his round on an extremely difficult golf course, and has himself two shots clear of Tommy Fleetwood, Kurt Kitayama and Brian Campbell as he gets set to make the turn.
Kurt Kitayama is the first to reach 4 under
Kitayama has four birdies in his last five holes as he gets set to arrive at Amen Corner, and with that run he’s taken the solo lead at 4 under. This is Kitayama’s third Masters start and he’s looking to improve on a career-best T35 finish in 2024. His low round at Augusta National is a 4-under 68, so he’s put himself in position to match or best that today and climb into contention at the first major of the year.
Tommy Fleetwood joins the lead with three straight birdies
Fleetwood is still trying to remove himself from the top of the “best players without a major” list, and after finally breaking through stateside at last year’s Tour Championship, the expectation by many was that he would take that next step in 2026.
Fleetwood didn’t enter the Masters with a ton of buzz, as he’s played solidly but hasn’t really contended in any of his early PGA Tour starts. However, he is off to a fast start to his first round, opening with a par on the first and then going on a run of three consecutive birdies on Nos. 2, 3 and 4 to move into a share of the lead alongside Patrick Reed.
60-year-old José Maria Olazábal makes the turn in 2-under 34
While Patrick Reed jumped him on the leaderboard, Olazábal is the low man who has made it to the second nine at Augusta National after going out with a 2-under 34, his lowest first nine score at the Masters since 2009. The two-time Masters champion is showing the youngsters how to get it done on a difficult day at Augusta National, and while he’s not likely to remain on the first page of the leaderboard all the way into the weekend, he has certainly put himself in position to be one of the oldest players to ever make the cut at the Masters.
Bryson DeChambeau bogeys the par-5 2nd after driving his ball into a bush left
DeChambeau hooked his tee shot on the first par 5 at Augusta National and found a bush down in the trees left and had to take a drop for an unplayable lie. From there he had to simply advance the ball as far as he could back into the fairway, but with the challenging back-middle pin position, he couldn’t get it close and walked off with a disappointing bogey 6 to slip to 1 over early in his first round.
Of all the top stars, DeChambeau came into the Masters in the best form with back-to-back wins on LIV, but he also has the most questions at Augusta National, where he’s had a checkered history and faltered last year in the final pairing with Rory McIlroy. He hoped for a better start to his 2026 Masters, especially given the par 5s have to be the scoring holes at Augusta National.
Patrick Reed off to a flying start
The 2018 Masters champion is -3 thru 2 after going birdie-eagle to begin his first round. Reed was one of our sleeper picks entering the week. He’s been in great form early this season as he plays on the DP World Tour while waiting to return to the PGA Tour in 2027, and he’s always played incredibly well at the Masters. On a day where it’s hard to get into red figures, making that kind of dent in the scoreboard early can go a long way for Reed as he tries to position himself early to be a contender all week.
Aldrich Potgieter makes his third double bogey of the first nineCarlos Ortiz is no longer at the bottom of the Masters leaderboard, as he’s steadied the ship to make four straight pars and make the turn with a 7-over 43. That is one better than Aldrich Potgieter, who has made back-to-back double bogeys on Nos. 7 and 8 to fall to +8 thru 8.
In total, the young South African has three doubles in his first eight holes after opening his day with one on the first, and he’s having a brutal time with Augusta National — largely because he cannot find a fairway. Potgieter is 1-for-6 in finding the fairway so far in his first round, with a left miss off the tee that is causing him to play out of trouble constantly. That is not the way to live at the Masters, and given short game is his weakness, he can ill afford to give up so many strokes to the field off the tee.
