2026 Masters Recap | What Did We Learn From Augusta?
Another Masters is done, and it is another Green Jacket for Rory, as he holds off Scottie Scheffler on another drama-filled Sunday at Augusta. What did we learn from this year's Masters?
Lead-In Preparation
Trends always die—you can use the denim jacket as proof of that (unless you're Canadian). One of the Masters trends that popped up last week was around winners and playing in the weeks leading up to heading to Augusta. While probably 95% of players in next year's field can't subscribe to how Rory was able to prep for it, I think this year we truly saw the benefit of players opting out of the two lead-in tournaments to the Masters and preparing in a non-traditional way.
I want to look at both sides of the coin because I spoke about a little of this during my Masters preview with the Valero Texas Open last week, and how the potential weather delays may impact some of those in contention. While the event was finished on the Sunday, we had a handful of players play a round and a half of probably fairly mentally taxing golf in ordinary weather conditions. There is absolutely no way you want that on the Sunday before you fly out to Augusta. The two players I want to highlight are Ludvig Åberg and Bobby MacIntyre, both of whom had a really tough Sunday at TPC San Antonio and probably felt like they blew a PGA Tour win away.
Ludvig Åberg: T21 (-3)
I'll be honest, I watched Ludvig's first 6 holes of the Masters fairly closely, and he looked like he was going to be very hard to beat. When he doubled the 9th, his whole tournament kind of fell apart, and he never really was able to mount much of a charge. He had patches where he looked like he was going on a run and looked like a guy shooting a mid-60, but ran into bogey clumps and was basically never really a threat in this Masters.
Bobby MacIntyre: Cut (+7)
This was a pretty tough watch. I really love Bobby Mac and what he brings, but I think we saw a lot of frustration boiling over from him this week. The Valero Texas Open was his to win, and I do wonder how much of the disappointment from that played into what we saw at Augusta. He refused to do media after either round and was visibly frustrated on the course, and there is just no way you are coming back from that at Augusta.
On the flip side of that, we had a number of guys have a real week at the Masters who had their own approach leading into the Masters and opted out of the lead-in tournaments beforehand.
Rory McIlroy: 1st (-12)
Last Played: The Players Championship
Took some heat for admitting that over the last month he would drop his daughter off at school, jump on a private jet, play Augusta, and then fly back and pick her up from school. I'm fine with it—you win a jacket and you get all the trimmings. This is clearly a massive advantage that only a few can use.
Scottie Scheffler: 2nd (-11)
Last Played: The Players Championship
Having his second child probably played a bigger role in this, but either way he's had a month off tournament play.
Justin Rose: 3rd (-10)
Last Played: The Players Championship
Spoke about using the lead-up weeks to the Masters differently, and that he came up to Augusta to play a few times and looked at the course with his short game coach. Massive ticks from me with this approach—leaving no stone unturned.
Cameron Young: 3rd (-10)
Last Played: The Players Championship
When you win The Players and come 3rd and 7th in the two tournaments before that, I think you can probably take some time off to focus purely on your Augusta prep. At multiple times over the weekend it looked like he was going to do a Players/Masters double.
Collin Morikawa: T7th (-9)
Last Played: Arnold Palmer Invitational
Withdrew from The Players with a back injury—this is probably all down to managing that—but what he did this week kind of shows how good his form was leading in, and his price ended up way too big. More on this later.
I think we see most of the top guys opt for this approach next year, and the PGA Tour might have an issue with the quality of the fields in these two lead-in tournaments. We will see.
Finding Form at Augusta
Another pre-Masters narrative we see is around players finding form at Augusta, and typically how much players have continued to struggle after coming into the Masters down on form. While this is still, I think, a fairly sound assessment for the majority of the field, we found a few really nice examples of players finding something and potentially turning their 2026 season around.
