The Masters is finally upon us.
On Tuesday, the best golfers in the world arrived Augusta National for the second full practice day at this year’s first major. Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood and more are expected to meet with the press from Augusta National while plenty more are expected out on the course in anticipation of Thursday’s opening round. You can follow along below for live updates from the action.
A Poppy update from McIlroy. She’ll have her own putter this year at the Par-3. McIlroy said she was inspired after watching him last year.
A Champions Dinner story from last year, when McIlroy wasn’t champion. He said that he and Justin Rose came for a meal at the club around the time as the meal was happening, and had an awkward moment as he debated where to park. If he took the valet, the group of previous winners would have seen him — and probably jabbed him — as they were having drinks outside.
In describing the emotions he has when talking about caddie Harry Diamond, McIlroy called him an “older brother.”
McIlroy says most years, he couldn’t wait for the tournament to start? This year? He hopes it never starts. He’s embracing life as champion.
I was wrong — first question is what the most difficult part of defending will be. The answer? The 90 other players. I tried.
Good afternoon, friends! Let’s live-blog out of the defending champ’s presser. My guess is the first question will be something about what to talk about this year — since he joked about that after winning last year. Stay tuned.
Matt Fitzpatrick seems smilier than usual. He should be — he’s coming off a 2-1 run at the Players and Valspar and is considered one of the favorites here. He said he’s done his best to savor this victory, especially after hearing Scottie Scheffler’s comments last summer on the fleeting joy of winning.
Fitz has gone through a remarkable transformation since this point last season, which he described as a low, lost point in his career. He changed up his team, looking for a spark. He found one. Statistically he’s gotten better just about everywhere since then, particularly with his irons; he described getting “more rotational” with his irons under the tutelage of Mark Blackburn. (Speed training, he said, was great for driver but had a couple unintended side effects.)
“Normally only special people get asked to do press conferences,” he said with a grin. Clearly he’s been doing something right.
Cameron Young just wrapped his press conference. More than anything he specifically said I was struck by his presence. It’s similar to his golf game: direct, straightforward, sturdy, unflappable. Hopefully that makes sense. He was asked several different versions of the same question, whether he feels different after winning the Players Championship. His answer each time was some version of not really. He seems grateful to be No. 3 in the world and yet unsurprised to be here. If you’re making predictions off press conferences, this is a confident golfer and person.
Some early Masters range data for those interested in who is trying to dig it out before Thursday arrives.
On Monday, Aldrich Potgieter led everyone with 249 shots hit on the range. Brian Harman was right behind at 225, followed by Jose Maria Olazabal at 215 and Chris Gotterup at 214. The fewest? Tommy Fleetwood and Harris English both hit just 21 shots.
So far on Tuesday, Ryan Fox is pacing everyone with 175 shots as of 10:53 a.m. ET.
Interesting perspective from Cam Young on “what changed” during the Players Championship to lead to one of the biggest victories of his career. Seems to chalk up his success to randomness equally as much as his struggles.
“I don’t think it was particularly different. Just a birdie here or a birdie there.”
Cameron Young says the biggest change at the Masters — in his first start since his big win at the Players Championship — happened … at home. He says his two young kids picked up golf clubs for the first time in the weeks following the victory at TPC Sawgrass, a time that coincided with Young’s first break from practice in quite a while.
“It’s amazing watching them, some of the things that just come naturally to a kid. You see the big weight shift into the right, and then they take a step with the left. They do a lot of things we wish we could do, they make a pretty athletic move at it.”
Rahm is asked a couple times about his ongoing feud with the DP World Tour, where he is ineligible to compete after refusing a settlement offer at the beginning of the season.
Projects confidence that he will be able to “work things out” with the DP World Tour and come to a solution that allows him to continue competing.
Rahm’s DP World Tour status is a major point of contention in the golf world because it is his only pathway to Ryder Cup eligibility. The timing of this feud is certainly no accident: Rahm has at least a year to figure out a solution with the DP World Tour that might allow him to compete in the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor.
What’s the most surprising part of the Masters Champions Dinner? Jon Rahm says the answer is simple: How terrifying it is.
Rahm shares a story from his own Masters Champions Dinner, which was held on the late Seve Ballesteros’ birthday, April 9. Says he was awestruck by faces at the table at Augusta National — “I look to my right and there’s Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus; I look straight ahead and there’s Gary Player and Nick Faldo” — but was even more awestruck by the way the table coalesced to welcome Jon by sharing stories from Seve’s career.
Rahm is asked about the underratedly hard shots at Augusta National and laughs.
“I could make the argument about every shot on this golf course,” Rahm said. “I think a lot of people have this idea that Augusta National is wide, and then you come here for the first time and see how narrow it really gets.”
Next on the docket in the press room: Jon Rahm, who arrives for his 10th Masters fresh off his first win in nearly two years at LIV Hong Kong.
He says he feels like he’s broken out of some bad habits leading into this week.
“Certain parts of the takeaway I wasn’t comfortable with,” he said. “A lot of my changes were trying to eliminate that as much as possible.”
Tommy Fleetwood shared an awesome line from his first Masters memory back in 1997, when his dad turned in his direction with an astute observation.
“This Tiger Woods guy is gonna be unbelievable.”
Fleetwood said he came to Augusta National for the first time in 2014 as a patron. His biggest takeaway wasn’t a vision of Masters glory, but rather something much simpler.
“Of course we dream of winning the Masters, but it was more about playing the 12th and 13th holes than anything else.”
Tommy Fleetwood is here in the press room to kick off a long Tuesday of Masters press conferences. He’s talking about his practice round out here with his sons, Frankie, Murray and Oscar last week. Frankie, you might remember, had a priceless memory during last year’s Par-3 Contest. It sounds another one came during the pre-tournament proceedings.
“I could’ve shot 150 and I wouldn’t really have cared, but they were really nervous,” Fleetwood said with a chuckle.
