Can Rory McIlroy make historical past and defend his Masters title? Here is our full preview for the 2026 event at Augusta
Masters week is right here once more. The world’s greatest golfers are making ready to navigate 72 holes of probably the most demanding, unforgiving and entertaining course within the recreation.
The ninetieth Masters Event will get underway on Thursday, April 9, and for the primary time in a really very long time, the person strolling down Magnolia Lane as defending champion is just not burdened by historical past.
Rory McIlroy is the Masters champion. He has been one for nearly precisely a yr. And now the query is whether or not he can do it once more.
Type suggests in any other case. Will the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Fitzpatrick or Scottie Scheffler take his crown?
We’ve bought solutions to your whole questions in our Masters 2026 preview, proper right here on 101GreatGoals.
The McIlroy query
Twelve months in the past, McIlroy accomplished the profession Grand Slam.
After dropping the lead on the thirteenth gap, he clawed it again. He gave it away once more on the 18th. However he finally received it in a sudden-death play-off, holing a birdie putt to interrupt Justin Rose’s coronary heart within the course of.
Now he’s again because the 36-year-old defending champion, and he’s chasing one thing solely three males in Masters historical past have ever achieved. Jack Nicklaus went back-to-back in 1965 and 1966. Nick Faldo repeated in 1989 and 1990. Tiger Woods did it in 2001 and 2002. No one has managed it since.
McIlroy is aware of the script and even went to far to deal with it in his pre-tournament press convention.
“That is going to be the primary time I drive down Magnolia Lane and it’s all going to be about having fun with my week, having fun with the perks that come together with being a Masters champion,” he mentioned.
“I get to return to the Masters Event for the remainder of my life, and that’s fairly a liberating feeling.”
The priority, although, is type. McIlroy withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March with a again spasm and scraped by 4 rounds at The Gamers, ending tied forty sixth at even par.
He has not performed since. That three-week layoff heading into Augusta is tied for the longest of his profession earlier than the Masters.
His placing is a fear too. He ranks 104th on tour in strokes gained. A yr in the past, heading into his Masters win, he was ninth in that very same class. You can not win at Augusta with out making putts.
Butch Harmon is just not panicking. The coach who is aware of McIlroy higher than most instructed Sky Sports activities he expects to see a extra relaxed model of the Northern Irishman this week.
“I believe as a result of he received final yr and bought that off his again, I don’t assume he’s going to be as uptight as most individuals would assume,” Harmon mentioned. “He has the power, the best way he drives the ball, to take over the golf course.”
Scottie Scheffler nonetheless the one to beat
Scottie Scheffler is the favorite. He virtually all the time is.
The world primary is a two-time Masters champion, having slipped on the Inexperienced Jacket in 2022 and 2024.
He missed the Houston Open solely after the beginning of his second little one. He has not completed inside the highest 20 in his final three Tour begins.
And but the numbers nonetheless level to Scheffler at Augusta. His course historical past is phenomenal, averaging 3.26 strokes gained per spherical at Augusta Nationwide throughout his profession.
His quick recreation and placing have truly improved this season whereas his iron play has dipped barely. He received The American Specific to open his 2026 marketing campaign, turning a decent ultimate spherical right into a rout, as he tends to do.
The whispers about his recreation failing to hit final season’s heights are rising. However Woods had gone six tournaments with out profitable forward of his 2001 Tiger Slam. The perfect gamers have a behavior of discovering one thing when it issues most.
The LIV cost: DeChambeau and Rahm
The subplot that refuses to go away. LIV Golf gamers can’t earn world rating factors throughout their league occasions, but two of their marquee names enter Augusta as real co-favourites alongside Scheffler.
Bryson DeChambeau is in horrifying type. He received back-to-back LIV occasions in late March, together with one in a playoff over Jon Rahm with a 3-wood from practically 300 yards out of a moist lie within the tough on the 18th. Paul Casey described it as a shot virtually no one on the planet may pull off.
Rahm received in Hong Kong earlier this season and has the pedigree, having claimed the Inexperienced Jacket in 2023. However historical past works barely towards him.
