The announcement of the groupings and tee times for the opening two rounds of The Masters is just one of the many significant events that help whet the appetite for what is to come at Augusta National.
Everyone will have been looking out for when the likes of Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, and Bryson DeChambeau will kick off their tournaments. Meanwhile, it is always fascinating to see who some of the bigger names will be teeing it up alongside on Thursday and Friday.
What would be the most blockbuster final pairing at The Masters?
Scottie and Spieth or Rory and Bryson?
McIlroy, of course, will be joined by Mason Howell over the first two days, with the defending champion always playing alongside the winner of the previous year’s US Amateur. Cameron Young completes that particular trio.
Elsewhere, DeChambeau will tee it up alongside Xander Schauffele and Matthew Fitzpatrick in another brilliant move from the organisers.
But perhaps the Crushers captain should have actually been sent out with Patrick Reed.
Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, and Chris Gotterup should have been grouped together for the first two rounds of The Masters
The significance of the majors has obviously increased in recent years, with LIV Golf helping split the game.
The Masters is the first time that DeChambeau and Jon Rahm will have played in an event against the PGA Tour‘s best this year.
And that presented a very good opportunity, with three players in the field boasting two professional wins apiece in 2026.
Of course, they are DeChambeau, Reed, and Chris Gotterup.
It just so happens that one plies their trade on LIV Golf, another is playing on the DP World Tour for the time-being, while Gotterup has won twice on the PGA Tour.
Augusta National should have finally embraced golf’s civil war
While those at Augusta National have attempted to avoid getting involved in golf’s civil war, it was surely worth putting the three men together in an unofficial battle between the three most successful players of the season so far.
It would have been enough of a marquee group that the fans would have cared about how they would all fare. All three men appear to be more than capable of winning this week.
But it would not have completely stolen the spotlight away from the other groups.
There would have been several subplots among the trio, too, with Reed alongside a player from the tour he quit earlier this year.
Meanwhile, DeChambeau will be desperate to succeed where he fell short last year. And Gotterup looks to have a serious chance of becoming the first player to win on their Masters debut since 1979.
If Augusta National were ever going to be prepared to lean into the tribalism within the current game, this would have perhaps been the perfect way to do it.
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