The Masters is officially underway at Augusta National. That’s our favorite sentence of the year, and we’re more excited than ever. Tiger Woods is slated to tee off just after 11 a.m. (tee times were pushed back by 30 minutes to let the remaining weather in the area pass through), alongside Louis Oosthuizen and Joaquin Niemann.
(Scroll down for the latest updates)
It has been a soggy past 48 hours in Augusta, but in between torrential rains, patrons have been treated to quite the scene during Tiger’s practice rounds. It seemed like a final-round Sunday during his nine holes of practice. Everyone wants to catch a glimpse of the comeback from his near-fatal car crash less than 14 months ago. And now, the comeback will be complete when he tees off later today.
Of course, that is just one of many storylines we’ll be tracking all week. Rory McIlroy makes his eighth attempt at completing the career Grand Slam (he’s in the 2:33 p.m. pairing with Brooks Koepka and Matt Fitzpatrick). Scottie Scheffler, the new World No. 1, looks to keep up his torrid pace—but six players have a chance to be ranked first in the world after this week. And players like Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele and Will Zalatoris—who might have a sour taste in their mouths after close calls last year—are among the favorites.
That’s not even mentioning the other favorites like Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith and Dustin Johnson … etc., etc. It’s a wide-open Masters among the top 15 or 20 guys who legitimately have a chance to win. The weather looks good for the rest of the week … and it should be a heckuva 86th Masters.
Masters 2022 live updates:
8 a.m.: The ceremonial first-tee shots were pushed back about a half hour to let the remaining wet weather pass through. Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player are expected to be joined by Tom Watson as Watson makes his debut appearance among the celebrated greats of Masters history.
That will be 11 Masters titles among the three giants of the game this morning. It will be an incredible scene as always.
Here are all the pin positions for the opening round. Some of these pins are in really difficult spots. With all the rain, we suppose the committee knows it needs to challenge competitors on Thursday. We’d still expect low scores if the wind isn’t too bad in the afternoon.