2026 Masters Round 1 updates: Justin Rose finds familiar territory — and foe

Not so fast, Tommy Fleetwood just drained three birdies in a row from 2-4 to tie Reed for the Masters lead at three under.

Yesterday, it was Fleetwood’s son Frankie who stole the show at the Masters Par 3 Contest.

Look out, Patrick Reed is on the course for the opening round and he’s not wasting any time. The 2018 Masters champion is three under through his first four holes. Reed made birdie at 1, then eagled the 2nd to get there. He’s your new early leader.

In his pre-tournament press conference this week, Reed detailed his recent departure from LIV Golf and return to the PGA Tour.

Rory McIlroy’s 2026 Masters campaign is underway. The defending champion made things interesting at the 1st by losing his drive left, but he was able to save par to start at even.

Ahead of McIlroy’s group at the 2nd, Bryson DeChambeau also lost his tee shot left. But Bryson was unable to save par, making a bogey to drop to one over early.

Max Homa started the opening round with six-straight pars before make bogey at the par-4 7th. All good, Homa eagled the par-5 5th to move into red numbers at 1 under, one shot off the lead held by Jose Maria Olazabal and Sam Burns.

‘It’s a tragedy:’ Gary Player calls for extreme ball rollback at the Masters

On Thursday, after Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson hit the ceremonial tee shots to start the 90th Masters, all three were asked for their positions on the idea of rollback. The 90-year-old Player wants the ball rolled back “60 yards” for professionals but left alone for recreational golfers, whom he calls the “heart” of the game.

“With regard to professional golf, cut the ball back 60 yards. It’s a tragedy,” Player said. “We got away from the concept of golf when it started originally, a par-5, a par-4, and a par-3. There is no such thing as a par-5 in the world today. We saw Rory with a 7-iron last year when he won the Masters. They’re hitting 8-irons and 7-irons to par-5s.”

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Tom Watson’s punishment for LIV Golf pros? Make them play Korn Ferry Tour

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tom Watson, when asked about Brooks Koepka, says he disagrees with the punishment handed out for LIV Golf pros returning to the PGA Tour. 

His penalty?

“I thought the LIV players, when they left, they were supposed to be banned for life,” Watson said. 

“If I was commissioner, that’s what I would do. I’d say if you’re finished with your contract with LIV Golf, if you want to play the PGA Tour again, you come back, and you must play the Korn Ferry Tour for a year to qualify for it.”

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Bryson DeChambeau just opened his Masters with a par at the 1st. You can watch DeChambeau in featured group coverage right now on Masters.com and the Masters App (for free), or on the ESPN App, Paramount+, Prime Video and DirecTV.

While general first-round coverage starts at 1 p.m. ET today on Prime Video, before switching to ESPN at 3 p.m. ET, you can watch all of it for FREE from 1-7:30 p.m. ET on Masters.com.

I spoke to this artist (Keegan Hall) earlier this week. His work is incredible. Told me ANGC is toying w the idea of hanging this Rory piece in the clubhouse. More details coming soon to Golf.com!

😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳

Ollie — at 60 years young! — is hanging in there: 2 under through 6. Still your early leader. This tournament rules. 

This was a surprising admission to hear from ANGC chairman Fred Ridley yesterday: 

But it speaks to a challenge this fabled tournament is facing: How to do you modernize and reach new audiences while also protecting the event’s mystique and charm?  

For so many years Rory’s Masters jinx was the pre-Masters storyline. Fact that he finally got it done last year has taken some of the air out of this Masters lead-up, but I’m still deeply intrigued to see how he plays. Feels like it could go two ways: he’s freed up and now more dangerous than ever, or with the urgency now gone…might he subconsciously let off the gas? McIlroy goes off at 10:31 a.m. with Cameron Young and Mason Howell

How ’bout Mer Scheffler out there at the Par-3 Contest yesterday, less than 2 weeks after delivering little Remy Scheffler to the world. As for how the Schefflers came up with the name? Here’s Scottie from earlier this week…

“[Meredith] liked kind of the i, e, or y at the end of the name. We had Bennett first, and we can call him Bennie if we like the i-e. Remy was a name we liked. No real significance to it. We looked on the Internet and found some stuff, but it’s quite metaphorical and a stretch for what the name means. I’m not going to share that. I’ll probably butcher it if I try, so I’ll get back to you on that. It was something that we liked, and that’s pretty much it.”

Update: Ortiz just made his first par, at the par-3 6th.

On the southern end of the leaderboard, Carlos Ortiz is off to a rough start…

First Masters I can recall in some time with nary a drop of rain the forecast, meaning this place will play #fast and #firm. Advantage: the short-game maestros. Looking at you, Fleetwood, Jordo, P-Reed….  

Via the Masters…

There are 108 invitees and a starting field of 91 players for the 2026 Masters. There are 22 first-time players, consisting of six amateurs and 16 professionals. On the first two days of play, each amateur is paired in a group with a Masters champion.

In addition, 39 Honorary Non-Participating Invitees are expected in attendance.

Ollie made birdie at the 2nd from . . . here! 

Tom Watson had some THOUGHTS about the PGA Tour welcoming Brooks Koepka back into the fold…

The Tour made a decision to renege on what they promised when the players left for LIV. They felt that the compensation that he’s paid is good enough.

I thought the LIV players, when they left, they were supposed to be banned for life. If I was commissioner, that’s what I would do. I’d say if you’re finished with your contract with LIV Golf, if you want to play the PGA Tour again, you come back, and you must play the Korn Ferry Tour for a year to qualify for it.

They saw it differently. When the players left, they violated the number one rule that we really had out here, which is to protect the sponsors. Sponsors need players. They need the names to be able to promote their tournaments. If the players play wherever they want to play without a conflicting event rule, where you had to seek the permission of the PGA Tour to play in a tournament opposite of a PGA Tour tournament, the sponsors would be hurt by that. I think we all understood that.

When the players left for LIV, I think it was basically over. They chose to go for the money, which is fine, but to return to the Tour, I thought, was a nonstarter, but apparently it’s not.

Jack, Tom and Gary, as they’ve done in years past, all came down hard Thursday morning on golf’s distance dilemma…

Nicklaus: “The golf ball needs to be reined in. What they’re doing right now is throwing a deck chair off the Titanic, and it’s not getting enough done. It needs to really come back.”

Player: “I believe the ball should be cut back 60 yards, only for professional golf. Leave everyone to golf as it is. … Wait until LeBron James comes out, Michael Jordan, and they are because incentivization is so great. There’s so much money that people around the world are exercising and going to the gym, which originally I was criticized and condemned for doing that. They’re lifting weights now. They’ll drive the 1st green here very easily. They’re going to be driving many, many par-4s. So where are we going?

Watson: “I’m in agreement with the move to reduce the distance to the golf ball. How far that is removed is a question.”