Max Homa: T9th (-8)
Not ready to say we are going to see the Homa of old, but after missing the cut in both events after The Players, where he didn't really contend either, it is safe to say Max wasn't heading to the Masters with a ton of confidence. Finished with his first top 10 for the season and had his season-best Strokes Gained performances in Total and Putting, along with strong Tee to Green and Approach numbers. Can this kick-start him? He did something similar last year leading into the Masters, with a T12 after missing five cuts prior, and didn't really go on with it after. Maybe this year is different!
Brian Campbell: T24th (-2)
This was probably one of the most pleasing results for me this week, which is kind of sad to say about a T24, but Campbell has been just brutal since he won the John Deere last year. It is hard to believe he won twice last season based on his play, in all honesty. He has missed the cut 10 times since that win in 16 events. He gained over 7 strokes putting this weekend—a number he hadn't touched since 2017. Golf can be a brutal game when you are not going well, and he has been feeling every bit of that, I imagine. Hopefully this turns his game around into more weekend golf.
Brooks Koepka: T12th (-6)
This is going to feel like clutching at straws here, but what is the one thing we have seen from Brooks this year? Lights-out ball striking and pure pain on the greens. We saw some real signs that the putter changes and work he has been doing might be turning around. This was the week where he could have been really exposed if his putting woes continued, but he hung in there. I think the ball striking is still so locked in that eventually they will drop. He is winning this year—you can't convince me otherwise.
Collin Morikawa
Is Morikawa not one of the most interesting stories from the week? Finishes with a pair of 68s on the weekend, and every time you saw him on the broadcast late on Sunday he looked to be walking around fairly gingerly. I did say in the preview that his outright price was at a point where you had to make a choice—you're either attacking him in the 3 Balls or round prop betting, or you have to take him at the price he was.
The Morikawa practice-round tracking was something else. People were reporting how many drives he hit at his range sessions, what his ball speed was touching, and what shots he was hitting when he was walking the course. Nothing really gave you a ton of confidence that he was going to be fully fit, but does this guy not win this fully fit?
While I don't have the swing speed numbers for him this week, his driving distance went down fairly noticeably from Thursday to Sunday, while the field stayed essentially the same. Clearly not 100%, and he went -8 on the weekend in pretty tough conditions. That is enough for me to be monitoring the 2027 Masters outright book, looking for a healthy Collin—and I will not be alone on that.
2027 Masters Profiles
Felt like I said this a million times last week, but the path to success is experience, contend, win. I've left this weekend feeling like we have a couple of guys who have moved themselves from the experience to the contend part of that path: Jake Knapp and Maverick McNealy.
Jake Knapp
Knapp was a completely different player this time around at Augusta. After a fairly tough outing in the 2024 Masters, he looks like someone who is absolutely ready to be in that top group of guys behind Scottie and Rory in next year's market. While he probably wasn't really a threat to win, being deep in it on Sunday is only going to help his game next year.
There were so many pleasing aspects of his game this week. He gained 7 or more strokes Off the Tee and Tee to Green, and was 5 strokes better in Putting compared to his previous visit. The most appealing thing to me about Knapp next year is that his Approach and Around the Green numbers weren't exactly where they need to be in order to win, so we have room to grow on a guy who finished 11th in his second trip and is usually a very good ball striker.
Maverick McNealy
How does this guy not win more? When I watch him play, this is something that always comes into my head. Now, I am not saying I thought he should have won this week, but I think he should be more of a threat on a weekly basis, and I am surprised that he isn't right now.
Second trip to Augusta—T32 last time and T18 this time—but that is not what I am basing this on. He has gained 3 strokes Around the Green in both Masters he has played in now. This is arguably the most important part of your game come Sunday, because it is how we saw a number of the chasers fall away so quickly this year. Approach numbers were not great, but he found a way to keep himself in the tournament—a big tick for me going into next year.
Egg Salad Hat
Now I want to go on record that I am not hating here, but 16 is my favourite hole at Augusta, and it always has been. Having to look at the same guy wearing a bright yellow hat that said "Egg Salad" on it was difficult. Give us some variety next year, please.