LIV Golf says it will go on with the show this week in Mexico City (Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

LIV Golf’s shotgun start in Mexico City is set to go this afternoon. But if the reports are true they could be “dead men walking” to their respective tees — assuming they show up for work.

What started as a rumble when Ryan French, the journalist behind Monday Q Info, began tweeting about a “bombshell” annoucement from the Saudi-backed league has swelled into a full-blown tsunami of reports that the deep-pocketed Public Investment Fund might be pulling its funding of the breakaway league.

It is by no means business as usual at LIV despite the show presumably going on in Mexico City this week.

LIV staffers are in the dark about the league’s future after an unconfirmed reports started circulating Tuesday about the league’s possible demise.

None of the league’s executives were in Mexico City on Tuesday and The Telegraph’s (London) Jamie Corrigan reported that they were summoned to New York for a meeting with PIF representatives, although the reason for the meeting was not announced.

The Financial Times reported Wednesday that the PIF was on the verge of cutting its support for the league. While the Wall Street Journal reported the the league faces “imminent closure” if the PIF pulls out.

In a release on Wednesday, PIF’s board of directors announced that due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East it approved a new five-year investment strategy that will refocus its priorities domestically. LIV was not mentioned in the release.

ESPN reported that LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil told staff in an email Wednesday that its season will go on “as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle.”

Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard reported that O’Neil flew to Mexico City Wednesday and communicated to players and personnel that the league is “fully funded through the rest of the year” and said reports of its imminent shutdown are “false.” Later Wednesday, however, the Golf Channel also reported that some LIV golfers are threatening to not play in today’s first round in Mexico City after not being paid for their first-quarter performances.

LIV officials are not commenting publicly. The on-site media center in Mexico City was closed days ahead of the tournament due to reported power outage and some player interviews were cancelled. Sports Illustrated reported the players have not been given any information and that Wednesday’s pro-am continued as scheduled.

Sergio Garcia and his Fireballs team did have a pre-tournament press conference Wednesday.

“We have not heard anything,” Garcia said. “That is not what [LIV Golf chairman] Yasir [Al-Rumayyan] told us at the beginning of the year, that he is behind us, that they have a project of many years.”

LIV Golf executives, including CEO Scott O’Neil, and several communications team members were in Augusta last week for the Masters, which had 10 players in the field including Tyrrell Hatton, who tied for third.

The PIF has invested and spent billions of dollars since its 2022 launch. A year later, the PIF and the PGA Tour struck a “framework agreement” to drop litigation and negotiate a way to reunite golf. Nearly three years later, nothing has happened.

The Mexico City tournament is the sixth of LIV’s 14-event schedule, which is schedule to play its first domestic event in Virginia the week prior to the PGA Championship.

LIV events in Australia and the recent debut in South Africa enjoyed immense success, though it has struggled to gain any traction with viewers in the U.S. market. It’s last major signing was Jon Rahm in 2024.

Stay tuned. This turbulance isn’t going away soon.

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Rory McIlroy needs less drama to win back-to-back Masters (Logan Whitton/ANGC)

AUGUSTA, Ga. — It’s took 17 years or Rory McIlroy to finally win a green jacket. It took only 12 months to snag another one.

McIlroy threw away a six-shot lead Saturday and fell two behind on the front nine Sunday to two players (Cameron Young and Justin Rose) before coming back with birdies at 12 and 13 and winning at Augusta National for the second straight year, joining Jack Nicklaus (1965-66), Nick Faldo (1989-90) and Tiger Woods (2001-02) as the only players to repeat as Masters champions.

A year ago, his roller-coaster playoff victory over Rose made McIlroy only the sixth player with the career Grand Slam with Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Nicklaus, Gary Player and Woods. His second win put added him to another exclusive fraternity.

“I thought it was so difficult to win last year because of trying to win the Masters and the Grand Slam, and then this year I realized it’s just really difficult to win the Masters,” McIlroy said after holding on for a one-shot victory over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. “Just incredible.”

McIlroy was nursing a two-shot lead when his wedge barely cleared the false front of the par-5 15th hole. Then he air-mailed the par-3 16th and hit a parbolic putt from behind the green to six inches away save another par. He repeated that trick with a chip close from the right side of the 17th green.

The two-shot lead proved important as his drive on 18 went nearly to the 10th fairway and he settled for a tap-in closing bogey from the front bunker to nip Scheffler.

“I’d say walking off the 18th tee not knowing where my ball was, that was the moment of greatest stress,” McIlroy said.

“It felt pretty similar to last year. I made a double early on the first hole last year. I made a double on 4 this year. Then I played flawless golf after that. I made four birdies and no bogeys going to the last tee knowing that I had a two-shot lead. It’s nice to have that two-shot cushion instead of the one like I had last year.”

The result was pretty much how McIlroy drew it up in his mind even if the details varied.

“My parting message last year was I can’t wait to come back and put the jacket on myself,” McIlroy said at the trophy presentation. “I wasn’t quite correct.”

For the third time, it was left to the Augusta National chairman — Hord Hardin for Faldo, Hootie Johnson for Woods, Fred Ridley for McIlroy — to do the honors. “It still fits,” McIlroy said.

Nicklaus is the only one to give himself the jacket at the suggestion of Masters co-founder Bobby Jones.

McIlroy now has six majors, tied with Faldo, Lee Trevino and Phil Mickelson. And that sense of freedom he brought back to Augusta National as a champion carried him to the finish line.

“I just can’t believe I waited 17 years to get one green jacket, and I get two in a row,” he said in the Butler Cabin. “I think all of my perseverance at this golf tournament over the years has really started to pay off. It was a tough weekend. I did the bulk of my work on Thursday and Friday. But just so, so happy to hang in there and get the job done.”

McIlroy seized control for good with a critical shot over Rae’s Creek to 7 feet for birdie on the par-3 12th. Then he blasted a 350-yard drive on the par-5 13th — he had been in the trees the previous three rounds — that set up another birdie to move three shots ahead at that point.

Scheffler put himself in position to break the Masters record with the largest 36-hole comeback in history. He was 12 strokes behind going into the weekend but was just two shots behind as he approached the turn. After 11 straight pars from 4 to 14, he birdied 15 and 16 to move ahead of a pack at 10-under.

Scheffler ultimately settled for his third runner-up finish in a major to go along with four titles. His 65-68 weekend made him the first player since 1942 to go bogey-free on the weekend at Augusta.

“I put up a good fight in order to give myself a chance,” Scheffler said.

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Justin Rose laments late missed chance on 16 on Sunday (Kieran Cleeves/ANGC)

Justin rose and fell again in Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The tournament was all but over for him at this point, a final walk up the hill at the 18th hole to the sound of loud, boisterous applause greeting him as he headed for the green and a completion of his 21st Masters appearance.

Like the others, Justin Rose was not going to win this time. Yet another close call and a bittersweet ending.

“It’s more sympathy than anything,” Rose noted of the reception he received. “It was nice. Felt like the crowd was amazing to me all week long. They pulled for me all week long. I felt their encouragement and support. At the end it kind of goes a little flat. … But it was still nonetheless very beautiful.

“But, yeah, another little stinger.”

No doubt.

Last year, Rose, 45, made 10 birdies in a final-round 66 to get into a playoff with Rory McIlory, where he fell in sudden-death to a birdie. He became one of nine players to finish runner-up at least three times in Masters history (2015, ’17 and ’25).

On Sunday, Rose surged into the lead with a five-birdie first nine, had a two-shot advantage through 10 holes and was three clear of eventual winner McIlroy.

Amen Corner turned into his demise.

The holes that are furthest from the clubhouse and often such a pivotal point in any Masters round proved difficult for Rose. He played the 11th, 12th and 13th holes in 2-over par while McIlroy played them in 2-under.

That difference proved pivotal when Rose ended up two shots back of McIlroy and in a four-way tie for third with Tyrrell Hatton, Russell Henley and Cam Young. Scottie Scheffler finished second.

“Just a chance that got away, obviously,” said Rose, who won the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion. “I was by no means kind of free and clear and was nowhere kind of close to having the job done, but I was right in position. You know, Amen Corner, without really hitting a bad shot but just not a good shot — not committed enough on maybe 11 shot specifically — it was kind of like two saves.”

Rose missed the green at the par-4 11th to the right and then left his pitch 15 feet short, missing the par putt.

At the par-3 12th, Rose’s tee shot went just over the back left of the green, 35 feet away. But his heavy pitch shot from there came up well short and he again bogeyed.

And when he went for the green at the par-5 13th, hitting a beautiful approach over the flagstick, he had 30 feet for eagle. But his attempt run 8 feet past. He missed the birdie comebacker, a killer three-putt that left him looking up at McIlroy.

“I was really in control,” Rose said. “First 10 holes I felt like I was. And the mentality was to run through the finish line not just try and get it done. I was playing great, but just momentum shifted for me around the Amen Corner.”

The 13th hole was an opportunity to get back into the game, especially after a strong tee shot.

“Kind of hit the premium shot in there, and thought I was going to have a great eagle chance,” Rose said. “I talked myself into having too much of a good eagle look that. That green is a bit of a funny one. I feel like I was quite straight down the line and maybe got too — obviously clearly too aggressive with it. Just maybe off the back of two bogeys that was the one moment where four there really settles things down and gets me right back in it.

“It was kind of like a continuation of a lot momentum I felt. So, yeah, that three-putt … that was untimely for sure.”

Rose got a birdie putt to drop at the 15th to get back to 11-under par and with some hope, but a bogey at the 17th when he missed a short par putt crushed his chances.

“I feel like if there was anyone that is deserving of a green jacket this probably would be Rosey,” said fellow Englishman and Ryder Cup teammate Hatton, whose 66 pushed him into a tie for third. “As it stands right now, it looks like he’s going to come up just a hair short again. But, again, incredible player and I imagine one day he’ll slip on a green jacket.”

For that to happen, Rose will have to equal Jack Nicklaus at age 46 as the oldest Masters champion.

He was attempting to become just the fifth player to win a major after losing it the year prior in a playoff. John McDermott (1911 U.S. Open), Bobby Jones (1926 and 1929 U.S. Opens), Gay Brewer (1967 Masters) and Jack Nicklaus (1972 U.S. Open) were the others.

Rose has played nicely over the past few years, contending at the 2024 British Open won by Xander Schauffele and winning three times in the past three years, including this year’s Farmers Insurance Open. He’s also been a strong performer for Europe in the Ryder Cup.

But these major opportunities are so rare.

As tough as last year was in losing to McIlroy in a playoff, this one was equally if not more difficult.

“I feel like with a sudden-death loss you kind of know you got to the house,” Rose said. “You’ve done everything it took to win. Then it comes down to flick of a coin at times.

“Whereas today I felt like, there was an opportunity to do better, so obviously that is frustrating for sure.”

Abe Mitchell held 6-stroke lead halfway through 1920 Open at Deal (Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

While we all process what happened on Saturday at Augusta National before the co-leaders tee off in the final round of the 90th Masters, it seems like a good time to become acquainted with Abe Mitchell.

There is little reason for even the most avid modern golf fan to know of Mitchell, who is often first described as “the illegitimate son of Mary Mitchell” born in East Grinstead, England in 1887 and, according to five-time Open champion J.H. Taylor, was the original “greatest player to never win a major.”

We all, however, are familiar with his likeness, as Mitchell is immortalized atop the Ryder Cup.

You see, Mitchell was supposed to serve as the player-captain in the inaugural Ryder Cup matches in 1927 at Worcester Country Club in Massachusetts, but the personal golf instructor of Samuel Ryder was unable to make the trans-Atlantic journey due to either a bout of appendicitis or anxiety he was known to suffer from after serving on the front line in World War I.

Mitchell did play in three subsequent Ryder Cups (1929, ’31 and ’33), helping the team from Great Britain actually defeat the U.S. team twice on home soil at Moortown in Leeds and Southport & Ainsdale.

As thanks for teaching him the game in St. Albans north of London, Samuel Ryder had Mitchell’s figure placed atop the 17-inch cup he donated to the competition that bears his name. “I owe golf a great deal,” Mitchell said. “What you have done, putting me on top of the cup, is more distinction than I could ever earn.”

Figure atop the Ryder Cup is a likeness of Abe Mitchell (Wikipedia photo)

While Mitchell finished runner-up in the 1912 British Amateur, 17th in the 1922 U.S. Open and fourth three times in the Open Championship, there is one other distinction that is the reason for writing this remembrance today.

Mitchell is the only player in the history of the game to blow a six-stroke or better lead after 36 holes in a major championship. A year after joining golf’s most exclusive fraternity as a career grand slam winner, this is one historical accomplishment Rory McIlroy would not like to pull off.

McIlroy soared to a record six-shot lead on Friday at the midpoint of the 90th Masters. That tied him with himself (among others) for the third largest 36-hole lead in major history, behind only Henry Cotton’s nine-shot gap in the 1934 British Open at Royal St. George’s and Brooks Koepka’s seven-shot margin in the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black. Also with six-stroke 36-hole leads were Martin Kaymer in the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst, McIlroy in the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional, Tiger Woods in the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and Mitchell in the 1920 Open at Royal Cinque Ports (Deal).

Everyone before — except Mitchell — went on to victory.

