The quest to win the first major championship of 2026 begins on Thursday at Augusta National Golf Club


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The 2026 Masters will officially begin at 7:25 a.m. ET on Thursday, April 9, when Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson hit the ceremonial tee shots off the first tee in one of the great Masters traditions. After three of the tournament's greatest champions open play, the rest of the 91-player Masters field will begin their quest to join them as Masters champions.

Tee times for the 2026 Masters were released on Tuesday, allowing us to learn when the favorites, sleepers, past champions and more would begin their respective trips around Augusta National Golf Club.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy will begin his quest to become the first back-to-back Masters champion since Tiger Woods in 2001-02 at 10:31 a.m., playing alongside Cameron Young and amateur Mason Howell. The world No. 1 and heavy favorite, Scottie Scheffler, will be on the opposite side of the tee sheet, going off in the penultimate group at 1:44 p.m. with Robert MacIntyre and Gary Woodland. Other featured groups on Thursday morning include Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Fitzpatrick and Xander Schauffele, teeing off two groups before McIlroy at 10:07 a.m. Hideki Matsuyama, Collin Morikawa and Russell Henley will be next on the tee at 10:19 a.m.

In the afternoon, Jon Rahm, Chris Gotterup and Ludvig Åberg will tee off at 1:08 p.m., followed by Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose and Brooks Koepka at 1:20 p.m. The latter may be the surprise grouping of the first two rounds.

Check out the full list of first-round tee times and pairings for the 2026 Masters below.

All times Eastern

2026 Masters tee times, Thursday groupings
7:40 a.m. — John Keefer, Haotong Li
7:50 a.m. — Naoyuki Kataoka, Max Homa, Carlos Ortiz
8:02 a.m. — Jose Maria Olazabal, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Aldrich Potgieter
8:14 a.m. — Angel Cabrera, Sami Valimaki, Jackson Herrington
8:26 a.m. — Charl Schwartzel, Max Greyserman, Ryan Fox
8:38 a.m. — Vijay Sing, Matt McCarty, Rasmus Højgaard
8:50 a.m. — Kurt Kitayama, Kristoffer Reitan, Casey Jarvis
9:02 a.m. — Bubba Watson, Nicolas Echavarria, Brandon Holtz
9:19 a.m. — Cameron Smith, Sam Burns, Jake Knapp
9:31 a.m. — Keegan Bradley, Ryan Gerard, Nick Taylor
9:43 a.m. — Dustin Johnson, Shane Lowry, Jason Day
9:55 a.m. — Patrick Reed, Tommy Fleetwood, Akshay Bhatia
10:07 a.m. — Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Fitzpatrick, Xander Schauffele
10:19 a.m. — Hideki Matsuyama, Collin Morikawa, Russell Henley
10:31 a.m. — Rory McIlroy, Cameron Young, Mason Howell
10:43 a.m. — Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, Alex Noren
11:03 a.m. — Sam Stevens, Sungjae Im
11:15 a.m. — Andrew Novak, Tom McKibbin, Brian Campbell
11:27 a.m. — Mike Weir, Wyndham Clark, Mateo Pulcini
11:39 a.m. — Zach Johnson, Michael Kim, Nicolai Højgaard
11:51 a.m. — Danny Willett, Davis Riley, Ethan Fang
12:03 a.m. — Adam Scott, Daniel Berger, Brian Harman
12:15 p.m. — Fred Couples, Min Woo Lee, Fifa Laopakdee
12:27 p.m. — Sergio Garcia, Aaron Rai, Jacob Bridgeman
12:44 p.m. — Harry Hall, Corey Conners, Michael Brennan
12:56 p.m. — J.J. Spaun, Maverick McNealy, Tyrrell Hatton
1:08 p.m. — Jon Rahm, Chris Gotterup, Ludvig Åberg
1:20 p.m. — Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Brooks Koepka
1:32 p.m. — Sepp Straka, Ben Griffin, Justin Thomas
1:44 p.m. — Scottie Scheffler, Robert MacIntyre, Gary Woodland
1:56 p.m. — Harris English, Marco Penge, Si Woo Kim

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Posted by Temmy
Wed, April 08, 2026 1:46pm