That Augusta win is his solely top-10 end over his final 4 Masters begins. He was forty fifth in 2024 and 14th in 2025. A mannequin that has accurately predicted 16 golf majors gave Rahm a large berth, suggesting he is not going to crack the highest 5.
Neither man has come near profitable a 72-hole stroke play occasion outdoors of LIV within the three years since becoming a member of the breakaway tour.
Augusta is a distinct animal. The stress, the reduce, the weekend, the load of all of it, is not like something LIV can manufacture.
Matt Fitzpatrick: The Worth Decide
If there’s a title being talked about in hushed however excited tones this week, it’s Matt Fitzpatrick.
The Sheffield-born 2022 US Open champion has had a unprecedented begin to 2026. He started the yr ranked twenty second on this planet.
He’s now fifth, the very best place of his profession. He received the Valspar Championship in March, ending with back-to-back bogey-free rounds on the weekend. He was second at The Gamers. Seven made cuts from seven begins. 5 top-25 finishes.
His ball hanging is as clear as anybody’s within the recreation proper now. He’s hitting 69% of fairways, fourth on tour. At a course that rewards accuracy from the tee and calls for precision with the irons, that issues enormously.
The Remainder of the Discipline
Xander Schauffele is available in as a two-time main winner however is misfiring badly. He missed a reduce earlier in 2026, completed forty first in his second occasion and ranks 76th in strokes gained: placing. He has extra missed cuts than top-fives in his final 4 Augusta appearances.
Ludvig Aberg completed second on the 2024 Masters on debut. He’s solely 22, hits the ball a great distance and has the temperament to match. He’s a greater wager than his relative anonymity amongst informal followers would possibly counsel.
Tommy Fleetwood has been quietly wonderful in 2026, making 10 cuts in 10 begins as an expert at Augusta and posting three top-10 finishes throughout the season’s signature occasions.
Justin Rose carries painful recollections of final yr’s playoff loss to McIlroy. The 45-year-old received at Torrey Pines earlier this season and makes his twenty first Masters begin. He’s a three-time runner-up at Augusta and is aware of the course inside out.
Cameron Younger received The Gamers Championship at Sawgrass and is coming into Augusta with momentum and a rising perception that he can compete on the prime stage in majors.
It’s also price noting two absentees. Tiger Woods is not going to play. He stepped away from golf following his automotive crash in Florida in January and subsequent DUI cost.
It has forged a shadow over what would have been one other emotional Augusta week. Phil Mickelson additionally withdrew because of a private household well being matter.
Learn how to Watch The Masters
The Masters begins on Thursday, April 9, with the ultimate spherical happening on Sunday, April 12.
UK viewers can watch each spherical reside and completely on Sky Sports activities Golf. Protection begins from 2pm BST on Thursday and Friday, with a broader window opening from 6pm. Featured teams, Amen Nook and holes 4, 5 and 6 are all obtainable on Sky Sports activities from Monday’s follow rounds onwards.
US viewers can watch on ESPN (Thursday and Friday) and CBS (Saturday and Sunday). Masters.com carries each shot of the event and is free to stream. Prime Video picks up early-afternoon protection on Thursday and Friday. Paramount+ additionally streams the motion.
Masters 2026 Odds
(Odds correct at time of publication, by way of Bet365)
Prediction
Scheffler is the secure decide. He normally is. However the worth is elsewhere.
Fitzpatrick enters this week within the type of his life. His ball hanging is world-class, his head is true after a yr of rebuilding, and Augusta fits gamers who can form the ball each methods and assault the course with precision slightly than brute drive. He ticks each field.
DeChambeau is the wildcard that might spoil everybody’s card. These back-to-back LIV wins weren’t towards a smooth subject. If he’s in that gear on Sunday afternoon, with the leaderboard tight and the stress ratcheted up, he’s able to something.
As for McIlroy, don’t dismiss him as a result of his type appears to be like shaky. He got here to Augusta final yr with again issues and questions hanging over him. He received. He’s the defending champion. He now drives down Magnolia Lane with out the load of historical past crushing him. That alone may very well be price a shot or two.
Our decide: Bryson DeChambeau to win
