The Masters is here. Anyone can win. Plus: How Augusta National has changed

The 2026 Masters could see a dark-horse breakthrough.  Bill Streicher / Imagn Images Share full articleGolf Briefing ⛳ | This is The Athletic’s daily newsletter for the 2026 Masters. Sign up here to receive the Golf Briefing directly in your inbox. Good afternoon! Welcome to our special-edition newsletter covering the Masters Tournament. I’m Alex Kirshner, a contributing writer for The Athletic, and I’ll be with you for the next 72 holes. Gabby Herzig, our golf writer, has sneakers on the ground and will join us in a moment. Big underdogs do not win the Masters. “Augusta National has become the domain of the big boys,” as Jason Sobel wrote this week. The last true long shot to win here was Danny Willett, a full 10 years ago, when the anonymous Englishman took advantage of Jordan Spieth’s Sunday collapse and put on the green jacket. Willett entered the tournament with 50-to-1 betting odds, and has scarcely been heard from on the major stage since. But many smart people, Jason said, are entertaining the idea that 2026 could again see a dark-horse breakthrough. Why? Mostly because there are questions about two players: 1. Scottie Scheffler: The World No. 1 and two-time Masters winner has been off his game, finishing outside the top 10 in each of his past three starts. He didn’t play the Houston Open last week, because he and his wife, Meredith, were welcoming their second son. Scheffler’s still the favorite, but he’s not at his peak. 2. Rory McIlroy: The defending champ would have a hard time repeating anyway — nobody has since Tiger Woods in 2002 — and has lately been a mixture of injured and mediocre. If neither Scheffler nor McIlroy is at his best, the likeliest beneficiaries are Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. But Jason mentions a few true long shots, players with odds worse than Willett’s a decade ago, who are at least intriguing: Akshay Bhatia, Min Woo Lee, Sepp Straka, Jake Knapp, Jason Day, Tyrrell Hatton and Shane Lowry. You might also consider the recently injured Justin Thomas, who’s got two career majors, or Adam Scott, owner of a jacket himself. I wouldn’t touch Thomas or Patrick Cantlay with a 10-foot pole, personally, but your mileage might vary. One name I would really like, but am now spooked about: Collin Morikawa (14th on Jason’s big board). The 29-year-old ended a long win drought at Pebble Beach in February, but now has a bad back. Our reporters observed Morikawa not looking close to full strength during these practice rounds. It will be darkly funny if, after all of this, the weekend ends with Scheffler or McIlroy on top again. History says one of these three players should win. Plus, read our pool picks. Some years, Augusta National makes substantial changes to its golf course. This year, any alterations appear minor. The par-4 17th hole, the one McIlroy birdied on Sunday last year, should play slightly longer after Augusta shaved 12 yards off the front of the hole’s tee box. The hole is now listed as a 450-yarder rather than 440. Let’s tag in Gabby, who will be with us all week to share observations from the property. Gabby, as far as the course itself goes, absent major layout changes, what’s been the biggest topic of conversation in the media center this week?  💬 The hot topic on property is the pristine weather (65 and sunny) — and since it’s so perfect, the club can essentially do whatever it wants to the course. A caddie told me the greens are already firming up nicely: Shots are barely making ball marks when they land. But does Augusta want greens so firm that balls are ping-ponging off them? If so, it always has the option to bring in the sub-air system that dries the turf from the soil up. Does leadership want to keep things softer on Thursday/Friday and dial things up for the weekend? With no rain forecast, the club has the conditions in the palm of its hand. Last year, you won the media lottery and got to play Augusta the day after the Masters. The story you wrote was a lot of fun. I’m wondering: Having taken your own loop around the place, is there any part of this Masters that you’ll be watching in a different way?  💬 Most of us can recall famous TV moments from all over the routing, but now I’m having flashbacks to the eagle putt I barely missed on No. 15 or the quadruple bogey I made on No. 2. That’s pretty crazy. In terms of the tournament, I’ll definitely have a new appreciation for the way players are forced to shape their approach shots. There are multiple circumstances where you’ll find yourself on a slope that promotes a draw ball flight, but the hole actually lends itself to a fade. Getting the ball to work against the physics and gravity of the lie you are presented with is a very difficult task. It’s exactly why this course is known as a “second-shot golf course,” and I learned that the hard way. Lastly: Please tell the audience what was in your merch tent haul this year.  💬 I didn’t go overboard, but I did do some damage. I picked up a butter yellow hat with “Masters 2026” stitched to the front, a navy-blue crewneck sweatshirt with similar embroidery and a pair of the brand-new socks in the fan shop. For those of us who aren’t into the whole gnome thing, the crew socks are all the rage this year. They’re by the brand Del Campo, they’re $22, and I will go as far as to say they will be worth every penny. Then, of course, I picked up a few items for friends and family. Any good golf writer knows to raid the souvenir shop during the practice rounds, rather than during the actual competition. We’ll have much more from Gabby over the next four days. And find her Masters mailbag here, unpacking Scheffler’s slump. Could a player not in form win the Masters? As for today: The latest newsy updates are over in our live blog. 🙇 Five years ago, Hideki Matsuyama’s caddie bowed on the 18th green after his player won. Brendan Quinn explains what it meant and why it became iconic. 🌲 The Augusta National Women’s Amateur now belongs to Stanford, as Gabby writes. 📸 Ken Griffey Jr., Masters photographer, profiled by Brendan. 🍿 McIlroy takes two of our reporters through the five shots that won him last year’s tournament. I appreciate his level of detail here. 🧠 Tiger’s former caddie, Steve Williams, plots a 15-handicap’s path around Augusta. 📰 Speaking of Woods, this will be the first Masters since 1994 to feature neither him nor Phil Mickelson, who said he will miss the tournament due to a family health matter. Woods is absent after Florida police arrested him on a DUI charge last month. 🎤 Players haven’t said much of note about Woods this week, but Jason Day told reporters it was “selfish” that Woods had put others in harm’s way. Hard to argue. In the morning, you’ll be limited to the featured groups and holes on Masters.com. Prime Video, a new entrant to the Masters streaming game, has the action from 1-3 p.m. ET. ESPN tags in at 3 p.m. and has everything covered from there. Here’s the full guide. You can find a full pairings and times list here, but let’s pull out two for Round 1: Starting tomorrow morning, you’ll be able to find each day’s live coverage here. 📫 Love The Athletic’s daily Masters updates? Check out our other newsletters. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms