bryson-dechambeau-point-caddie-masters-g.jpg
Getty Images

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The 2026 Masters officially began Thursday morning when Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson hit the ceremonial tee shots off the first tee in one of the great Augusta National Golf Club traditions. After three of the tournament's greatest champions opened play, the rest of the 91-player Masters field began their quest to join them as Masters champions, three-by-three (and two-by-two) with 12 minutes between each grouping. Follow live leaderboard updates from Round 1 of the 2026 Masters.

The favorites, sleepers, past champions and potential surprise contenders before 2 p.m. ET.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy began his quest to become the first back-to-back Masters champion since Tiger Woods in 2001-02 playing alongside Cameron Young and amateur Mason Howell.

The world No. 1 and heavy favorite, Scottie Scheffler, on the opposite side of the tee sheet, went off in the penultimate group 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. 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 are playing together, followed by Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose and Brooks Koepka. 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 90th Masters below, and don't forget to dive into the 2026 Masters TV schedule and coverage guide so you know exactly when and how to watch throughout the week.

Watch all four rounds of the 2026 Masters with expanded coverage from CBS Sports. It starts Thursday with Masters Live as we follow the best in the world on Featured Groups, Amen Corner and holes 15 & 16. Watch those streams live across Paramount+, CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports App with extended broadcast coverage Saturday and Sunday from 12-2 p.m. on Paramount+ and 2-7 p.m. on CBS.

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