Deal was supposed the host the 1915 Open Championship, but the outbreak of the Great War forced it to be cancelled. So when the British Open resumed in 1920, it went back to Royal Cinque Ports.

Mitchell, an amateur, led all qualifiers as medalist to get into the field of 74 players. Rounds of 74 and 73 saw Mitchell open a six-shot lead over Jim Barnes and Sandy Herd.

Mitchell’s third round, however, was disastrous. He started with three bogeys, made a seven at the fifth hole and finished with an 84 to fall into a tie for fourth with George Duncan two shots behind 54-hole leader Len Holland. Duncan, who’d started with a pair of 80s, shot 72 in the final round to win the claret jug and Mitchell settled for fourth.

Now Mitchell has a chance to be remembered in the same context as McIlroy, whose six-shot lead evaporated on the lowest scoring third-round Saturday in Masters history.

Rory McIlroy scratches his head after 6-shot lead dissolved in a long third round at Masters (Leckie Wong/ANGC)

While guys like Cam Young and Scottie Scheffler were posting 65s and the scoring average (70.63) dipped below 71 strokes for only the third time in Masters history, McIlroy shot 73 and ended the day tied with Young for the lead at 11-under. Now it’s a horse race on Sunday with 11 players within five shots of the lead.

A potential date with infamy awaits McIlroy at Augusta late Sunday. Either he joins another exclusive fraternity with Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods as the only players to ever win back-to-back green jackets, or his joins Abe Mitchell as the only players to ever lose a six-shot 36-hole lead in a major championship.

If Rory doesn’t turn his fortunes back around, he will never be able to look at the figure on top of the Ryder Cup quite the same way.

Tyrrell Hatton talks to his hat after three-putting the 18th on Friday (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rory McIlroy (12-under) ran away from an all-star chasing pack — Patrick Reed (6-under), Sam Burns (6-under), Tommy Fleetwood (5-under), Justin Rose (5-under) and Shane Lowry (5-under) — late Friday in his quest to go wire-to-wire and become the fourth player to repeat as Masters champion.

McIlroy opened a record six-stroke lead after 36 holes. He birdied six of the last seven — including the final four consecutive — in a second-round 65 on Friday that left him at 12-under par for the tournament. He’s in position to not only join Jack Nicklaus (1965-66), Nick Faldo (1989-90) and Tiger Woods (2001-02) as the only repeat champions but challenge a couple of huge Masters records in the process — Tiger’s 12-stroke margin in 1997 and Dustin Johnson’s 20-under scoring total in 2020.

“Look, I’ve built up a nice cushion at this point,” McIlroy said. “I guess my mindset is just trying to keep playing well and keeping my foot on the gas.”

While McIlroy rolls, let’s take a moment at the midpoint of the Augusta National invitation tournament to appreciate one of golf’s true characters ensconced among the crowd tied for seventh at 4-under par who had the round of the tournament Friday until Rory came roaring home.

Tyrrell Glen Hatton.

The English Hatton kept his cool on Friday, which on his best days is typically a dicey proposition. The man known for his bemusingly ammusing volcanic eruptions, self-deprecating immolations and genuine disgust for his various executions while playing an impossible game was quite nearly stoic during an oh-so-close to flawless second-round at Augusta National.

There wasn’t much reason to get upset on Friday, where Hatton hit all 18 greens in regulation and shot a 6-under-par 66 to move into contention through two rounds at the Masters. Only two other players in the last 30 years have hit every green in the Masters (Jim Furyk in 2009 and Kevin Na in 2020).

But even that came with a fitting bit of Hatton angst after a three-putt bogey at the last hole. Already peaved that his approach stayed atop the upper tier and left him an impossibly bending downhill 30-footer, when his comebacker for par spun out of the hole it left him in a relatively mild (by his standards) state of annoyance as he pointed and barked at the various slopes and breaks that contributed to his finishing injustice.

“Today was a great day,” said Hatton, who finished 36 holes at 140, 4-under par, after shooting an opening-round 74. “Actually walking up 18 I was pretty confident that I couldn’t mess it up enough that I wouldn’t shoot my best score here.

“I mean, naturally I tried with a three-putt, so that was disappointing, to say the least. But, yeah, I mean, I certainly would have taken 6-under before I went out.”

Hatton’s previous best was a 68 during the final round in 2021 at a place that has generally frustrated him. He tied for ninth in 2024 and tied for 14th last year but he has called the course “unfair at times” and said that good shots often are not rewarded.

This came a day after Hatton’s equanimity was challenged when his approach shot to the seventh green hit the flagstick and came back off the green.

“I was absolutely headless on seven yesterday, because I had gone from essentially having a very good birdie opportunity to not only has it gone back in the bunker at speed, it’s gone onto the flat, and then it’s semi-buried itself,” Hatton said. “I was, like, sick, I’ve got no chance. Not good.

“I still had, what, 11 holes to go, so you move onto the next hole. As headless as I would be, I still go and try my best. That’s all you can ever do. And ended up being a not too bad day. I didn’t think 2-over was that bad yesterday afternoon.”

The 34-year-old Hatton — who plays on Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII on LIV Golf and tied for third in the Adelaide event earlier this year — was invited to the Masters based on a top-four finish last year at the U.S. Open. He is also among the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking, coming in at No. 31 this week.

Last year, he won the Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour, where he also plays. And he went 3-0-1 in Europe’s Ryder Cup victory last September at Bethpage Black.

But Hatton’s reputation has largely been built around his demonstrably combustible nature and his utter disdain for bad shots and poor results. Sometimes it can come across poorly, and he’s been criticized for it at times.

“I don’t know if I’m popular or not,” he said. “I think there’s many other players that are far more popular than me, and that’s fine. People, I guess, will either like how I am on the golf course or they won’t. I won’t lose sleep over it.

“But maybe they see themselves in me and how they play golf at the weekend and how they react, but that’s for them to judge, I guess where.”

Very few, if any, can play the way Hatton played Friday at the Masters on a firm and fiery golf course. He shot the round of the tournament so far on a course that seems to be getting more difficult by the minute.

He acknowledged that the greens might have been a tad slower when he played early in the day, something that helped him.

“I gave myself lots of opportunities,” he said. “I would have liked to have seen more putts go in. I don’t feel like I actually holed that many putts certainly outside sort of seven, eight feet.

“Hopefully I can do a bit better on that front over the weekend, but overall it was a good day.”

As for the weekend … well, that is where Hatton acknowledges his patience might become severly tested. The conditions are not expected to get any easier, especially as he will be in one of the later groups, when the course dries out even more and the greens become firmer.

“I think the greens are just going to get firmer and faster, which is quite a scary prospect, because I feel like the 15th green can’t really get much firmer than what it is,” he said. “So it’s going to be tough. There’s always going to be someone that deals with it very well, and they’ll be putting on a green jacket on Sunday.

“I’ll just try and do the best I can and see if I get a bit of luck for a change.”

Hatton has had trouble getting out of his own way in all of the major championships, to be fair. It tests the patience of a man who has little. And he needs it.

As he so eloquently put it about his seven-birdie, one-bogey round: “For me it felt like a bit of a surprise I actually got it to 7 under around this golf course with how I’ve previously struggled.

“I mean, I was obviously enjoying it. It was nice to be at that score and not hacking it round and over par like I generally do around here. I guess it was nice for a change.”

Rory McIlroy picks up where he left off last year atop Masters leaderboard (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

Quite frankly, it’s a helluva leaderboard after one eventful round at the Masters.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy shares the lead at 5-under 67 despite hitting only five fairways all day. There’s something to be said for this playing carefree theory.

Talented if not sexy American Sam Burns is right up there with Rory.

“I was nervous, I was anxious just like I always am on that first tee,” McIlroy said. “It’s the first round of major season, the first round of the 16 most important rounds of the year. Yeah, I’m thankful that I felt the same as I always have. I think it would be worrisome if I didn’t feel that way because it definitely still means something to me.

“But I would say that I didn’t hit the ball very well the first seven holes, and sometimes here that would lead me to get tentative and a little guidy, and I kept swinging, just trusting that I’m going to find it eventually. So maybe that was a little bit different.”

The pack in third at 3-under includes past Masters champion Patrick Reed and former PGA champion Jason Day along with Kurt Kitayama.

The heavyweight foursome at 2-under are all major champs — world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, two-time major winner Xander Schauffele, two-time Masters playoff runner-up Justin Rose and former Open champion Shane Lowry.

Lurking among a crowd in red figures at 1-under are fan favorites Tommy Fleetwood and Gary Woodland. Eight major winners are among the 16 tied at even par, including past Masters winners Jordan Spieth, Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott and Hideki Matsyama.

Geezers José María Olazábal and Freddie Couple were each 2-under on the back before the perilous 15th hole derailed them with a double and quad, respectively. No. 15 (Firethorn) was merciless on Thursday, torching dreams of multiple players including Robert MacIntyre, who collected one of four quads there and likely earned a talking-to by flipping his middle finger at the pond.

LIV golfers had a nightmarish start, with only past champion Garcia managing to get home in even par. Popular favorites Bryson DeChambeau (76) and Jon Rahm (78) need a special effort Friday to avoid early exits. Only Dustin Johnson (73) among the rest of the LIV team even beat 60-year-old short hitter Olazábal (74), and none of them did better than recent defectors Reed (69) and Brooks Koepka (72).

“It’s a hard golf course,” said Rahm. “Some of the players might have been able to manage a respectable round, but when you have no feel with the swing whatsoever, it’s just not an easy one. What I manage? Hopefully get some physio, get some dinner, get something positive going in that sense. Tomorrow is a new day.

“It’s going to be a very much more uphill battle right now, but I’m going to have to come out tomorrow and most likely post something in the 60s to have a chance to make the cut and give myself a chance on the weekend.”

Day 2 should be fun.

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Stray Shots: Traditions unlike any other

By Peter Kaufman

1. Hello, friends: Jim Nantz has been announcing at the Masters since 1986 — this is his 41st year at Augusta (and the 90th Masters is this year). His inaugural appearance, of course, was Jack Nicklaus’ most famous victory.

Nantz has been the anchor of the CBS telecast since 1989. He intends to continue his Masters run for another 10 years until the 100th Masters in 2026. Lucky us.

His celebrated career has included Super Bowls and March Madness, but it’s for his Masters coverage that most of us revere him. His silky delivery of “the towering Georgia pines” and his smooth demeanor means the arrival of “spring” just as much as the tournament itself does. It’s impossible to find anyone with a cross word to say about Nantz, as well.

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Adam Scott drives on the 18th hole during another perfect practice day (Kohjiro Kinno/Augusta National)

AUGUSTA, Ga. — If the weather forecast is right, this will be the best Masters week in 15 years.

For the first time since 2011, there is no precipitation in the forecast for the entirety of the Masters week. It’s difficult not to be excited for what is in store over the coming days at Augusta National for the 90th playing of the Masters Tournament.

With conditions likely to be the driest in recent memory, it means the potential for the firm, fast test that tournament organizers of all the major championships dream about being able to produce.

That’s what typically separates the best from the rest, with greens only holding well-struck shots and fairways that let errant drives run toward trouble. New Masters competition committee chairman Geoff Yang with have a perfect palette to set the course upon.

“It’s just looking so good,” said Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters champion making his 25th appearance. “It’s the way I like to see it. It’s getting firmer and likely getting faster as well. And the weather looks perfect. So it’s going to be play well and have a good score kind of stuff this week, and I think there’s going to be a lot of excitement.”

The course was already firm last Saturday for the playing of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, and there was only the slightest precipitation late on Sunday since. There is no rain in the forecast through the tournament days.

The temperature cooled off into the 40s the last two nights and reached only into the mid-60s on Wednesday, but it will get progressively warmer starting with Thursday’s first round, with temperatures getting into the 80s on Saturday and Sunday. There is potential for light wind each day which makes for more indecision.

Because of the firmness of the course, some players have been re-thinking their equipment.

“I’m using a 7-wood this week because might need it on (hole No.) 4 and also the par-5s,” said Keegan Bradley. “The 3-iron is just not going to be high enough (in the air) so (with a 7-wood) I can hit that much higher.”

“This course tests you every single hole,” said 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia. “When it’s windy the wind switches and it’s really, really tricky. It’s testing you every single hole.”

Said Alex Noren: “The most fun thing about it is you get some roll on the fairways. Like on (hole No.) 2, for example, you can kind of use the fairway. Also fun hitting into greens. It’s always a lot of thinking here, but it’s even more when it’s dry. And it’s going to be interesting.”

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Fred Ridley wanting to get something off his chest about equipment regulation (Joe Toth/Augusta National)

Masters strongly supports ball rollback

Augusta National Golf Club and Masters chairman Fred Ridley made his strongest statements yet in support of the governing bodies’ attempts to reign in the distance modern players with modern equipment are hitting the golf ball.

Are the PGA Tour and PGA of America listening?

Ridley — a former U.S. Amateur champion, past president of the USGA and once chairman of the Masters competition committee — made it emphatically clear where he (and thus Augusta National and the Masters) stands when it comes to the announced rollback of the golf ball led by the USGA and R&A. He reserved the bulk of his scripted comments during his annual pre-tournament press conference about the issue.

