2013 champion Adam Scott<\/a> and highest-ranked Australian, Min Woo Lee \u2013 have afternoon tee times at 12:03pm and 12:15pm, respectively.<\/p>\nScott thinks his second title at Augusta is \u201creally possible\u201d, buoyed by a strong start to the 2026 PGA Tour season highlighted by a fourth-place finish at the Genesis Invitational where he twice carded rounds of 63.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I just haven\u2019t been able to quite put it all together to win this season, but it\u2019s been really close,\u201d he said ahead of a milestone 25th Masters appearance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very fine line at the top end of leaderboards and getting it done, but it kind of feels like it wouldn\u2019t surprise me if it all lined up and I was in contention this week with a chance which is kind of really what you\u2019re aiming for anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I\u2019m optimistic and I think it\u2019s really possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now ranked No.25 in the world, just three off his career best, Lee\u2019s improved iron play and accuracy off the tee in 2026, backing up a sensational short game, pinpoints him as a real threat at Augusta.<\/p>\n
The big change he is counting on this year is the addition of a new mini-driver which he plans on using often, especially on Augusta\u2019s dogleg right-to-left holes, including the par-5 second and 13th.<\/p>\n
\u201cGame is looking really good. Feeling good,\u201d the West Australian said ahead of his final practice round.<\/p>\n
Coming off a last-start sixth at the Houston Open, where Lee tied for third, Day was the first Australian to arrive in Augusta, six days before the tournament\u2019s opening round, and feels well prepared in his bid for a second major championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had good prep so I\u2019m really looking forward to getting into the tournament now,\u201d the former world No.1 said.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously at Houston, played good there. I thought that was a great week to prepare for this week and then I\u2019ve just been here so many times. If I can just get out of my own way, typically I play well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith\u2019s tournament week has included two solo practice rounds as he tries to throw off his poor form from 2025 which saw him miss the cut in all four major championships.<\/p>\n
Missing out on the weekend at Augusta was a first for the Ripper GC captain who had snared five top-10s in his previous eight appearances.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The game] feels good. Felt really good in Singapore and it kind of felt OK in South Africa but wasn\u2019t where it was the week before, so it was kind of frustrating,\u201d Smith<\/p>\n
\u201cBut a couple of weeks off and some good work with [coach] Grant [Field] last week, so the game\u2019s feeling really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Round one tee-times (AEST)
11:19pm (Thurs): Cameron Smith, Sam Burns (US), Jake Knapp (US)
11:43pm (Thurs): Jason Day, Shane Lowry (Ireland), Dustin Johnson (US)
2:03am (Fri): Adam Scott, Daniel Berger (US), Brian Harman (US)
2:25am (Fri): Min Woo Lee, Fred Couples (US), Fifa Laopakdee (Thailand, am)<\/p>\n
CLICK HERE FOR FULL\u00a0GOLF DIGEST\u00a0MASTERS COVERAGE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is an overwhelming feeling of optimism in the four-man Australian contingent who will contest the 90th Masters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[290030,5487,64,59820,63,9461,3193,755,5499,130098,5488,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-594399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-2026-masters","9":"tag-adam-scott","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-augusta-national-golf-club","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-australians","14":"tag-cameron-smith","15":"tag-golf","16":"tag-jason-day","17":"tag-masters-tournament","18":"tag-min-woo-lee","19":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}