The 2026 Masters Tournament begins Thursday, April 9 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.
It runs through Sunday, April 12. It is the 90th edition of the tournament and the first major championship of the year.
The field is 92 players. And the week before it starts, almost every major storyline involves someone who will not be there.
Scottie Scheffler Is The Favorite Again
World number one Scottie Scheffler enters as the betting favorite at +500 at BetMGM and +550 at FanDuel, exactly where he has been positioned entering each of the last two Masters tournaments.
In 2024 he won by four strokes for his second green jacket. In 2025 he finished fourth at minus-8, three shots behind winner Rory McIlroy.
This year he is the favorite again, and the numbers behind that favoritism are difficult to argue with.
Scheffler, 29, born in Dallas, Texas, has won four majors over the previous four seasons.
He won The American Express in January 2026 and has finished in the top 25 in every tournament he has entered this year, including three top-five finishes.
He has won the Masters in 2022 and 2024, and a third title would make him one of only a handful of players in tournament history to win three green jackets in five years.
No active player in the field has more than two Masters titles. Scheffler, if he wins, would become the first player since Tiger Woods in 2001-2002 to win back-to-back Masters, and the first overall since the tradition was broken.
Rory McIlroy Wants To Do Something That Has Not Happened Since Woods
Rory McIlroy won the 2025 Masters in a playoff over England’s Justin Rose to complete the career Grand Slam, joining Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods as the only men in history to win all four major championships.
The win was the culmination of an eleven-year pursuit of Augusta that had become the defining professional story of his career.
Now he returns as defending champion with odds of +1100 at FanDuel, and with an ambition that only five players have ever fulfilled, winning the Masters in back-to-back years.
The last person to do it was Tiger Woods in 2001 and 2002. McIlroy, 36, from Holywood, Northern Ireland, has spoken publicly about the psychological weight Augusta has historically placed on him.
That weight, at least in the sense of chasing the Grand Slam, has been lifted. What remains is the question of whether he can be the second player in more than two decades to defend the title.
At the Champions Dinner on April 7, McIlroy will serve the meal as defending champion, a tradition at Augusta that gives the reigning winner control of the menu.
He did not reveal it publicly, though reports have surfaced of an unconventional menu that includes elk.
The Rest Of The Top Of The Odds Board
Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm are tied for second in the odds at +1000 at FanDuel. Both are LIV Golf players who have continued to compete in majors under the current exemption structure.
DeChambeau, 32, is a two-time US Open champion who won his most recent LIV events. Rahm, 31, a Spaniard, won the 2023 Masters and the 2021 US Open and has the major championship experience to contend at Augusta.
Ludvig Aberg is at +1600 and is seeking his first major title. The 27-year-old Swede nearly won the 2025 Players Championship, holding a three-shot lead entering Sunday before a difficult final round left him tied for fifth.
He has the game for Augusta, he is long, accurate, and plays with patience, but has not yet closed a major.
Xander Schauffele enters at +1500, though analysts have noted a rough start to his 2026 season.
He missed the cut in his first event and finished 41st in his second, and his putting, which ranked third on tour in 2024, the year he won two majors, has slipped to 76th.
He also has more missed cuts than top-five finishes in his last four Masters appearances. His odds may be shorter than his form warrants.
Three players in the field, Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, and Brooks Koepka, have won two of the other three majors and could complete the career Grand Slam themselves with a Masters victory.
That storyline adds another layer of interest to an already deep field.
Tiger Woods Will Not Be There
Five days before the Masters field was finalized, Tiger Woods rolled his Land Rover on a two-lane road near his home on Jupiter Island, Florida after clipping the back of a pressure cleaner truck he was attempting to pass.
The car rolled onto its driver’s side. There were no serious injuries. Woods was arrested at the scene and charged with driving under the influence, property damage, and refusal to submit to a lawful test.
Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek confirmed the arrest. Two hydrocodone pills were found in his pants pocket.
His eyes were described as bloodshot and glassy, his movements slow and lethargic, according to the arresting officer’s report.
Woods had been working toward a Masters appearance for months. He had undergone Achilles surgery in 2025 and back surgery the previous October, and had not competed in an outdoor tournament since missing the cut at The Open Championship at Royal Troon in July 2024.
His return to TGL, the indoor golf technology league, in March 2026 for Jupiter Links Golf Club’s finals series had raised hopes that he might be close to a competitive outdoor return.
He had spoken publicly of wanting to play his 27th Masters. That is now over.
Woods pleaded not guilty to the DUI charge on April 1 and is demanding a jury trial.
He has also applied for permission from the court to seek treatment outside the United States, with his attorney explaining in a filing that the complex nature of his medical situation requires a level of care that cannot be safely provided domestically given the ongoing compromise of his privacy.
The case has been scheduled for a docket hearing on May 5 in Martin County.
His statement, posted to X, read in part,
“I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in today. 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.”
Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley responded: “Although Tiger will not be joining us in person next week, his presence will be felt here in Augusta.”
This is Woods’ fourth vehicle incident since 2009. His 2021 crash, in which his car rolled down a hillside in Los Angeles at high speed and required the jaws of life to extract him, left him with serious leg injuries that fundamentally altered his ability to compete.
He has played just eleven official tournaments in the five years since. The latest crash and the DUI charges have prompted former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley to say publicly that he thinks “a lot of people are running out of patience now.”
Woods has also turned down the role of US Ryder Cup captain for the 2027 matches at Adare Manor in Ireland.
What Else To Know
Augusta National has made one course modification for 2026: the 17th hole, Nandina, has been shortened by 12 yards at the front, with the tee moved to bring the total length to 450 yards.
A new three-story Player Services Building will also be in use for the first time.
Jack Nicklaus, 86, who won six Masters titles between 1963 and 1986, will serve as honorary starter at the ceremonial first tee shot Thursday morning alongside Gary Player.
Augusta National has confirmed that Nicklaus’s role this year will be more than ceremonial, he will be present throughout the week in a capacity not yet fully disclosed.
Gary Woodland won the Texas Children’s Houston Open on Sunday to earn one of the final spots in the field.
He won his first PGA Tour title since the 2019 US Open. The win gave him an invitation and qualified him at 75-1 odds.
ESPN carries the first two rounds, Thursday and Friday. CBS Sports broadcasts the weekend rounds Saturday and Sunday.
Streaming is available through Masters.com and ESPN+. Practice rounds begin Sunday, April 6. The Par-3 Contest is Wednesday, April 8.