“Finally, I’ve commented for the past several years on the subject of distance,” Ridley said Wednesday. “We have been consistent in our support of the governing bodies in their effort to regulate the distance elite players are hitting the golf ball. Recognizing that the implementation of the overall distance standard test for golf balls may be delayed to 2030, I want to reemphasize that support and affirm our position as the USGA and R&A represent their collective obligation as custodians of the game.

“I also want to be clear that our position is grounded on much more than protecting the Augusta National golf course. We will continue to make modifications as are necessary to react to driving distances that in some cases exceed 350 yards. Unfortunately, many courses, including some iconic venues, do not have that option.

“Until recent years golf has been a game of imagination, creativity and variety. The game has become much more one-dimensional. As players drive the ball prodigious distances and routinely hit short irons into par-4s and even some par-5s, this issue goes beyond competitive impacts. Increased course lengths result in more time, more cost and more environmental concerns.

“The data that has been shared with all stakeholders makes one thing clear: the impact to the recreational game will be immaterial. All of us in this room and millions of weekend golfers around the world will be hard-pressed to notice the effects of this change, and I do not believe our enjoyment of the game will be affected.

“As for professional golf, we hold firm in our belief that the greats of the game are defined not merely by how far they hit the ball, but their extraordinary skill in all aspects of the game. Their ability to shape shots, to take on risk and to execute under pressure is at the heart of championship golf and is best displayed through a full spectrum of shot-making opportunities.

“Regulation of the golf ball is not an attempt to turn back time or stifle progress. It is an effort to preserve the essence of what makes golf the great game that it is.”

In case any of the complainers among recreational golfers didn’t hear that, he called the ball rollback “immaterial” and said it will go unnoticed by the average hack. The focus should be on trying to contain the elite golfers who keep pushing the limits of technology to the detriment of historic venues.

He would also like the PGA Tour and PGA of America — the two most prominent entities to express skepticism and/or outright disdain for the ball regulations proposed by the governing bodies — to understand where the Masters stands.

If the PGAs choose not to abide by the rules of golf when the ball changes go into effect in 2030, then those players will almost certainly be playing a different golf ball when they show up for three of the four major championships on the calendar.

Ridley would prefer it not come to that.

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Gary Woodland and caddie, Brendan Little, enjoying some peace on 17th fairway (Chris Condon/Augusta National)

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The minute Gary Woodland promises not to get emotional, buckle up.

Woodland couldn’t help himself Tuesday. In the interview room for the first time in years at Augusta National, the recent Houston Open winner couldn’t contain his emotions when discussing his return to the Masters.

The 2019 U.S. Open champion at Pebble Beach — who had surgery in 2023 to remove a benign brain tumor — acknowledged before the Players Championship last month that he suffers with PTSD and has been especially anxious about his surroundings.

That’s no easy task to handle for a professional golfer surrounded by galleries at every tournament he plays. Even under the best of circumstances, anxiety is tough to control. He needed to do just that two weeks ago at Memorial Park in Houston en route to his first victory in seven years.

“I had a big battle Friday of Houston,” Woodland said. “I got hypervigilant on the ninth hole, and I battled the last 10 holes thinking people were trying to kill me. I have security with me. The tour’s been amazing.

“But I talked to tour security that night and I told them what I was going through, and every time I looked up on the weekend, my security team was behind me. Last year I didn’t talk to tour security. I fought this on my own. It was awful. Turning around and knowing that I’m safe, having somebody there with me, it’s the only reason why I won two weeks ago.”

The Texas Childrens’ Houston Open victory, his fourth on the PGA Tour, earned him the final spot into the Masters field after missing out last year. Woodland had been exempt through 2024 due to his 2019 major win, but that pass had expired.

In the aftermath of his brain surgery, it was remarkable enough that Woodland returned to golf at all, even if his game did not always meet his usual standards. Winning seemed a long way off if at all, and with it the likelihood of qualifying again for the Masters.

“I’m emotional from the standpoint I know how close I probably was to never being back here, and I’m very proud of myself for earning my way back,” Woodland said.

“I’m in a different spot than I’ve been in a long time. Coming back in ’24, I was still fresh from surgery. I just didn’t know what the future held. Now I know the fight I’m in.

“I’m not going to get emotional, but I know what I’m battling every day. People ask me how was the win? The one thing I know is having this brain tumor and having PTSD, it doesn’t matter if I win or lose. It doesn’t care. I had a tough time last week battling this stuff. A lot of stimulation comes with winning, stuff I hadn’t seen in a long time.

“It’s a big week for me this week. The fans are very close on the tee boxes. There’s a lot going on. There’s probably not a safer golf tournament in the world, so I’m happy for that, but it’s still a battle in my head if I’m safe or not. That’s a tough pill to swallow.”

Gary Woodland fights his PTSD every day on the golf course. (David Paul Morris/Augusta National)

Woodland said he has issues with people being too close to him, which is a product of his PTSD. Thus he feels a sense of calm when he notices security personnel that he knows — or whom his caddie, Brendan Little, points out during a round.

Woodland consulted with PGA Tour personnel as well as Augusta National officials to help provide some level of comfort this week. It helps that at Augusta National, there are fewer people inside the ropes — players, caddies and rules officials only.

“It’s given me purpose, golf has, for sure,” Woodland said. “When I was diagnosed with this brain tumor three years ago, my number one thought was I wasn’t going to let this thing win. I’ve dreamed of being a professional athlete since I was a little kid, and I would do everything in my power to live that dream for my childhood self.

“Golf has given me something a lot more to fight for than just myself and my family. I love being out here. I love the guys. I love competing. And the thought of losing that is hard.

“There’s been times where I wondered if I was going to be able to do it, but I was going to fight and give it everything I had. There’s definitely times, even this year, where physically I think my game is as complete as it’s ever been. I think it’s more complete than when I won in ’19 at the U.S. Open. But there’s been times where I didn’t know if I’d have the mental stamina to get through a week.

“I fought hard earlier this year with some struggles, and that’s hard. That’s a hard pill to swallow that this thing could be taken away from me for something that’s out of my control.

“Houston was a big step in the right direction, just from a confidence standpoint, that even with hard days, I can still compete.”

Woodland will play in one of the marquee Masters pairings on Thursday and Friday, going out late in the first round with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre.

Asterisk Talley had no idea what was about to hit her in this moment on 12th tee (Courtesy ANWA)

AUGUSTA, Ga. — They say good things come in small packages. Not always.

The 12th hole at Augusta National looks simple enough. It’s among the most photographed and discussed short holes in the game. At only 155 yards, Jack Nicklaus calls it one of the toughest par-3s in the world.

Located in the middle of Amen Corner at the furthest point from the clubhouse, the hole named Golden Bell has less than 30 feet of depth from front to back at its narrowest point. It has one bunker in the front and two in the back.

Most menacingly, it has Rae’s Creek running across the front, swallowing its share of golf balls and dreams through the years.

It found two more on Saturday and passed on another, ultimately determining the outcome of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

Asterisk Talley — the 36-hole leader who seemed so in control through 46 bogey-free holes including the first 10 holes of the final round — had two balls race down the front slope into the gloom of Rae’s Creek from the back bunker. The ensuing quadruple bogey 7 took her from tied for the lead to all but out of it much like Jordan Spieth’s meltdown there in the 2016 Masters.

In the group in front of Talley, María José Marín — whose approach on the 12th hole came up short but somehow did not roll back into Rae’s Creek — managed to get that up and down to save par. She called it a miracle, and 1992 Masters champion Freddie Couples understands how she feels.

The 19-year-old golfer from Colombia who was making her fourth start in the ANWA shot a final-round 68 at Augusta National to eventually claim a four-shot win over Stanford sophomore Andrea Revuelta in the seventh edition of the event that is the kickoff to Masters week.

Korea’s Soomin Oh (68) finished solo third at 9-under. Talley, who began the day with a one-shot lead over Marín and Sweden’s Meja Örtengren, finished in a tie four fourth, six shots back after a 75 that required 42 strokes on the back nine.

Marín, a junior at Arkansas who in 2025 won the NCAA individual title and was coming off a victory Sunday at the Clemson Invitational, missed 11 greens during the tournament (the first two rounds were played at nearby Champions Retreat) and got up and down for par nine times.

None was bigger than the 12th, where the wrong result could have derailed her hopes.

María José Marín got lucky, and up and down, from the front bank on 12 (Courtesy ANWA)

“I think I’ve been kind of a victim of Amen Corner now because definitely gust of wind, it totally tricked me,” said Marín of the moniker for the three-hole stretch that is the 11th, 12 and 13th holes at Augusta National. “It was into the wind; it was not downwind.

“One of the signs was the ball staying on that ridge on 12,” Marín said. “I’ve never seen a ball stay there, and I think it was just God holding the ball there, like, don’t move. This is happening for something.

“When my ball stayed there — I think it’s a miracle that my ball stayed there. I just kind of have to make par and walk away out of here because this just happens once.”

Well, it has happened previously, but usually a ball landing short of the green does not stay. It almost always inevitably trickles back into the water. A notable exception occurred at the 1992 Masters, where Couples’ final-round shot to the green hit on the bank, rolled back, and amazingly stopped. He went on to win his only major title.

“You don’t ever get a break like that,” Couples said at the time. “It was the biggest break probably of my life. I’m sure a million people watching on television were wondering why it didn’t go in. So was I.”

Nicklaus once referred to it as “probably the most dangerous par 3 in the game. You never know what’s going to happen.”

Talley, the 17-year-old phenom who was playing in her third ANWA tournament after two prior top-10s including runner-up last year, had seemingly been so strong through two rounds and was headed to an Augusta National course were she had yet to make a back-nine bogey in her two previous appearances.

Then she opened with birdies on three of her first four holes and was steady at 14-under par through 10. Her first bogey of the day came at the 11th and the tenor of the round changed. She had dropped into a tie with Marín.

Talley had foretold the danger ahead of her a day early after a practioce round at Augusta. “It can tear anyone up in an instant,” she said on Friday. “I mean, we’ve all watched the Masters, right? With all the meltdowns that happen on Amen Corner, and anything can happen …”

A day later, it happened to her.

“I just didn’t think that was going to be my position from the tee box,” Talley said afterward. “I didn’t think I would have to be in that situation at all. It shows how hard that hole is and how much it has messed up other people as well. Obviously it’s tough from any position if you’re not on the green.”

Talley said she felt fortunate her ball didn’t travel farther into the bushes behind the green. From the bunker, she noted there was not much sand and simply was not able to get the ball high enough, as it landed hard and ran across the green and into the water.

Asterisk Talley’s hopes were swallowed up by two balls in the creek from the back bunker on 12 (Courtesy ANWA)

With the option to drop in the bunker or drop on the other side of the creek, Talley played from the same position after being allowed to rank the sand. It was the same result.

After a penalty drop, she decided to play from the other side of the creek, hitting her sixth onto the green and then holing the putt for a quadruple-bogey 7. When Marín birdied the 13th hole ahead of her, Talley was five shots back.

“Didn’t think it was that hard until today,” Talley said. “Yeah, maybe a couple people were in there already and made the bunker a little harder. I don’t know. I just don’t think it was the day for me, I guess. It wasn’t the hole for me.”

Marín wasn’t aware of her lead until she got onto the 15th hole, where she made her own mistake by missing the green long. The bogey briefly dropped her lead to three strokes but she rebounded with a birdie at the 16th and was able to enjoy a nice two-hole stroll to the clubhouse amid one of golf’s greatest settings.

With no rain forecasted for the rest of Masters week, players in the field can expect a firm course in perfect condition for the 90th installment of the season’s first major.

Taking care of the little things, like the 12th hole, will be as big a key as it was for the women last weekend.

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson collected three straight green jackets from 2004-06 (David Cannon, Getty Images)

O.J. Simpson’s white Ford Bronco led a slow-speed chase down the freeways of Los Angeles. Tonya Harding plotted to kneecap her figure skating rival Nancy Kerrigan. Ukraine gave up all its nuclear weapons on the promise that Russia would respect its sovereignty. Nelson Mandela became the first black president of post-Apartheid South Africa. Kurt Cobain and John Candy died. The “Chunnel” and Amazon opened for business. Forrest Gump, Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, The Lion King and Dumb and Dumber played in theaters. Friends debuted on TV. The average price of gas was $1.11.

1994 was a pretty eventful year. It was also the last time the Masters took place with neither Tiger Woods nor Phil Mickelson in the field at Augusta National.

A few days after five-time champion Woods (1997, 2001-02, 2005 and 2019) officially withdrew from the Masters to seek treatment following DUI charges after a rollover accident, three-time Masters winner Mickelson (2004, 2006 and 2010) announced that he was withdrawing from the Masters and stepping away for an extended period “as my family navigates a personal health matter.”

That leaves the 2026 Masters without the two biggest golf stars of their generation for the first time in more than three decades. In 1994, Woods won his first of three straight U.S. Amateur titles to qualify for his first Masters in 1995 while Mickelson missed the tournament after breaking his leg in a March skiing accident.

José María Olazábal won the first of his two green jackets in 1994.

Woods, 50, hasn’t played an official event since the 2024 British Open. The 55-year-old Mickelson — who became the oldest player to win a major at the 2021 PGA Championship and finished runner-up at Augusta in 2023 — has also missed four of the five LIV Golf events this year citing his family’s health matter.

Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods played a practice round together in 2018 (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

Mickelson did play in LIV Golf’s most recent tournament in South Africa, leading to speculation he would tee it up at the Masters for the 32nd time.

But the six-time major winner announced Thursday that he will “be out for an extended period of time as my family continues to navigate a personal health matter. I have great respect for Augusta National Golf Club and it is definitely the most special week of the year. I wish everyone the best of luck and will be watching.”

Mickelson has made 28 cuts in 31 appearances at the Masters, with 16 top-10 finishes, including his three victories. Only three years ago, Mickelson shot a final-round 65 to briefly get into contention before finishing in a tie for second with Brooks Koepka, four strokes behind winner Jon Rahm.

Woods first played in the Masters in 1995 as an amateur but this year is missing the event for the sixth time dating to 2014 when he withdrew for the first time as a pro after undergoing his first of now seven back surgeries.

With the withdrawals this week of Mickelson and Woods, the field is now at 91 players, with the possibility of this week’s winner of the Valero Texas Open getting an invitation if he is not already exempt.

Tiger Woods’ Land Rover after his rollover crash in Jupiter, Fla. (Associated Press via Martin County Sheriff’s Office)

In his first statement since his arrest and charges after another rollover crash last week near his home in Jupiter, Fla., Tiger Woods said he will step away to seek treatment for his health issues.

“I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in today,” Woods posted on social media. “I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health. This is necessary in order for me to prioritize my well-being and work toward lasting recovery.

“I’m committed to taking the time needed to return in a healthier, stronger and more focused place, both personally and professionally. I appreciate your understanding and support, and ask for privacy for my family, loved ones and myself at this time.”

Woods, 50, was charged with driving under the influence, property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful urinalysis test on Friday when he was in a rollover car crash after clipping a pressure-washing trailer attached to a truck that had slowed down to turn in front of him. Police reports said he was found with two hydrocodone pills in his pocket — a prescription painkiller commonly known as Vicodin.

Officers said he 15-time major winner appeared lethargic, with bloodshot eyes and was “sweating profusely.” He passed a field sobriety test and claimed that he was distracted by his phone when he came up on the stopped vehicle in front of him.

Woods has pleaded not guilty and is seeking a jury trial.

In the immediate future, Woods will not be in Augusta next week to play in the Masters, help open the short course he designed as part of Augusta National’s redesign of The Patch municipal course or attend the Champions Dinner hosted by Rory McIlroy.

Woods will also temporarily step away as the chair of the PGA Tour’s future competition committee until he is ready to return. The group, tasked with reshaping the future structure and schedule of the PGA Tour, reportedly met virtually Tuesday without Woods.

“Tiger Woods is a legend of our sport whose impact extends far beyond his achievements on the course,” the PGA Tour said in a statement. “But above all else, Tiger is a person, and our focus is on his health and well-being. Tiger continues to have our full support as he takes this important step.”

PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, in his own statement, said: “Over the last year, I have come to deeply appreciate Tiger not only for his impact on the game, but for his friendship and the perspective he has shared with me as I joined the golf industry. My thoughts are with him and his family as he takes this step, for which he has my full respect and support.”

The absence of Woods leaves the 2026 Masters field at 92 qualified players after Texas Children’s Houston Open winner Gary Woodland and four others players qualified last week via the top-50 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Daniel Berger, Jake Knapp, Nicolai Højgaard and Matt McCarty each earned a spot into the season’s first major, which begins April 9 at Augusta National.

Michael Thorbjornsen started the final round in Houston tied third and needed a top-five finish or better to slide into the top 50. But as it did at the Players Championship his poor Sunday finish cost him dearly as he finished T14 and only moved up to No. 54.

Pierceson Coody, who before the Florida swing ranked No. 45, missed his third cut around a T55 at the Valspar and just missed becoming the first grandson of a Masters champion (Charles Coody, 1971) to qualify to play Augusta.

One more Masters spot is available to the winner of this week’s Valero Texas Open.

Gary Woodland after ending a seven-year victory drought with emotional win in Houston (Jordan Bank/Getty Images)

2026 Masters Field

Through March 30, 2026

Here’s how the 92 players currently qualified and expected to play in the 2026 Masters got into the field

# first-timers (23); * amateurs (6); Americans (49); Internationals (43); Seniors (6)

Ludvig Åberg (13, 18, 25, 26) – Sweden

Daniel Berger (26)

Akshay Bhatia (18, 25, 26)

Keegan Bradley (17, 18, 25, 26)

#Michael Brennan (25)

#Jacob Bridgeman (17, 18, 26)

Sam Burns (18, 25, 26)

Angel Cabrera (1) – Argentina

Brian Campbell (17)

Patrick Cantlay (18, 25)

Wyndham Clark (2, 25) – through 2028

Corey Conners (13, 18, 25, 26) – Canada

Fred Couples (1)

Jason Day (13, 26) – Australia

Bryson DeChambeau (2, 13, 25, 26) – through 2029

Nico Echavarria (17, 26) – Colombia

Harris English (13, 15, 16, 18, 25, 26)

#Ethan Fang* (8)

Matthew Fitzpatrick (2, 25, 26) – England – through 2027

Tommy Fleetwood (17, 18, 25, 26) – England

Ryan Fox (17, 25 26,) – New Zealand

Sergio Garcia (1) – Spain

#Ryan Gerard (25, 26)

#Chris Gotterup (15, 17, 18, 19, 25, 26)

#Max Greyserman (25)

#Ben Griffin (17, 18, 25, 26)

#Harry Hall (18) – England

Brian Harman (3, 18, 25, 26) – through 2028

Tyrrell Hatton (14, 25, 26) -- England

Russell Henley (18, 25, 26)

#Jackson Herrington* (7-B)

#Brandon Holtz* (11)

Nicolai Højgaard (26) – Denmark

Rasmus Højgaard (25, 26) – Denmark

Max Homa (13)

Viktor Hovland (14, 18, 25, 26) -- Norway

#Mason Howell* (7-A)

Sungjae Im (13, 18, 25) – South Korea

#Casey Jarvis (24) – South Africa

Dustin Johnson (1)

Zach Johnson (1, 13)

#Naoyuki Kataoka (21) -- Japan

#John Keefer (25, 26)

Kurt Kitayama (17, 25, 26)

Michael Kim (25)

Si Woo Kim (25, 26) – South Korea

Jake Knapp (26)

Brooks Koepka (4) – through 2028

#Fifa Laopakdee* (9) – Thailand

Min Woo Lee (25, 26) – Australia

Haotong Li (15) – (China)

Shane Lowry (18, 25, 26) – Ireland

Robert MacIntyre (14, 18, 25, 26) – Scotland

Hideki Matsuyama (1, 17, 18, 25, 26) – Japan

Matt McCarty (26)

Rory McIlroy (1, 3, 5, 18, 25, 26) – Northern Ireland

#Tom McKibbin (22) – Northern Ireland

Maverick McNealy (18, 25, 26)

Phil Mickelson (1, 4)

Collin Morikawa (3, 4, 17, 18, 25, 26) – through 2026

#Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (23, 25, 26) – Denmark

Alex Noren (25) – Sweden

#Andrew Novak (18, 25)

José María Olazábal (1) – Spain

Carlos Ortiz (14) – Mexico

#Marco Penge (20, 25, 26) – England

Aldrich Potgieter (17) – South Africa

#Mateo Pulcini* (10) – Argentina

Jon Rahm (1, 2) – Spain

Aaron Rai (25, 26) – England

Patrick Reed (1, 13, 25, 26)

#Kristoffer Reitan (25, 26) – Norway

Davis Riley (16)

Justin Rose (13, 17, 18, 25, 26) – England

Xander Schauffele (3, 4, 13, 25, 26) – through 2029

Scottie Scheffler (1, 3, 4, 5, 13, 17, 18, 25, 26)

Charl Schwartzel (1) – South Africa

Adam Scott (1) – Australia

Vijay Singh (1) – Fiji

Cameron Smith (3) – Australia – through 2027

J.J. Spaun (2, 18, 25, 26) – through 2030

Jordan Spieth (1)

#Samuel Stevens (25)

Nick Taylor (18) – Canada

Justin Thomas (4, 18, 25, 26) – through 2027

#Sami Valimaki (25) – Finland

Bubba Watson (1)

Mike Weir (1) – Canada

Danny Willett (1) – England

Gary Woodland (17)

Cameron Young (3, 14, 17, 18, 25, 26)

CATEGORY 1: Masters Tournament Champions (Lifetime)

CATEGORY 2: U.S. Open champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)

CATEGORY 3: British Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)

CATEGORY 4: PGA Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)

CATEGORY 5: The Players Championship Winners (3 years)

CATEGORY 6: Current Olympic Gold Medalist

CATEGORY 7A & 7B: Current U.S. Amateur champion (A, Honorary, non-competing after 1 year) and runner-up (B)

CATEGORY 8: Current British Amateur Champion (Honorary, non-competing after 1 year)

CATEGORY 9: Current Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion

CATEGORY 10: Current Latin America Amateur Champion (TBD Jan. 15-18, 2026 at Lima Golf Club)

CATEGORY 11: Current U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion

CATEGORY 12: Current NCAA Individual Champion

CATEGORY 13: First 12 players (including ties) in previous year’s Masters

CATEGORY 14: First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s U.S. Open

CATEGORY 15: First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s British Open

CATEGORY 16: First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s PGA Championship

CATEGORY 17: Individual winners from previous Masters to current Masters of non-opposite PGA Tour events that award a full FedEx Cup point allocation toward the Tour Championship

CATEGORY 18: Eligible qualifiers for previous year’s season-ending Tour Championship

CATEGORY 19: Current Scottish Open champion

CATEGORY 20: Current Spanish Open champion

CATEGORY 21: Current Japan Open champion

CATEGORY 22: Current Hong Kong Open champion

CATEGORY 23: Current Australian Open champion (TBD Dec. 4-7, 2025 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club)

CATEGORY 24: Current South African Open champion (TBD Feb. 2026 at Stellenbosch Golf Club)

CATEGORY 25: Top 50 on final Official World Golf Ranking for previous calendar year

CATEGORY 26: Top 50 on Official World Golf Ranking published week prior to current Masters

SPECIAL EXEMPTION: The Masters Committee, at its discretion, also invites international players otherwise not qualified

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Last Tuesday, Tiger Woods returned to competition at TGL. Now what? (James Gilbert/TGL Golf via Getty Images)

Just miles from his home near the Medalist Golf Club where he practices, wearing a blue golf shirt with the Sun Day Red logo, Tiger Woods again rocked the sports world with the kind of bad news that has come to cast a dark shadow on so much he has done in golf.

Woods ended up in a Martin County, Florida, jail on Friday afternoon after he refused to take a urine test following a two-vehicle accident in which he hit the back of a pickup truck, flipped his Landover on its side, and fortunately, escaped serious injury.

By now you know the details of his arrest on charges of DUI. It was the fourth time dating to 2009 that Woods was involved in a vehicle incident, now twice arrested.

In 2017, he was found to have had five prescribed medications in his system after being found by the side of the road behind the wheel of his car — asleep — at 3 a.m.

Woods was later able to plea those charges down to reckless driving and has largely escaped scrutiny in the ensuing years, even after the horrific rollover car crash in 2021 in California that led to severe leg injuries. In that case, police at the scene saw no probable cause to run toxicology tests — even though his SUV was traveling at more than 80 mph when it rolled and crashed down an embankment.

When Woods was questioned by media months later, he shut it down by saying everything was in the police report. Of course, no details of his state of mind, why he was driving, what he was thinking — none of that was in the report.

And thus, Woods — who is not available to the media often — was able to dodge any tough questioning.

Expect the same now.

Woods, from a legal perspective, likely acted smartly by not consenting to a urine test. We’ll never know what was in his system. Yes, under Florida law, he faces losing his driver’s license for a year for failing to take the test. But because he passed a breathalyzer test, his attorneys can argue that the police were wrong in believing he was acting as if he were under the influence.

So far, there has yet to be a police report or bodycam footage released. Woods’ mug shot was certainly not flattering, but not nearly as bad as the one associated with his 2017 arrest. Neither Woods nor his team have also not released a statement and it’s possible that some legal wrangling will ensue.

According to Sheriff John Budensiek, the accident occurred shortly before 2 p.m. EDT. An unidentified male was driving a pressure-cleaning truck and pulling a smaller semi-trailer on a two-lane road and noticed in his rear-view mirror that a Land Rover was closing in on him “at a high rate of speed.”

As he was trying to pull to the side of the road, the Land Rover — driven by Woods — overtook him and clipped the back left side of the track, causing Woods’ car to turn over on its side. The driver of the truck was not injured.

“The individual was able to crawl out the passenger side,” Budensiek said of Woods. “He did exemplify signs of impairment.”

Woods, a 15-time major champion who was hopeful of a return to golf at the Masters next week, was charged with two misdemeanors — DUI with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test.

Tiger Woods leaving the Martin County (Fla.) Jail after his arrest on Friday night (MEGA/GC Images)

This is the fourth time Woods, 50, has been involved in a traffic issue that involved law enforcement.

In 2009, Woods crashed into a fire hydrant in his neighbor’s yard near his Isleworth home on Thanksgiving night. His then-wife, Elin, was reported to have pulled him from the car. No charges were filed.

