AUGUSTA, GA. All of the preliminaries are now in the rear-view mirror. The first major championship of 2026 is off and running.
The first quarter of the golf calendar has produced a variety of interesting storylines. The continuation of Scottie Scheffler at the top of the pecking order was reinforced early on with his winning The American Express event in the California desert.
But even after finished T3 and T4 at Phoenix and Pebble Beach, Scheffler’s streak of 18 consecutive finishes tournaments spanning from 2025 into 2026, ended at the Genesis Invitational.
A concerning issue is that Scheffler’s first round play at all six of his starts with the exception of the American Express was quite slow and rather unexceptional.
Scheffler returns to competition this week after withdrawing from the Houston PGA Tour stop a few weeks ago to be back home with his wife Meredith who recently gave birth to their second child – Remy. Coming back to Augusta will certainly bring back pleasant memories for the two-time winner (2022 and 2024).
The expectation bar for the 29-year-old is clearly elevated after winning two major championships in 2025 and bringing his overall total to four. How will the top-ranked player in the world — 186 consecutive weeks — perform is an interesting issue given the extended layoff. If the Texan does get out of the gate via a quick start then the rest of the field will need to take notice and avoid being steamrolled.
The 20-time winner on the PGA Tour can clearly demonstrate the wherewithal to re-establish his dominance at this year’s Masters. But his candor in appreciating the nature of a major championship was evident in his pre-tournament comments.
“Most of the time in golf, you’re probably going to be a little bit disappointed at the end of the week just because there’s only one winner, and there’s a lot more losers than that,” Scheffler acknowledged.
Among the chief rivals for Scheffler is the defending champion, Rory McIlroy. At the 2025 event, the Northern Irishman became just the sixth golfer to achieve the career Grand Slam. In winning at Augusta, McIlroy ended a major-less streak that stretched back to August 2014.
The 2026 season has seen McIlroy play in four PGA Tour events — his best finish a joint runner-up finished at the Genesis.
McIlroy did pull out of the Bay Hill Invitational with back spasms and at The Players Championship he had a lackluster performance with a T46 placement.
Rory’s start to the 2025 season was notable but his success actually served as a clear wake-up call to Scheffler who dominated after Augusta concluded.
After securing the green jacket and ending the non-major streak the belief was that the internal pressures would lift and McIlroy would go on to even greater heights.
Scheffler and McIlroy have never had a battle royal where the two are staring at one another with a major championship on the line.
McIlroy also realizes for him to return to the pinnacle in professional golf he must be able to shake loose of the considerable shadow Scheffler has cast for the last several years.
The Scheffler / McIlroy intersection is not the only matter at-hand with this year’s event. A number of players coming into Augusta have played well during the first quarter of 2026. Names such as Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Reed, Cameron Young, Matt Fitzpatrick, Robert MacIntyre, to name a few are poised to elevate their name into green jacket consideration.
The Chinese proverb is most apt – the longest journey begins with the first step. The honorary starters – Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson — have that specific honor in kicking off this year’s event first thing Thursday morning.
