Kip Grandstand

Rory McIlroy had already won the Masters once. A year earlier, he slipped on the Green Jacket, completed the career Grand Slam, and finally hauled one of golf’s oldest burdens off his back in a playoff over Justin Rose. Even that did not make Sunday at Augusta feel calm. The six-shot lead he built by Friday night had already started to wobble. Saturday’s 73 reopened every old question. Meanwhile, Scottie Scheffler kept climbing the board with the quiet menace he brings to every major. By the time McIlroy headed toward the 15th green on Sunday afternoon, the round no longer…

Tyrrell Hatton’s quiet charge to a Top 3 Masters finish happened inside somebody else’s coronation, which is part of why it deserves a second look. Augusta spent Sunday staring at Rory McIlroy, who closed out a second straight green jacket and became only the fourth man to win consecutive Masters titles. Scottie Scheffler spent the afternoon ripping through the course without a bogey for the second straight day. That was the loud story. The softer one sat just off to the side, gathering weight with every hole. Hatton walked onto the back nine within a shot of the lead, shot…

Missed opportunities defined the 2026 Masters long before Rory McIlroy slipped on another green jacket. Sunday never gave him a clean walk from the first tee to the prize. Early mistakes gave away ground. Cameron Young suddenly saw daylight. Up ahead, Scottie Scheffler stacked pars that felt heavier than they looked, while Justin Rose tore through the front nine and briefly changed the shape of the afternoon. By the end, McIlroy still won at 12 under, one shot clear of Scheffler at 11 under, with Rose, Young, Russell Henley, and Tyrrell Hatton tied for third at 10 under. On the…

Justin Rose did not leave the 2026 Masters with a green jacket. Sunday still felt like one of the sharpest reminders of his career that Augusta keeps asking him for everything and still wants more. Rose finished tied for third at 10 under, two shots behind Rory McIlroy, after opening the final round three back, racing to 12 under by the turn, and then watching Amen Corner turn a clean charge into another bruise. The scoreboard reads 70, 69, 69, 70 for 278. The walk up the hill felt heavier than the math. Sunday at Augusta has a specific kind…

Ten under at Augusta never felt like a tie. It felt like a traffic jam with four different engines revving for four different reasons. Justin Rose was trying to bend one more Sunday at Augusta into his shape. Cameron Young was trying to turn a breakout season into a major that changed his standing for good. Tyrrell Hatton was trying to prove this course had stopped arguing with his temperament. Russell Henley was trying to show that quiet golf can still make a crowd uneasy. By dusk, all four men were on the same line at 10 under, two shots…

Best of the Rest took shape before Rory McIlroy ever climbed the last hill at Augusta. Shadows had started stretching across the fairways. The pine straw burned orange in the late light. A roar would rise somewhere near Amen Corner, drift through the trees, then disappear into that old hush that makes every player feel a missed putt twice. McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler owned the top of the board, and they earned every bit of that oxygen. Still, the scoring hut kept telling a second story. Justin Rose looked bruised but dangerous. Russell Henley looked like a man who had…

Cadillac Championship golf never sold itself as a street fight. The sponsor badge gleamed. The resort looked manicured. Palm trees swayed in the Florida light, and courtesy Cadillacs caught the sun like jewelry parked on pavement. Then the first leader dumped a ball into the water, and the whole week showed its real face. That was the trick of the Cadillac Championship. It arrived dressed in luxury and played like a threat. Valets at Trump National Doral hustled to keep up with the traffic. Corporate guests drifted toward the ropes, expecting star power and postcard weather. Television adored the shine.…

Harbour Town Golf Links is where a golfer can hit the shot he wants and still feel the day slipping. The sound gives it away first. A wedge lands softly. The crowd gives that quick little hum of approval. Then the ball takes one extra step, trickles toward a collar, and the mood around the green sours on the spot. No explosion. No spectacle. Just a low, mean murmur that says everybody saw the same thing at once. This course does not beat players with drama. It beats them with doubt. The lighthouse hangs over the finish like a witness.…

Blue Monster at Doral begins on the range, where long irons come off the face with that hard, compressed crack that sounds more like a slammed car door than a warm-up. Water flashes all over the property. Wind creeps in from the side and sits on a player’s shoulder. The Bermuda looks glossy from twenty yards away, then turns mean when you get close enough to read the grain pulling toward trouble. This course now stretches to 7,701 yards on the current LIV Golf setup, but that number only tells part of the story. Plenty of courses play long. Very…

Cadillac Championship power rankings should start with the course, because the course still runs this week. The Cadillac Championship returns to Trump National Doral from April 30 through May 3, 2026, back on the PGA Tour schedule as a Signature Event with a $20 million purse, and that alone changes the sound of the spring. Doral is not a soft launch site. It is not a ceremonial throwback. It is 7,739 yards of Florida heat, exposed shots, and one finishing stretch that can make elite players look like they are thinking too much. Miami gets its tournament back. The Tour…