In 2017, not long after a spinal fusion surgery, Woods was found passed out around 3 a.m. while driving in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., not far from his Jupiter home. He was arrested and found to have prescription drugs in his system. He later pleaded guilty to reckless driving and agreed to a plea deal. Police later dropped charges of driving under the influence, but footage of his arrest and jail mugshot went viral.

In February of 2021, Woods was involved in a serious one-car crash near Los Angeles while on his way to a publicity shoot. The SUV he was driving reportedly rolled several times and Woods suffered serious injuries leading to multiple surgeries on his lower right leg that make long walking difficult.

Crash investigators did not seek a warrant for a blood test because they said there was no evidence of impairment or intoxication. No charges were filed, and the crash was ruled an accident.

He returned to golf 14 months later but has played sparingly since, missing all of last year following an Achilles injury that required surgery.

Woods had disk replacement surgery in October and was trying to get ready to play in the Masters. He has not played an official event since the 2024 Open Championship.

Will he play the Masters next week? It remains possible, and perhaps Augusta National becomes a sanctuary from all the noise. He’s not going to talk about any of this, even though he needs to take ownership of a serious situation.

It’s also possible that some may distance themselves from him in the aftermath of this latest incident. Does the PGA of America still want Woods as its Ryder Cup captain in 2027? Does Brian Rolapp, the new PGA Tour CEO, want Woods having such a big say in reshaping the future of the tour as chairman of the future competition committee?

So far, there have been no public comments.

But Kevin Kisner, who played with Woods on their TGL team and is an analyst for NBC, called the incident “very disturbing” during his broadcast duties on Saturday.

“He was really working hard on his game, trying to practice and get back in shape,” Kisner said. “He signed up for the U.S. Senior Open yesterday (Woods registered for the July event). He was trying to do anything he could to come back and try and help our TGL team get ready, hopefully try and play the Masters.

“Just a really unfortunate incident. The only positive is that nobody was injured in the incident and we can all move forward and hopefully help him get better.”

Moving forward, at the very least, means Woods ought to find someone else to drive for him.

There are clearly other issues to resolve, with golf likely the least of them.

Tiger Woods takes his first full swing in more than a year in TGL match Tuesday (Adam Glanzman/TGL via Getty Images)

Tiger Woods competed Tuesday night. If you blinked, you missed it.

The first round of the Masters is a mere 15 days away and Woods said he will be at Augusta National. We just don’t know if he will be playing in the tournament.

By all indications, he is putting in the effort to be ready to play. Tuesday night’s TGL match was another — albeit small — step in that direction.

In his first competitive return since last year’s inaugural TGL season, Woods showed up for the final match of the second-season championship final series. He accounted for a total of nine strokes as his Jupiter Links team was overwhelmed by a tsunami of eagles by Los Angeles Golf Club in a 9-2 dusting that lasted only 10 holes in clinching the TGL title.

“We got out ass kicked at the end,” said Woods. “Three eagles in a row and we didn’t respond. I missed a short one at the beginning to get it started and give them momentum and we never got it back.”

After the match, Woods would only commit to being in Augusta, Ga., in three weeks to attend the Champions Dinner and the opening of his short course at the renovated Patch. He still hasn’t decided if he can tee it up in the Masters.

“As I said, I’ve been trying,” Woods said. “Just this body is — it doesn’t recover like it did when it was 24, 25. It doesn’t mean I’m not trying. I’ve been trying for a while. I’ve had a couple bad injuries here over the past years that I’ve had to fight through and it’s taken some time.

“But I keep trying. I want to play. I love the tournament. I’ve loved being there since I was 19 years old. It’s meant a lot to me and my family over the years. I’m going to be there either way with The Loop that’s going up there, as well as the Champions Dinner.”

Pressed further as to how late he might make a decision, Woods said: “I don’t know, we’ll see how it goes. I’ll be practicing, playing at home this week and keep trying to make progress.”

Woods had not participated in TGL all year but his team made it to the best-of-three championship series. The Los Angeles team of Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood and Sahith Theegala won on Monday night meaning Jupiter Links — which included Max Homa and Tom Kim along with Woods on Tuesday — needed to win twice Tuesday night.

But it never got to a third encounter as the match was clinched after just 10 holes meaning Woods did not even get a chance to play either of his singles holes.

Jupiter Links had jumped to a quick 2-0 lead through five holes. Woods missed putts of 25 and 23 to win holes 1 and 5 and lagged one close from 45 feet on the fourth that set up a win. His 279-yard 3-wood to within 24 feet set up a birdie win on the second hole when Sahith Theegala missed a 4-footer.

But it was all downhill from there as L.A. won five consecutive holes including two double-point hammers and a triple-point hammer on the 10th hole to end the match. L.A. eagled the last three holes.

“It sucked,” Jupiter’s Max Homa said.

After squaring the score at 2-2 after a hammer win on the sixth hole, the match turned when Woods lipped out a par putt from 3 feet, 6 inches to lose the seventh. He flashed some anger as he swiped at his offending ball.

“(Akshay Bhatia) probably would have made that two-footer that I missed,” Woods said of Jupiter’s reserve player who wasn’t available because he is playing in this week’s Hero Indian Open on a sponsor’s obligation. “We had to hold down the fort, and unfortunately we didn’t hold down the fort.”

In all, Tiger hit two drivers, one fairway wood, one wedge off the tee, one long bunker shot, three long putts and the one shorty — missing all four.

In a very limited showing, Woods showed some power, with ball speed of 176 mph (that’s in Scottie Scheffler range) and an old-school stinger shot that traveled 318 yards with 274-yard carry.

“There’s definitely more (power). I’ve never really struggled with ball speed,” Woods said. “Ball direction is a different story. I’ve hit it left and right most of my life, hence my last name is Woods.

“Hey, I’ve always had speed. That’s always been something that I’ve fortunately been gifted with. Even as I’ve gotten older and with the body not quite what it used to be, I can still get it up there.”

In all, Woods was pleased just to step into the arena again as a player.

“It feels good to be back but I would have like to been back in better circumstances,” Woods said. “That’s sports. You put yourself out there and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose and you deal with it.”

While he hardly needed to exert himself in only five shots that weren’t putts, Woods wsa pleased with his ball speed and how his body felt after the brief effort.

“Feels fine physically. It was just interesting the shots because usually you have more of a rhythm when you’re actually playing a normal round of golf, hitting shots. Here it feels like I’m getting iced a bit at times,” he said.

“It’s just a different rhythm. It’s like when you play Ryder Cup or Presidents Cups and you play in foursomes. Some matches you just don’t hit a putt for like 10, 11 holes and all of a sudden you’ve got to make a three-footer. That’s kind of what it feels like here.

“I had a couple drives I had to hit and then a couple putts. It was just … for me, it was different because I haven’t really done this. I’ve been watching these guys do it. They make it look easy. I haven’t done it in a while. It was a lot of fun, though, to be a part of it.”

Before the match, an upbeat Woods was eager to get his competitive juices flowing for the first time in a year.

“I’ve been a cheerleader all these matches and I just wanted to compete,” he said. “I’m going to be rusty. I haven’t played golf in a long time. Thank God I have teammates to pick me up.”

Asked what the significance of his return might mean for his competitive future, Woods was non-commital.

“As far as setting myself up for the future, I think it’s one step at a time,” he said. “Tonight’s a nice step because I haven’t played competitively in a very long time after a very long year of rehabbing.”

Woods, a five-time Masters champion, has not played competitive tournament golf since missing the cut at the 2024 Open Championship.

He had a back procedure later that year meant to alleviate disk impingement but while gearing up for a spring comeback ruptured his Achilles tendon and had surgery, keeping him out for the entire 2025 season. Then he had the disk replacement surgery in October, believed to be his seventh back surgery dating to 2014, for which he has said the recovery has been slow.

Woods, 50, is listed in the Masters field and is not required to do any more but show up or withdraw. If he does not play, there is no alternate list. He has made 26 starts at the Masters dating to his 1995 debut and has made 24 consecutive cuts, a Masters record.

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Despite all his successes, Viktor Hovland often feels lost in the woods (David Cannon/Getty Images)

Viktor Hovland is always smiling, and yet seemingly always unhappy.

The Norwegian golfer is a happy-go-lucky sort who enjoys what he is doing. But Hovland is always striving for more, never satisfied and often frustrated.

Take the one day he might have chosen to relax after playing and contending in last week’s Players Championship and prior to his title defense this week at the Valspar Championship.

Hovland, 28, went to work on Monday — having yet again switched swing coaches — in pursuit of whatever it is that is missing.

“I would like to take some Mondays off. I think my trainer would definitely want me to do that,” Hovland said Tuesday at the Innisbrook Resort, where he is defending his Valspar title this week on the Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor, Fla. “But it’s hard for me to take time off and relax when I don’t feel like I’m in a state where I feel like I deserve to take one.

“I feel like there’s some things — I have ideas in my head, always constantly trying to problem solve and see what works and if I have an idea, I want to just go out there and test it and see if it works. If it doesn’t, well, okay, how do we move on from there? So ideally, in a perfect world, if I was playing great golf I would probably take yesterday off and just relax. But that’s not where we’re at, so we’re going to have to go out there and practice.”

Hovland has seven PGA Tour victories (along with two on the DP World Tour) but just one since a standout 2023 season that saw him win twice during the FedEx Cup playoffs and capture the overall season title.

Then, Hovland seemed impervious to poor play. He starred for Europe at the Ryder Cup that year in Rome, Italy.

But 2024 came and went without a victory — and myriad changes with coaches and approaches. He missed the cut at three majors, but nearly won the PGA Championship — after reuniting with yet a different coach — before finishing third at Valhalla.

Even last year, when he won the Valspar, he didn’t seem quite right.

“I hit a lot of disgusting shots, but they just happened to go where I was looking,” he said afterward.

Earlier this year, Hovland was seen practicing with pool floaties on this arms at the Genesis Invitational. He recently parted ways with coach Grant Waite — whom he reunited with just before his Valspar win a year ago.

“It’s not like I have a theory behind it, but the game of golf is constantly evolving and there’s new challenges that arise all the time,” Hovland said. “I feel like I’m obviously a very curious person and there’s a lot of smart people out there. If I feel like there’s something missing or — and I obviously haven’t been very happy with the state of my game the last few years — I’m constantly searching to try to hear other perspectives that might resonate with me a little bit more.

“It’s not to say that … like I feel like every single person that I work with I’ve gotten good information, and I don’t seek out dumb people. I find the smartest people that I deem are out there, and I really listen to them and I’ve learned from a lot of them. But I obviously got to filter that information and make that applicable to myself. And there’s some information, some bits and pieces kind of resonate with me more than others, and then I kind of, that’s how I go about it and try to filter out the information the best that I can.”

Hovland is coming off consecutive T13 finishes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players — where he was briefly tied for second after making eagle on the second hole on Sunday before fading. He tied for 10th at the WM Phoenix Open and late last year tied for sixth at the DP World India Championship.

He was third last year at the U.S. Open but has no victories since that Valspar win — which followed his last missed cut at the Players Championship.

“Yeah, it was a pretty special week, after having shot 80 the last week and really struggled with my game,” he said. “Kind of finding something at least in my iron game, and just being super patient throughout the week and heavily relying on my putter. I think my putter was really clutch there coming down the stretch particularly. And really just capitalizing on a few good iron shots coming down the stretch.”

Maybe another win this week will make Hovland happy, but probably not. But he’s sure to smile anyway.

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Rory McIlroy was relieved his back held up for four rounds at Players (Eston Parker/ISI Photos via Getty Images)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — This was a far different outcome from the one a year ago, when Rory McIlory prevailed in a St. Patrick’s Day Monday playoff over J.J. Spaun to claim his second Players Championship title.

By the time Cameron Young was holing his short par putt to claim the Players trophy after a wild back nine at TPC Sawgrass, McIlroy had been comfortably at home in South Florida for hours.

A late-arrival due to the back problems that caused him to withdraw before the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, McIlroy never really got in synch this time. He failed to shoot in the 60s and finished way back in a tie for 46th at even par.

McIlroy was nearly a cut casualty on Friday and was simply glad to make it to the weekend to get in the extra rounds.

Now he’s got a decision to make prior to his Masters defense next month. He’s not a given to play in his Tuesday night TGL semifinal appearance and there’s a question as to whether or not he’ll tee it up again over the next three week before heading to Augusta National.

“I’ll see,” McIlroy said after his final-round 71 that included two double bogeys. “I haven’t really made a decision either way. I’ll see how my body feels. We’ll see how I feel in practice and at home and if I get itchy feet at home maybe add an event at some point.

“I feel like it was important to make the weekend here and play an extra couple of days. But yeah, really just see how the next week goes … once I get back to actually a full practice schedule and in the gym and stuff like that, see how my body reacts to that, and then I’ll see.”

McIlroy is not playing this week’s Valspar Championship. His Boston Common TGL semifinal match Tuesday night seemed like a given, but now he’s participation against the Tiger Woods captained Jupiter Links team is to be determined on Monday. Last year, McIlroy played the Texas Children’s Houston Open, finishing tied for fifth two weeks prior to the Masters. He could also enter the Valero Texas Open the week prior to the Masters.

