Masters 2026: What we are seeing, hearing from the final practice round

Matt Fitzpatrick tees off on No. 14 on Wednesday. Hector Vivas / Getty Images Share full articleIn this, my seventh trip to the Masters, I tried something new this year. On the recommendation of Andy Johnson, the golf architecture scholar behind The Fried Egg, I walked the course backwards the week in hopes of gaining a different view. I’m happy to report that not only did it work, but that, if you ever have the chance, you should do the same. Walking Augusta backwards is like looking at the Eiffel Tower from above. The proportions change. The exacting angles change. The fundamental understanding of what’s in front of you changes. The bottom might suddenly be far more interesting than the top. When rattling off a hole-by-hole breakdown of Augusta National, the pictures in your mind’s eye are going to be based on what you see on TV or how you imagine you’d play it, from tee to green, and what would be in front of you. Try flipping that around. What do you see? Walking the course in reverse, what first jumped out was a very different appreciation for Nos. 14 and 17. Because of the sanctity tied to Amen Corner, and the fame associated with the par-5 15th and the par-3 16th, and the history of the 18th, the two outliers on the back nine go overlooked. The 14th is known as the lone hole without a bunker, while 17 is a similar straight-on par 4 with little distinction, other than the Eisenhower Tree coming down in 2014. Coming at each from the opposite direction, though, offers some different vantage points. On 14, you realize the beauty is in the simplicity and the brutal, terraced green. As the player is either reeling or floating after the events on Amen Corner, here is a straightforward hole with little danger. And that’s exactly when you get side-swiped. On 17, standing behind the green and looking down the hole, it’s clear the chute of trees pinching the fairway about 100 yards out is far more narrow than you realize and that the left side of the green is nearly blocked entirely for any ball on the left side of the fairway. While the 17th green is known to slope and spill off in all directions, from behind, you realize how steep it is in the back and exactly how perilous the back-right pin placement is. Even familiar holes can look different. If you want to really understand how severely pitched the 13th fairway is from right to left, walk it in the opposite direction. On the front nine, the mounding around the eighth green takes on a different life when it’s come upon from behind the grandstand. You expect to find the green. Instead, you find two-story high hills and expect to see Julie Andrews traipsing around. Also, while we typically think of the blind uphill approach into the eighth green, what we don’t realize is that the last hundred yards or so of the hole is essentially a mini dogleg left. That is, until approaching it from the opposite direction. The bunkering around the seventh green? Look at it from behind, and you’ll realize the bunker directly behind the green is essentially a small swimming pool. Speaking off, I never realized a bunker sits behind the fifth green because 1) the area is blocked off to patrons, and 2) there’s little reason to venture back there to gander when the famed sixth tee is right next to you. While you can very likely picture the tee shots on Nos. 2 and 3, what you probably can’t picture is the severity of the mounding and how little landing room exists to actually hold the fairway with a tee shot. Walk them backwards, and you’ll realize what can seem like wide fairways are actually a series of a few landing strips. So, while sure, I know the late John Feinstein said golf is a good walk spoiled, I think this might be an exception. — Brendan Quinn, senior writer As the golf ball rollback, as proposed by the USGA and R&A, garners criticism and faces a potential delay to 2030, Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley reemphasized ANGC’s commitment to rolling back the golf ball to combat distance concerns. “I also want to be clear that our position is grounded on much more than protecting the Augusta National Golf Course,” he said. “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.” As Ridley said, Augusta National is the rare club that has the resources to extend holes — as it did by adding 35 yards to the 13th hole in 2023. It could do so by buying land from the adjacent Augusta Country Club. “Until recent years, golf has been a game of imagination, creativity and variety,” Ridley continued. “The game has become much more one-dimensional as players drive the ball prodigious distances and routinely hit short irons into par fours and even some par fives.” But a large part of Ridley’s focus on Wednesday centered on how the rollback is far more about the professional game. According to Ridley, the data says: “the impact to the recreational game will be immaterial.” — Brody Miller, staff writer Harry Diamond was alone and doing what he has been doing for the last nine years — carrying Rory McIlroy’s golf bag — when approached on Tuesday near the champions’ parking lot at Augusta National. Rory has a spot there this year for the first time. You might have heard. I wanted to know what it meant to Diamond to watch his dear childhood friend finally win the Masters, not to mention his first major championship since 2014. His first with Diamond on the bag. The caddie does not grant full-fledged interviews about his work, but I figured after McIlroy’s playoff victory over Justin Rose last year, there was a 1-percent chance he’d make an exception. No dice. “I have friends in the media who have asked me and I haven’t done it,” Diamond explained. “I just don’t do it.” We shook hands and I wished him luck. Golf fans might’ve been wondering why they’ve heard a lot from McIlroy about his liberating, ghost-busting triumph, but nothing from the man who was by his side. The caddie who first met a seven-year-old Rory on the putting green of the Holywood Golf Club in his hometown in Northern Ireland. Diamond faced a lot of criticism during his best friend’s major drought, but never publicly fired back. An emotional McIlroy responded on his behalf in last year’s post-Masters press conference, citing “all the crap that he’s had to take from people that don’t know anything about the game.” McIlroy described his Masters moment as “just as much (Diamond’s) as it is mine.” The caddie has remained consistent in his approach, quietly playing his role and declining to take any vindicating victory laps. There’s something to be said about that, even if Diamond’s on-the-record perspective would help define the magnitude of the breakthrough. Meanwhile, McIlroy continues to stress the importance of his longtime caddie in his life. “I think as an only child, he was like the big brother I never had,” the defending champ said Tuesday. — Ian O’Connor, senior columnist Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms