Masters week kicks off

Augusta National is still a day away from the first competitive round, but Masters week already has its own pulse. On Wednesday, April 8, the Par 3 Contest opened the property in its usual softer light: children in white caddie suits, players smiling for cameras, and a nine-hole exhibition that doubles as the last public look at swings before the tournament starts Thursday. (augustachronicle.com) The Par 3 Contest is part warm-up, part ritual. It is played on Augusta National’s short course in the northeast corner of the club, and it begins at noon Eastern on the Wednesday before the Masters every year, giving fans a few hours of golf that feels more like a family picnic than a major championship. (nbcdfw.com) That tone is the point. The Masters is the most controlled week in men’s golf, and the Par 3 Contest is the one window where the ropes loosen a little, players let spouses and children carry bags, and the audience gets clues about who looks relaxed, who looks sharp, and who is still searching for timing. (nbcdfw.com) The formal week began the night before with the Champions Dinner, one of Augusta National’s most private traditions. This year’s host was Rory McIlroy, who won the 2025 Masters and appears front and center in the 2026 dinner portrait released from Augusta, a visual reminder that he arrives not as the nearly man of old Masters storylines but as the defending champion. (usatoday.com) That shift changes the feel of the tournament. For more than a decade, McIlroy came to Augusta carrying the burden of trying to complete the career Grand Slam; now he returns wearing the green jacket, setting the menu, greeting past champions, and defending a title instead of chasing a ghost. (golfchannel.com) The field is set at 91 players, which is small by major-championship standards and one reason the Masters feels so concentrated. Augusta does not need 156 players and split tees to create drama; it gathers a tighter group of past champions, recent major winners, top-ranked professionals, amateurs, and a few late qualifiers, then lets the course do the sorting. (golfweek.usatoday.com) Inside that 91-man field, Scottie Scheffler enters the week as the betting favorite. That is not unusual anymore: he has become the player oddsmakers trust most at Augusta because his game is built on the two things the course exposes fastest, distance control into greens and patience when birdies stop coming. (usatoday.com) The early conversation on site has centered on the course itself. Forecasts for Augusta this week have called for dry weather, light wind, and very little rain, which usually means firmer fairways, quicker bounces, and approach shots that need to land in smaller windows. (golfdigest.com) When Augusta gets calm and firm at the same time, it can look generous from the tee and severe from the fairway. Drives run out, the ball releases on landing, and players who control iron shots by a few yards rather than a few feet can suddenly look as if they are playing a different course from everyone else. (msn.com) That is why so many previews keep circling back to precision. Augusta’s greens are famous for slopes and shelves, but those features matter even more when the surface is dry enough that a shot landing on the wrong level can feed away like a marble on a countertop. (msn.com) The first-round pairings released Wednesday only sharpened the anticipation. By Thursday, April 9, the smiles from the Par 3 Contest will give way to scorecards, and every loose read from Wednesday will be tested against a course that can turn one indifferent iron shot into bogey in a hurry. (cbssports.com) So the opening scene of Masters week is a contrast Augusta has perfected over decades. Wednesday offers laughter, snapshots, and a ceremonial lap around the short course; Thursday begins the real exam, with McIlroy defending, Scheffler favored, 91 players chasing one jacket, and a dry Augusta National waiting to reward the cleanest ball-strikers in the field. (augustachronicle.com)