“Happy I got through four days and my body feels good,” McIlroy said. “I feel like my game sort of progressively got a little bit better as the week went on, even though the scores probably didn’t reflect it over the weekend. I hit the ball well. I just didn’t make anything on the greens.

“A couple little things to work on, but overall, not the week that I wanted. Just trying to take the positives.”

As for what a Players Championship performance means for the rest of year heading into the major season, McIlroy said it is mixed.

“Sometimes you feel like it tells you stuff, and then other times it sort of doesn’t,” he said. “I’ve had bad results here and went on to have a good season, and I’ve had good results here, and the two really good results here (wins in 2019 and 2025) I’ve went on to have good seasons. It’s a decent litmus test. I don’t think it’s the best in terms of telling where your game is at. It can get a little funky if you hit it in some spots.

“But I would say you have to be really on to shoot scores here. I guess it tells you a lot about that. I feel like I hit the ball well the last three days. I didn’t get a lot out of it. But I do feel like I saw some good signs even though the scores didn’t quite reflect it.”

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Cameron Young came up clutch at the end to win the Players (Eston Parker/ISI Photos via Getty Images)

Young grabs his chance to win Players

Cameron Young stepped up on the big stage Sunday, hitting the biggest shots of his career on the 17th and 18th tees to left him over Matthew Fitzpatrick at the Players Championship.

Young claimed his first piece of the lead after stuffing his tee shot on the infamous island-green 17th to 10 feet to set up a clutch birdie to tie Fitzpatrick at 13-under. Then after a perfect 375-yard drive on the treacherous 18th hole — the longest ever on the 18th at the TPC Sawgrass — to set up a two-putt par, he claimed the second and biggest win of his career when Fitzpatrick missed an 8-foot par putt to try to force a playoff.

Young played bogey-free on the back nine when so many others could not, shooting 4-under 68 to finish 13-under par.

“It’s so loud on 17. You just know kind of all eyes are right there on you so there’s nowhere to hide," Young said. “And I feel like I stepped up really well and hit a bunch of good shots those last couple holes, so I’m very proud of that.”

Yound had tied the PGA Tour record with seven runner-up finishes before finally winning late last summer in the Wyndham Championship. His career near misses included finishing one shot short in the 2023 PGA (T3) and Open (solo second) Championships.

The Players is the PGA Tour’s flagship event, loosely known as the fifth major, and the pressure was just intense at the end as his major efforts.

Ludvig Åberg, who had a three-shot lead going into the final round, imploded on the back nine with shots into the water on consecutive holes at 11 and 12 leading to a bogey and double he never recovered from. He shot 40 on the back nine for a 76 and tied for fifth.

Fitzpatrick was the first to seize on Åberg’s collapse, hitting wedge to tap-in range for birdie on the 12th and a tee shot to 4 feet for birdie on the 13th to reach 13-under. Young hung within a shot with a birdie of his own on 13. Fitzpatrick fell into a tie with Young when he three-putted from 60 feet on the 14th, only to regain the lead with a 12-foot birdie on 15.

All tied at 18, both players had doubled the final hole in the third round. On Sunday, however, Young was committed to the line off the tee and thought “I’m going to hit the best shot of my life right here.”

“I don’t know if I can think of one that’s better,” he said. He hit it so far with the wind at his back that he had only 98 yards left, a lob wedge that settled on the fringe behind the flag 15 feet away.

Fitzpatrick’s drive went too far right into the pine straw and he pitched out just short of the green, then hit a decent chip to 8 feet.

“I felt like I hit a good drive,” Fitzpatrick said. “And once you’re out of position, it’s difficult to make your par.”

When Fitzpatrick missed his putt to force a playoff, Young was left with a tap-in par to finish at 13-under 275.

“The nerves kicked in over the 8-inch putt on the last,” Young said. “That hole looked really, really small there from pretty close range. So happy to have finished it off, and just really excited to have played the way I did.”

Young earned $4.5 million and moved to No. 4 in the Official World Golf Ranking. That’s a long way from where he was a year ago when his only goal was to make the Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black in his native New York. His late-season success earned him a captain’s pick and he proved to be Team USA’s best player that week, going 3-1 and winning the leadoff singles match in the American rally that fell short.

Going head to head with England’s Fitzpatrick on Sunday, chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” broke out on the 17th tee as Young had the crowd on his side.

“That was literally child’s play compared to Bethpage,” Fitzpatrick said of the crowd. “If they think that that was anything, then they need to reassess. Get yourself up to New York.”

The 28-year-old Young said he drew from that Ryder Cup experience coming down the stretch. “Definitely some nerves, but also some confidence,” he said.

Xander Schauffele birdied three of his last four holes, including a 20-foot birdie on 18, to close with a 69 and finish third, one shot ahead of Robert MacIntyre.

Åberg poor finish was the big surprise. He was still two shots ahead and in the middle of the fairway on the par-5 11th when he flared his fairway wood out to the right and into the water, leading to bogey. On his next tee shot, he pulled it badly into the water, hit over the green and took three to get down for double bogey.

That put him three behind, and he never recovered.

“I would have loved to be standing where Cameron is standing right now,” Åberg said. “It definitely stings a little bit.”

Justin Thomas was sharper than Scottie Scheffler on Thursday at Players (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Last week’s season debut was no fun for Justin Thomas. He was willing to take his time getting his game back after missing months recovering from microdisectomy back surgery, and certainly didn’t expect to be terribly sharp after so much time away.

Thomas was willing to cut himself a little slack. He went nearly six months without a competitive round and was taking things slow after November back surgery to relieve a herniated disk.

But a pair of 79s? Shotting 14-over par in 36 holes? Missing the cut by 12 strokes? Finishing dead last at the Arnold Palmer Invitational?

Yikes! The performance left him “sad and upset.”

“Look, I wasn’t expecting to go be in contention and have a chance to win the golf tournament,” he said. “I fully believed that I could. Like I was hitting all these shots and doing things well enough to, but I knew it was going to be tough mentally being out there and playing.

“But when you kind of post two pretty humiliating scores, it’s hard to give yourself too much grace.

“There’s no scenario where I’m okay and think that it’s fine to shoot that poorly and put those kind of scores up. But, yeah, I really just needed a little bit of time to decompress and think about it and just almost regroup, if you will.”

He regrouped well. Thursday’s 4-under 68 in the opening round of the Players Championship was welcome, if not a relief.

“Literally every single thing you could imagine I did quite a bit better,” Thomas said Thursday.

“Just feels great to get off to a great start at a big tournament, a tournament that I love. I always enjoy playing this place. I just feel like it’s just a fun course to play.

“I feel like you can, given the different wind conditions or whatever, you have a lot of variety of shots and things that Sawgrass kind of asks of you. I can’t necessarily say I’ve been playing well because last week was my first tournament in six months, but I felt I was more than capable of doing that.

“But just was able to knock a little bit of rust off … a lot of rust off … last week, and obviously felt a lot more comfortable today.”

Thomas, the 2021 Players champion, posted a score one shot behind early leader Maverick McNealy. By the end of the day, Lee Hodges, Sepp Straka, Sahith Theegala and Austin Smotherman joined a five-way tie for the lead at 5-under. Smotherman will wake up to a 14-foot birdie putt on the par-5 ninth for a chance to take the first-round lead alone with a 66.

Thomas — a two-time major champion with 16 PGA Tour victories — made six birdies on Thursday, including his first three holes after starting at the 10th. His only bogeys came on a three-putt at the par-3 17th and a scramble on the 18th — the two statistically hardest holes in the first round.

“Man, it helps,” he said of his good start. “I kind of had a deep breath to myself walking off 9 and, like I said, internally, ‘I needed that,’” Thomas said. “Just to … again, I feel like I’ve been playing well at home. I feel like I’m doing the right thing swinging well. I feel confident with things. But again, until it happens in competition, it’s kind of hard to fully buy into you’re ready.

“I think that was kind of what I said last week. My main goal is getting through these weeks and really feeling like I’m not having to try so hard to be in a good place at Augusta (for the Masters).

“I think yes, I know that I want to try and play well and try and win these next couple events, but it’s also going to be harder for me to probably continue to focus and keep my concentration this week versus in a couple weeks. Just all part of it.”

Thomas got thrown back into the deep end this week, paired the first two rounds with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and No. 3 Tommy Fleetwood — the last two FedEx Cup champions. He ended up winning the group, edging out Fleetwood’s 3-under 69 and Scheffler’s even-par 72.

Scheffler spent all day scrambling with a driver that continually missed fairways — often by alarmingly large margins. Every hole seemed like a stress test.

“Yeah, just kept going right,” Scheffler said after missing half of the 14 fairways only because his drive on the sixth hole bounced off a tree and into the short grass to set up a birdie. “I mean, it’s easier hitting it from the fairway than it is from the rough. I played from the rough a lot today.”

Fleetwood ignited with putts of 24, 20 and 12 feet for an eagle-birdie-birdie surge on 16, 17 and 18.

“It’s a huge bonus of a stretch, really, because I played really solid, really, that whole nine holes. I left a few short,” Fleetwood said. “I struggled with the pace of the greens all day really. They took me by surprise. … I just left way too many putts short and struggled with my pace a little bit, and up until that point on 16 had like two or three sort of mid-range chances; hadn’t holed anything.

“A complete bonus of a stretch, but it was really good golf through that point.”

PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has big plans for shoring up tour’s future (Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The annual state of the PGA Tour address from the chief typically starts with a long preamble boasting about past accomplishments. New CEO Brian Rolapp on Wednesday just went straight into his focus on the future.

Rolapp laid out a blueprint of what the PGA Tour model will look by 2028, and what it lacked in specific details still to be ironed out it made up for in preparing professional golf’s constituents that big changes are inevitable.

With the future competition committee helmed by Tiger Woods, a new streamlined and two-track tour is going to emerge.

“The committee’s focus has been on the competitive model built on meritocracy,” Rolapp said. “This is not a closed shop. We are aiming to go create a more cohesive schedule with a simpler point system, one where the best players compete against one another more frequently.”

Rolapp outlined six themes that will determine the future schedule and structure of the PGA Tour, emphasizing “no decisions have been made.”

“This remains a work in progress, and it is by no means a baked cake,” Rolapp said. “These are simply areas we are starting to see a meaningful consensus.”

Here’s what we can expect to materialize when the dust finally settles:

1. A season running from late January to early September with double the number of the current eight signature events. “In terms of overall structure — inclusive of the (four) majors, the Players, the postseason (and the Ryder or Presidents Cups) — we are looking at roughly 21 to 26 tournaments on a first track of elevated events with the best players competing for higher purses,” Rolapp said.

   “To be clear, we will have a second track of PGA Tour tournaments which will ladder up to those elevated events.”

2. More consistent field sizes. “This means moving away from small fields and no-cut events,” he said. “Our best events will have larger fields. Ideally, we are targeting something closer to 120-player fields with a cut. That consistency matters.”

3. Opening the season with a marquee event at an iconic venue in the U.S. west. “Allowing us to finish on network television in primetime on the East Coast,” he said. Torrey Pines and Pebble Beach fit the bill here, with Torrey the seemingly easy landing spot for The Sentry moving from Kapalua.

4. More events in larger markets. “Today the PGA Tour competes in only four of the top 10 largest U.S. media markets,” Rolapp said. “That is an opportunity. We are evaluating markets like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington DC, Boston, and many others — places where there is a strong fan demand for our sport and a chance to reach new fans.”

5. A Premier League-style system of promotion and relegation between tour “tracks.” “Scarcity is about making every event we have matter,” Rolapp said. “This is why we are evaluating the role of promotion and relegation between these two tracks within our competitive model, an added element that we would bring to life in the second track of events I described earlier. What we envision is a merit-based system that leans into what makes professional golf so compelling, players earning their way to the top, with every event having greater meaning.

   “For our members, the message is pretty simple: Play well and you earn the opportunity to compete in our biggest events and for more money.”

6. Enhanced post-season stakes in what’s currently called the FedEx Cup playoffs. “We have heard from our fans and our partners, they want more drama,” Rolapp said. “We are considering the potential integration of match play, either at the Tour Championship or across the post-season as a whole, bringing win-or-go-home moments to the conclusion of our season.”

Rolapp said that another update on the future competition committee’s plans will be revealed during another press conference this summer ahead of the Travelers Championship.

Brian Rolapp delivers his first state-of-the-tour address to packed house (Tracy Wilcox/PGA Tour via Getty Images)

“Once decisions have been made and finalized, changes will be implemented through a rolling approach,” Rolapp said. “As Tiger has said recently, some elements could be addressed sooner for next season, with more significant change likely to be implemented for the 2028 season, pending the necessary work to be done with our partners and other operational considerations.

“This is a complex process with many constituencies impacted. We will continue to move with urgency, but we are focused on getting it right.”

Rolapp said “I think there will be a place for most of our events in our new model,” meaning long-standing smaller market events like the John Deere and Greensboro should land places somewhere on the schedule, though possibly in different time frames and different tour tracks.

“I think just because we are looking to play more often in bigger markets does not necessarily mean we’re abandoning small markets,” Rolapp said. “That is a misconception. There’s room for both.”

