{"id":520812,"date":"2026-04-09T04:47:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T04:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/520812\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T04:47:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T04:47:19","slug":"2026-masters-see-what-top-players-are-saying-at-augusta-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/520812\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Masters: See what top players are saying at Augusta National"},"content":{"rendered":"

1D AGO<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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Tommy Fleetwood discusses preparing for the Masters on ‘The Drop’<\/p>\n

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Written by Staff <\/p>\n

The Masters is famously known as a tradition unlike any other. But within that grand tradition, there\u2019s a bevy of smaller traditions that make the week one of the most memorable of the golfing calendar. A Russian nesting doll of traditions, if you will. <\/p>\n

One of those traditions is the firehose of content that precedes the opening tee shots as fans swarm for information about the first major championship of the year. Augusta National Golf Club leans in, bringing a large contingent of stars into the press center for media, though nearly all 91 players will be stopped at some point for an on-camera interview to provide insight into the week ahead. It\u2019s a lot of to take in, and it can be tough to track who said what and when. So our PGATOUR.com<\/a> writers on-site at the Masters are distilling down all the interviews and compiling the best bits of information to keep you in the know.<\/p>\n

Nine months removed from his opus about finding contentment at The Open, Scottie Scheffler arrives to Augusta National in search of his third Masters title in the last five years and third major in his last four attempts. <\/p>\n

The world No. 1 is still looking to stay grounded despite racking up 20 PGA TOUR wins since 2022 as he continues to target fulfillment beyond the leaderboard.<\/p>\n

“I would say it’s always been a battle for me trying to strike a balance between continuing to work hard, staying competitive and also not having either my good golf or my bad golf define me,” Scheffler said. “Because that could go one of two ways. If I let my bad golf define me, I’d be a pretty miserable person. If I let my good golf define me, whether or not it’s the green jacket or an Open Championship, then I’d walk around pretty arrogant all the time and I wouldn’t be very nice to people because I’d think I’m hot stuff because I won a few golf tournaments.”<\/p>\n

Scheffler said the rest portion of his preparation hasn’t been impacted by the recent arrival of his son, Remy, who was born less than two weeks ago but has already been spotted on the grounds at Augusta National.<\/p>\n

The long-term weather forecast for this week in Augusta has players like Matt Fitzpatrick chomping at the bit.<\/p>\n

Fitzpatrick has a U.S. Open title under his belt and is often vocal about his preference for difficult conditions at TOUR events, as he feels it suits his style of play. It looks like he’ll get his wish this week at Augusta National, where no rain is expected all week to allow the course to play as firm and fast as organizers wish.<\/p>\n

“I’m probably going to try to hit a 7-iron to the middle of the green, or five or six right of the flag or whatever pretty much every week,” Fitzpatrick said. “I think that was beneficial for when golf courses got really difficult, because my strategy didn’t change. I would just play my normal golf, and maybe guys out here probably played a little more aggressive than me. So when it did get difficult, you couldn’t just go two or three left or right, or you couldn’t go at it, because if you did miss, you were screwed. And I could just kind of continue my own game.” <\/p>\n

The Englishman comes in with plenty of momentum on difficult tracks, having finished runner-up at THE PLAYERS before winning the Valspar Championship in his two most recent starts.<\/p>\n

Count Cameron Young among the growing majority of players who will send driver on the short par-4 third hole to all but one pin location this week. Historically a hole that promotes a multitude of options off the tee, a consensus is growing on the best way to play the hole: Hit driver as far up as you can, unless the pin is on the left side. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like that hole is an opportunity. If you’ve done your work around that green, I think that all the shots are really doable with the exception of kind of that one scenario,” Young said. “If I can’t get within 30, 40 yards of the green and it’s that left hole location, I probably will lay up on the right.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s one notable dissent to that opinion: Rory McIlroy. With the pin on the left during last year\u2019s final round, McIlroy sent driver and got up-and-down for birdie. Bryson DeChambeau, the other half the pairing, laid up and made bogey, a pivotal turning point in the final round. <\/p>\n

Tommy Fleetwood was asked about his first Masters memory and recalled a memorable exchange amid a historic 1997 tournament:<\/p>\n

“I think I came home from school Thursday or Friday, and we had it on TV, and my dad was like, ‘This Tiger Woods guy is going to be unbelievable.’ I do literally remember that moment.”<\/p>\n

Fleetwood’s son, Frankie, was in the back of the interview room as his dad took questions from the media. All eyes will turn to the 8-year-old during Wednesday’s Par 3 Contest as he looks to hit the target on No. 9 after last year’s viral near-miss:<\/p>\n

“We’ve had conversations. Frankie is very set on what he’s doing. He’s very excited, and he knows what he’s doing. … I think more than anything, the pressure is on me to keep making the Masters until he reaches the green on the ninth.”<\/p>\n

Collin Morikawa on his back injury, which has held him out since THE PLAYERS Championship last month\u2026 \u201cThe honest truth is I’m taking it day by day. It’s not exactly where I want to be, and it’s unfortunate, but that’s just the body, and I can’t push it. It’s been a little bit of a mental battle, I think, just trying to trust with where it’s at. The back actually feels fine. It’s just other parts of the body not cooperating a little bit how I want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morikawa did not hit any tee shots during a nine-hole practice round on Monday, opting only to chip and putt. He did test it on the range, though he only hit a few drivers and displayed noticeable drops in speed and distance. His longest drive went only 284 yards with 171mph ball speed. <\/p>\n

Chris Gotterup\u2019s confidence was on full display. He\u2019s not brash, but he\u2019s sure of himself, \u201cI don’t think anything about the course makes me nervous,\u201d he said. Gotterup is one of 22 first-timers, and arguably the most accomplished. He displayed a clear understanding of how to play the course. He played a practice round with Justin Rose and frequently picked his brain. This writer watched Gotterup flag approaches on the fourth and fifth holes with long irons. <\/p>\n

Justin Rose was asked plenty about the close calls and whether any scar tissue has built up. That\u2019s not how he views it. <\/p>\n

\u201cI’m very aware that I’ve had tough, tough losses here. I also am aware that I enjoy this place,\u201d he said. So I don’t want to sort of like — I don’t want to feel that those three second-place finishes need to create a different sort of feeling for me. I can’t control the outcome. I think last year in the playoff, I felt like I learned from 2017, and I felt like I played a much better playoff than I did previously. So I kind of adapted and learned\u2026 I did everything that I could do. So I can kind of live with that in a way.I can be philosophical about it, I think. Yeah, of course, I look at it and think those are racking up, they’re stacking up, yeah. But someone said — I think eight players have won this tournament after finishing second the year before, which probably increases my odds if you look at the field. I can look at that and go, okay, that’s good. Happy with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Apr 5, 2026<\/p>\n

Masters 2026: Key anniversaries over the last 75 years<\/a>Latest<\/a>\"Image\"Image<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1D AGO 7 Min Read Latest *:not(style){overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0px;right:0px;bottom:0px;left:0px;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;width:100%;height:100%;}.css-17ygvlf>img,.css-17ygvlf>video{object-fit:cover;}.css-17ygvlf::before{height:0px;content:””;display:block;padding-bottom:56.25%;}]]> Tommy Fleetwood discusses preparing for the Masters on ‘The Drop’ *:not(style)~*:not(style){margin-top:0.5rem;-webkit-margin-end:0px;margin-inline-end:0px;margin-bottom:0px;-webkit-margin-start:0px;margin-inline-start:0px;}]]>…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-520812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}