The Tour Championship might shift from its permanent home at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, where it’s hot in August. West Coast venues like Riviera might be a suitable playoff spot while markets like Chicago, New York and Philly could serve as postseason locales.

East Lake and the large Atlanta market could comfortably fit into a familiar spot as a lead-in event to the Masters two hours east in Augusta.

It’s a tall task to put the pieces together in a cohesive puzzle that appeals to players, sponsors, broadcast partners and — arguably most importantly — golf fans.

Rolapp strives “to build something lasting that outlives all of us.” Good luck.

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Partner priorities: Europe in mix; LIV not so much

There is interest in extending the PGA Tour’s “strategic alliance” with the DP World Tour. As for the moth-balled “framework agreement” with LIV Golf, any kind of reunification with the breakaway league is not on Rolapp’s radar.

Rolapp also said he hopes the PGA and DP World tours will renew their strategic alliance, but he did not detail any changes to the cooperative or financial terms.

“The strategic alliance predates me, but the importance of the European tour and the history of the European tour and the relationship the PGA Tour doesn’t, and I have an appreciation for that,” he said. “We’re fortunate to have a strategic alliance; it’s one that we value. It’s one that many of our members value. We would like to extend that. In fact, we made a proposal to do that, to how to actually create even a more mutual benefit relationship. So we hope we can do that.”

As for LIV, it’s on its own as far as Rolapp is concerned.

“I think I’ve been clear about this; my brief is to make the PGA Tour better,” he said. “I’m open to whatever makes the PGA Tour better. That is my brief. Better for fans, better for our members. So that’s what I’m focused on, and that’s where I put all my efforts.”

That presumably does not include the possibility of inviting top-rated LIV to compete in the PGA Tour’s flagship Players Championship — even if that helped the argument for making the Players a major, which Rolapp seems to have no appetite for debating.

“That’s not sort of a priority I’ve put on my list,” Rolapp said. “So that’s not something I’ve sort of considered to date. There’s other priorities other than that.”

Brooks Koepka is happy to be back at TPC Sawgrass (Ben Jared/PGA Tour via Getty Images)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — In the shrinking world of the PGA Tour, Brooks Koepka is a one-man expansion program.

Koepka’s return to the roost from LIV Golf in January brought benefits beyond just adding a five-time major winner to the best fields in golf. I brought with him opportunities for peers that had otherwise been taken away.

If Patton Kizzire and Seamus Power don’t drop thank you notes in Brooksie’s locker this week at TPC Sawgrass or tithe a portion of whatever thet might win from the Players’ richest individual purse in golf, they should at least put him on their Christmas card list,

When the PGA Tour agreed to terms to allow Koepka an immediate return back this year when he opted to leave LIV Golf after four seasons, it made clear it would not be at the expense of current PGA Tour players. Nobody was going to get bumped out of a tournament field to make room for Koepka.

In fact, to keep groups playing threesomes, two players would be added to any field Koepka is in through the 2026 season.

This week at the Players Championship, Kizzire and Power were the fortunate players who got into the now 123-player field at TPC Sawgrass, getting the opportunity to compete for the $25 million purse they otherwise would have missed out on.

“I think every week somebody’s thanked me, which has been kind of — it’s weird,” Koepka said Tuesday at TPC Sawgrass, where he is playing in his fourth PGA Tour event since returning and first Players since 2002. “I don’t know. Just never been thanked for playing an event before. So it was cool.

“I mean, it’s kind of nice. I mean, it’s a good opportunity for those guys to get in and play, and if they play good, hopefully keep it running for the rest of the year. Because pretty much, I would say, it’s going to be between the same, you know, 15 to 20 guys that are pretty much going to get in. It’s a good opportunity.”

Power understands that well. This year, field sizes have been reduced across the schedule as the tour went to a leaner model which saw just 100 fully exempt players off last year’s FedEx Cup points list (down from 125) and fewer spots allotted off the Korn Ferry Tour (20 down from 25).

Power finished 117th in 2025, so instead of full status he has only a conditional card. Along with reduced field sizes, that keept him out of Phoenix and likely the three upcoming non-signature events before the Masters. Once the fields increase to 144 players this summer, he’d get in more of the usual events. But the Players was going to be off the table until the Koepka rule got invoked.

“So they posted a field like last Monday, and I was 123 and literally never moved,” said Power, who watched anxiously to see if a previously unqualified winner at Puerto Rico or the Arnold Palmer Invitational would bump him out.

“Ricky Castillo won (in Puerto Rico) and he was already in this field, so that worked. I mean, I was following that pretty closely, because there was other guys up around that who weren’t in and they would have pushed me out. So when he won, you’re assuming that Brooks is not going to withdraw. So it’s just a weird thing. But 123 of 123 , it was nice. Because at least that settles a week, because otherwise you’re kind of trying to prepare, but the same time you’re kind of looking at the (alternate) list. You’re following this Rory’s (McIlroy back injury) thing like crazy, and you don’t want to wish injuries on anyone.”

Part of the PGA Tour’s thinking for downsizing was to help with pace of play, but the tour also believes it makes the overall circuit more competitive if it is harder to stay on or get into tournaments. The Players Championship has seen its field reduced from 144 to 120 but went up to 123 with Koepka eligible due to his 2023 PGA Championship victory.

Koepka admitted that after a few years away, he needs to acquaint himself with some players — especially the ones who are grateful for his presense giving them more chances to play.

“There was definitely some I didn’t know,” he said of the guys who’ve gotten into the four events he’s played. “I mean, I don’t know if this is a guess, but 30 percent of this tour I don’t know right now. I mean, I’m knowing more guys just being out here, but it’s going to take me a few more weeks.”

And if they want to thank him, they’ll have a tougher time reaching him. Koepka said he recently changed his phone number after the WM Phoenix Open, where he missed the cut.

“I do it probably more often than I should,” Koepka said of getting a new cell number. “I think after Phoenix, just wanted a little bit of a reset. Then my phone was blowing up. So just wanted to really focus in on preparation and dialing into golf. I thought that was the best way to just kind of come unglued from the world for a half second and where basically it was only my family and anybody that’s golf related really has my number right now, which … it’s been kind of nice.”

Koepka is trying to regain the form that saw him win five majors and become the first player to win five times on LIV Golf.

But he hasn’t won anything since 2024 and he had a forgettable 2025 in which he missed the cut in three of the four majors and barely contended in LIV events, finishing 32nd in the league’s points standings.

“I think it was a lot of putting,” Koepka said. “I think it’s been going on longer than a year though. I think it’s been pushing two. Just where I haven’t … the consistency of speed hasn’t been there. I felt like every time I hit a good putt, it just kind of hit the lip or would miss it by a foot and you don’t want to ever question what’s going on.

“But when you feel like you did something right and you look up and it’s not even close, you know that there’s a problem. And that was just kind of my breaking point in Phoenix.”

Koepka switched to a Spider Tour mallet putter, and he showed signs of life coming off the cut line and eventually tying for ninth in his last start at the Cognizant Classic.

“I felt like I had to make birdie from my approach play,” Koepka said of his putting woes. “I think that sometimes, if you’re not doing something well it can cost you. Just because you try to be maybe a little bit more aggressive or take on a pin that you normally wouldn’t have. Then somehow you end up in a horrible spot, and you’re looking at bogey with a wedge and you’re just sitting back in the middle of the fairway on the next hole, going ‘what was I doing; how did I just turn a birdie hole or a birdie opportunity into a bogey?’

“That was something that was just kind of eating at me, and … it felt like for a while there the only thing I was birdieing was a par-5 I was reaching in two or a par-4 that I was driving it pretty close to. I don’t know what my make percentage was outside of 10 feet, but it wasn’t very good.”

In six previous Players appearances, Koepka’s best finish is a tie for 11th in 2018. he admits he’s had particular trouble at the Stadium Course’s infamous par-3 17th, where he is a combined 20 over par.

“One year I made an 8 and a 7. Yeah, that wasn’t very good,” Koepka said. “But that 17th hole has gotten me over the years. I’ve played good rounds here; that’s just kind of the one bugaboo that always gets me.

“But it’s in the past. Nothing I can do about it. I hit the green yesterday (in practice), so I was pretty pumped about that.”

Almost as pumped as the guys getting a chance this week thanks to Koepka.

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Jon Rahm felt “relief” after winning for the first time since 2024 (Mike Stobe/LIV Golf)

There’s a lot of Seve Ballesteros in Jon Rahm — skill, stubborness and pride all rolled into one intense Spanish package. So it came as no surprise that Rahm’s full Seve-esque range of emotion came out last week during LIV Golf’s Hong Kong event.

Rahm’s ferocity was on full display when the subject of his ongoing dispute with the DP World Tour was broached and elicited his defiance.

His compassion was illustrated in his chartering of a plane to help airlift a group of LIV colleagues safely out of the Middle East in the aftermath of the violent turmoil in the region from the U.S. and Israel’s bombing of Iran and retaliation strikes that have shut down the region where a number of players live.

His competitive fire, which has made him a staple every week on the rival league’s leaderboard, shone through on Sunday when Rahm secured his first victory in 18 months by claiming the LIV Hong Kong event by three strokes over Thomas Detry (one of his grateful evacuees).

“Very relieving,” said Rahm, a two-time major winner. “That’s the only way I can describe it. I’ve been very ecstatic for wins in the past. This one just feels like a big weight off my shoulder. That’s all I can say.”

Rahm left no doubt this week, pulling away from a three-way 54-hole tie with Detry and Harold Varner III. His 6-under 64 final round at Hong Kong Golf Club left him 23-under for the week. He salted it away with four consecutive birdies on 13-16 that allowed him to comfortably absorb a finishing bogey.

Rahm ranked the “relief” he felt Sunday with several other milestone wins in his career including the first of his two major victories.

“I would say my first ever (PGA Tour) win at Torrey Pines (in 2017), this one, possibly the first Spanish Open (2018), something I really wanted to win,” Rahm said. “But then that U.S. Open (also at Torrey Pines), that first major. That hour of waiting for Louis (Oosthuizen) to finish in 2021 was arguably the most stressful hour of my life golf-wise, not off the course. Very difficult to deal with because of everything it entails.

“But the relief of getting your first major is something that I don’t think can be surpassed, to be honest. For something you’ve dreamed of for so long, getting it done, especially in my case, being the first Spanish person to win the U.S. Open was quite unique.

“There’s a few milestones in my life that I’m very appreciative of, and a few of them felt like a relief. Maybe not at that moment because I was ecstatic. As far as awareness for that, maybe this one takes the cake.”

Detry was one of seven players stranded after Dubai airport closures who Rahm helped get to Hong Kong by chartering a $250,000 plane out of an airstrip in Oman. Golfweek reported that Laurie Canter, Sam Horsfield, Anirban Lahiri, Adrian Meronk, Tom McKibbin, Caleb Surratt and Lee Westwood also got airlifted out.

“I’m very impressed by all of the guys involved,” Rahm said. “Obviously, the war in the Middle East, all the guys that were there in Dubai, all the possible extraction plans, the flights that came on board and — came up and kind of disappeared, let’s say. The expectations and hope of hopefully getting out of there, and the fact that they came and then Thomas did as well as he did and had a chance to win … it’s nothing but the utmost respect for what they went through.

“I was raised with a value of, if you have the ability and the capability of helping somebody in need, you go and help them,” Rahm added. “It was never about karma. It was simply about luckily getting those boys out of a dangerous situation.”

Detry had described earlier in the week how he feared not only missing the Hong Kong event but the one this week in Singapore. Eventually, the Emirates flight he was scheduled on left, but only would have gotten him to Hong Kong 12 hours ahead of the first round.

“Being here was definitely a bonus because Tuesday morning I did not see myself being here and teeing it off on Thursday,” Detry said. “To be honest, on Tuesday morning I was even thinking next week was going to be a push, as well. That was sort of what I was thinking. But here we are, and life is all good.”

Detry’s finish helped him move up in the Official World Golf Ranking to the point with a couple of more good tournaments, he could possibly qualify for the Masters via the top 50 exemption category at the end of this month. LIV Golf has events in Singapore and South Africa upcoming.

As for Rahm, after consecutive runner-up finishes, this was his first win on LIV Golf since September of 2024 in Chicago.

He won LIV Golf’s individual title inb 2024 with the Chicago victory and won it again last year over Joaquin Niemann despite no victories all season (Niemann won five times). With two runner-ups already this LIV season, Rahm has clearly been playing well with 21 straight under-par rounds.

“Not something I think about, to be honest,” Rahm said. “Just a matter of trying to win. I’ve been playing really, really good golf and the results show it. Whether I won or not is different, but I’ve been putting in the work and seeing the results. I would have taken a few over-par rounds and a few more wins. Not something that I’m really thinking about actively while I’m playing.”

The win capped a week of headlines that were dominated by Rahm’s passionate explanation for why he refused to accept a deal with the DP World Tour that eight other LIV peers jump at to resolved conflicting event penalties and put them in good standing with the European circuit. In Rahm’s case, his refusal to accept the deal puts his eligibility for the 2027 Ryder Cup in jeopardy.

Rahm described the DP World Tour’s deal offer as “extortion” for wanting him to play two additional events in order to waive releases and fines. The tour made such a deal with eight of his LIV Golf colleagues, including Legion XIII and Ryder Cup teammate Tyrrell Hatton.

The deal allows the LIV players to retain their membership on the DP World Tour without having to ask for releases — which would be denied — and thus lead to fines. They all agreed to waive appeals and add two tour-specified tournaments to the four-event minimum.

Rahm wasn’t buying it.

“I don’t know what game they’re trying to play right now, but it just seems like in a way they’re using us to — they’re using our impact in tournaments and fining us and trying to benefit both ways from what we have to offer, and it’s just in a way they’re extorting players like myself and young players that have nothing to do with the politics of the game,” Rahm said. “So I don’t like the situation and I’m not going to agree to that.”

It is all a little reminiscent of Ballesteros, who was excluded from the 1981 Ryder Cup team over his dispute with the European Tour regarding appearance fees and Seve’s preference to play some conflicting events on the PGA Tour.

Casey Jarvis is the fourth two-time winner already this season on DPWT and PGA Tours (Warren Little/Getty Images)

Golf has always been a game prone to hot and cold streaks. When a player’s swing clicks into the zone where it all works out, you ride that wave as far as it will take you.

It just seems like we’re seeing a lot of hot streaks right now in the current PGA Tour and DP World Tour seasons.

Before the calendar flipped, there was South Africa’s Jayden Schaper going back-to-back on his home continent’s DPWT events in Johannesburg and Mauritius to close the book on 2025 as the hottest golfer on the planet.

The baton was quickly picked up in the new year by transitioning former LIV-ster Patrick Reed, who went on a Gulf states tear going 1-P2-1 in successive weeks on the DPWT’s Middle East swing through Dubai, Bahrain and Qatar.

Over on the PGA Tour, Chris Gotterup giddy-uped to two quick wins in his first three starts of the season in Hawaii and Phoenix and climbed as high as No. 5 in the world. Jacob Bridgeman rode a string of five straight top-20 finishes that culminated in his breakthrough victory at Riviera two weeks ago.

Back on the DP World Tour, it’s South African Casey Jarvis’ turn to own the stage by going back-to-back to win the Kenya and South African Opens in successive weeks. The latter was a really big deal as the 122-year-old championship was pegged to give the winner an automatic invite to the Masters. The 22-year-old from Boksburg — who also won consecutive starts back in November on the Sunshine Tour — will make his Augusta National debut in April.

“I feel on top of the world at this moment,” Jarvis said. “It was my dream as a kid to play at Augusta. I thought about it this morning. I tried not to, but it was hard not to think about it.

“Now I just cannot wait to go there and see how my game compares to the best players in the world. I had a slight feeling that something crazy was going to happen and, now it has, it’s just incredible.”

Jarvis joined the PGA Tour’s Cognizant Classic winner Nico Echavarria as the first two automatic professional qualifiers of 2026 for the Masters, bringing the current field to 88 players.

Jarvis is also the 23rd Masters rookie to book a spot — a pretty remarkable number (26.1 percent of the field so far) that would be 24 if NCAA champion Michael La Sasso hadn’t forfeited his spot to join LIV.

The folks at Augusta have to feel pretty good about how the handful of newly minted international open qualifying events worked out with all six events being won by players who have never before played in the Masters — Gotterup (Scottish Open, which was already a qualifying event on the PGA Tour), England’s Marco Penge (Spanish Open), Japan’s Naoyuki Kataoka (Japan Open), Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin (Hong Kong Open), Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (Australian Open) and Jarvis (South African Open).

While not yet a winner this season, surging success has worked pretty well for Jake Knapp as well. Knapp has finished no worse than T11 in five PGA Tour starts this season to climb from No. 105 in the Official World Golf Ranking when he teed it up in the Sony Open in Hawaii to currently No. 41 with a good chance of getting back to Augusta.

Players currently inside the top-50 bubble hoping to secure Masters starts at the March 30 deadline (after Houston Open) include Matt McCarty (No. 40), Pierceson Coody (47) and Nicolai Højgaard (50). Currently outside looking in are Michael Thorbjorsen (56) and Schaper (57).

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Nico Echavarria celebrates his third career PGA Tour win and subsequent Masters invite (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

2026 Masters Field

Through March 2, 2026

Here’s how the 88 players currently qualified to play in the 2026 Masters got into the field

# first-timers (23); * amateurs (6); Americans (46); Internationals (42); Seniors (7)

Ludvig Åberg (13, 18, 25) – Sweden

Akshay Bhatia (18, 25)

Keegan Bradley (17, 18, 25)

#Michael Brennan (25)

#Jacob Bridgeman (17, 18)

Sam Burns (18, 25)

Angel Cabrera (1) – Argentina

Brian Campbell (17)

Patrick Cantlay (18, 25)

Wyndham Clark (2, 25) – through 2028

Corey Conners (13, 18, 25) – Canada

Fred Couples (1)

Jason Day (13) – Australia

Bryson DeChambeau (2, 13, 25) – through 2029

Nico Echavarria (17) – Colombia

Harris English (13, 15, 16, 18, 25)

#Ethan Fang* (8)

Matthew Fitzpatrick (2, 25) – England – through 2027

Tommy Fleetwood (17, 18, 25) – England

Ryan Fox (17, 25) – New Zealand

Sergio Garcia (1) – Spain

#Ryan Gerard (25)

#Chris Gotterup (15, 17, 18, 19, 25)

#Max Greyserman (25)

#Ben Griffin (17, 18, 25)

#Harry Hall (18) – England

Brian Harman (3, 18, 25) – through 2028

Tyrrell Hatton (14, 25) -- England

Russell Henley (18, 25)

#Jackson Herrington* (7-B)

#Brandon Holtz* (11)

Rasmus Højgaard (25) – Denmark

Max Homa (13)

Viktor Hovland (14, 18, 25) -- Norway

#Mason Howell* (7-A)

Sungjae Im (13, 18, 25) – South Korea

#Casey Jarvis (24) – South Africa

Dustin Johnson (1)

Zach Johnson (1, 13)

#Naoyuki Kataoka (21) -- Japan

#John Keefer (25)

Kurt Kitayama (17, 25)

Michael Kim (25)

Si Woo Kim (25) – South Korea

Brooks Koepka (4) – through 2028

#Fifa Laopakdee* (9) – Thailand

Min Woo Lee (25) – Australia

Haotong Li (15) – (China)

Shane Lowry (18, 25) – Ireland

Robert MacIntyre (14, 18, 25) – Scotland

Hideki Matsuyama (1, 17, 18, 25) – Japan

Rory McIlroy (1, 5, 18, 25) – Northern Ireland

#Tom McKibbin (22) – Northern Ireland

Maverick McNealy (18, 25)

Phil Mickelson (1, 4)

Collin Morikawa (3, 4, 17, 18, 25) – through 2026

#Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (23, 25) – Denmark

Alex Noren (25) – Sweden

#Andrew Novak (18, 25)

José María Olazábal (1) – Spain

Carlos Ortiz (14) – Mexico

#Marco Penge (20, 25) – England

Aldrich Potgieter (17) – South Africa

#Mateo Pulcini* (10) – Argentina

Jon Rahm (1, 2) – Spain

Aaron Rai (25) – England

Patrick Reed (1, 13, 25)

#Kristoffer Reitan (25) – Norway

Davis Riley (16)

Justin Rose (13, 17, 18, 25) – England

Xander Schauffele (3, 4, 13, 25) – through 2029

Scottie Scheffler (1, 3, 4, 5, 13, 17, 18, 25)

Charl Schwartzel (1) – South Africa

Adam Scott (1) – Australia

Vijay Singh (1) – Fiji

Cameron Smith (3) – Australia – through 2027

J.J. Spaun (2, 18, 25) – through 2030

Jordan Spieth (1)

#Samuel Stevens (25)

Sepp Straka (17, 18, 25) – Austria

Nick Taylor (18) – Canada

Justin Thomas (4, 18, 25) – through 2027

#Sami Valimaki (25) – Finland

Bubba Watson (1)

Mike Weir (1) – Canada

Danny Willett (1) – England

Tiger Woods (1)

Cameron Young (14, 17, 18, 25)

CATEGORY 1: Masters Tournament Champions (Lifetime)

CATEGORY 2: U.S. Open champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)

CATEGORY 3: British Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)

CATEGORY 4: PGA Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)

CATEGORY 5: The Players Championship Winners (3 years)

CATEGORY 6: Current Olympic Gold Medalist

CATEGORY 7A & 7B: Current U.S. Amateur champion (A, Honorary, non-competing after 1 year) and runner-up (B)

CATEGORY 8: Current British Amateur Champion (Honorary, non-competing after 1 year)

CATEGORY 9: Current Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion

CATEGORY 10: Current Latin America Amateur Champion (TBD Jan. 15-18, 2026 at Lima Golf Club)

CATEGORY 11: Current U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion

CATEGORY 12: Current NCAA Individual Champion

CATEGORY 13: First 12 players (including ties) in previous year’s Masters

CATEGORY 14: First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s U.S. Open

CATEGORY 15: First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s British Open

CATEGORY 16: First 4 players (including ties) in previous year’s PGA Championship

CATEGORY 17: Individual winners from previous Masters to current Masters of non-opposite PGA Tour events that award a full FedEx Cup point allocation toward the Tour Championship

CATEGORY 18: Eligible qualifiers for previous year’s season-ending Tour Championship

CATEGORY 19: Current Scottish Open champion

CATEGORY 20: Current Spanish Open champion

CATEGORY 21: Current Japan Open champion

CATEGORY 22: Current Hong Kong Open champion

CATEGORY 23: Current Australian Open champion

CATEGORY 24: Current South African Open champion

CATEGORY 25: Top 50 on final Official World Golf Ranking for previous calendar year

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Shane Lowry let a three-shot lead go away on the last three holes (Raj Mehta/Getty Images)

Shane Lowry stood up to the pressure of the Ryder Cup last year, hitting the approach shot and holing the birdie putt against Russell Henley that clinched retaining the cup for Europe to avoid a final-day collapse.

So how do you explain what happened Sunday at PGA National or in January in Dubai or the handful of other times the element of “choke” has resided Lowry adjacent?

How do you explain a major champion who has been in numerous pressure-packed situations squandering a three-shot lead with three holes to play?

Or making consecutive double bogeys to lose the Cognizant Classic?

“How do I feel like this now when I went through what I did last September in Bethpage and got through that fine?” Lowry told reporters after a final-round 69 ultimately handed the tournament trophy to Colombia’s Nico Echavarria. “I just felt like it was weird out there. I just really — yeah, just couldn’t feel the club face the last three holes then after my tee shot on 16. It was strange.

“What can I say? It’s very disappointing. Geez, this is going to be hard to take. Dubai was hard at the start of the year, but this is going to be pretty hard.”

The Irishman who won the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush was referring to the Dubai Invitational on the DP World Tour at the start of the year where a final-hole approach shot led to another double bogey and a third-place finish when he was tied for the lead heading to the last.

But this was far worse. Lowry, who has not won an individual event worldwide since the 2002 BMW PGA Championship, had played the first 15 holes Sunday brilliantly, going 6-under par with four birdies and an eagle to forge a three-shot advantage on the 16th tee. He was 19-under while Echavarria was 16-under a hole ahead of him.

On the 16th hole — part of the vaunted Bear Trap — Lowry hit an iron off the tee for safety. Yet somehow he missed it in a spot where no other player had all week — short and right into the water.

The led to a double bogey, and when Echavarria birdied the par-3 17th ahead of him — narrowly finding the green first with his tee shot — they were suddenly tied after the three-stroke swing.

Lowry then stepped onto the 17th tee and missed the green badly from 168 yards with a 7-iron, rinsing another shot in the water.

“It was a perfect number for me, and it suited me perfectly,” Lowry said. “Wind was slightly in out of the left, and that’s my bread and butter, a little chip 7-iron. But golf does strange things to you at times, and it certainly did it to me today.”

Give Lowry credit for stopping to speak to the media afterward. It was a brutal way to end a tournament, especially for a guy who has difficulty closing them.

“I had the tournament in my hands and I threw it away,” he said.

Echavarria — who was close to qualifying for the Masters via the top 50 Ofiicial World Golf Ranking at No. 59 — now has a guaranteed ticket to Augusta, making him the first PGA Tour winner to qualify.

But the story Sunday was Lowry. Unlike so many who are eligible for the signature events, Lowry did not skip Cognizant. The event is near his Florida home and he’s played it several times over the years, letting victories slip away there on multiple occasions. While most of the top names including everyone in the OWGR top 25 took the week off, Lowry was on the verge of being rewarded while in the midst of playing five weeks in a row.

“You have no choice, do you,” Lowry said, when asked how you move on from it. “I have a tee time next Thursday in Bay Hill (for the Arnold Palmer Invitational), and I have no choice but to move on.

“The hardest thing about today is I’ve never won in front of my 4-year-old, and she (Ivy) was there waiting for me,” he added. “Yeah, I only wanted it for her today. I didn’t want it for — I don’t care about anything else. I wanted it so bad. Just to see her little ginger hair running down the 18th green would have been the most special thing in the world. I thought I had it. I thought I was going to win.

“I didn’t get ahead of myself, but I felt so comfortable out there, and then yeah, tried to get a lot out of my 3-iron on 16 and did the only thing I couldn’t really do.”