AUGUSTA, Ga. — The 2026 Masters officially opened on Thursday, April 9 at 7:25 a.m. ET as Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson hit ceremonial tee shots from the first tee in one of Augusta National Golf Club’s great traditions. After three of the tournament’s great champions made open play, the remaining teams Masters field for 91 players The quest to join them as Masters Champions begins.
Champions, sleepers, past champions and potential surprise contenders will leave as early as 7:40 a.m. to begin their run. Defending champion Rory McIlroy begins his quest to achieve his goals. Became the first consecutive Masters champion since Tiger Woods. In 2001-02, he played at 10:31 a.m. with Cameron Young and amateur Mason Howell.
Scotty Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 favoritewill be positioned on the opposite side of the tee sheet and will start in the penultimate group with Robert McIntyre and Gary Woodland at 1:44 p.m. Other notable groups Thursday morning include Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Fitzpatrick and Xander Schauffele, who will tee off before McIlroy at 10:07 a.m., followed by Hideki Matsuyama, Collin Morikawa and Russell Henry, who will tee off at 10:19 a.m.
In the afternoon, Jon Rahm, Chris Gotterup and Ludwig Oberg will tee off at 1:08 p.m., followed by Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose and Brooks Koepka at 1:20 p.m. The latter could be a surprise pairing for the first two rounds.
Check out the complete list of tee times and pairings for the first round of the 90th Masters below, and don’t forget to check back for more details. 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 on extended coverage on CBS Sports. starts on thursday masters live In pursuit of the world’s best Featured groups, amen corner and 15 holes and 16 holes. Watch your stream live paramount+, CBSSports.com and CBS Sports App Broadcast coverage will be extended from 12pm to 2pm on Saturdays and Sundays. paramount+ on CBS from 2 to 7 p.m.
always east
2026 Masters Tee Times, Thursday Groupings
- 7:40 a.m. — John Kiefer, Haotong Li
- 7:50 a.m. — Naoyuki Kataoka, Max Homa, Carlos Ortiz
- 8:02 a.m. — Jose María Olazabal, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Aldrich Potgieter
- 8:14 a.m. — Angel Cabrera, Sami Valimaki, Jackson Herrington
- 8:26 am — Charl Schwartzel, Max Glaserman, Ryan Fox
- 8:38 am — Vijay Singh, Matt McCarty, Rasmus Hojgaard
- 8:50 am — Kurt Kitayama, Christopher Reitan, Casey Jarvis
- 9:02 am — Bubba Watson, Nicholas Echavarria, Brandon Holtz
- 9:19 am — Cameron Smith, Sam Barnes, Jake Knapp
- 9:31 am — Keegan Bradley, Ryan Gerard, Nick Taylor
- 9:43 am — 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 Schaufel
- 10:19 am — 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 Nolen
- 11:03 am — Sam Stevens, Sungjae Im
- 11:15 a.m. — Andrew Novak, Tom McKibbin, Brian Campbell
- 11:27 a.m. — Mike Weir, Windham Clark, Matteo Pulcini
- 11:39 a.m. — Zach Johnson, Michael Kim, Nikolaj Hojgaard
- 11:51 a.m. — Danny Willett, Davis Riley, Ethan Fang
- 12:03 a.m. — Adam Scott, Daniel Berger, Brian Harman
- 12:15pm — Fred Couples, Minu Lee, FIFA Lao Pakdee
- 12:27 p.m. — Sergio Garcia, Aaron Lai, Jacob Bridgman
- 12:44 p.m. — Harry Hall, Corey Connors, Michael Brennan
- 12:56 p.m. — JJ Spahn, Maverick McNeely, Tyrrell Hatton
- 1:08 pm — Jon Rahm, Chris Gotterp, Ludwig Oberg
- 1:20 p.m. — Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Brooks Koepka
- 1:32 pm — Sepp Straka, Ben Griffin, Justin Thomas
- 1:44 p.m. — Scotty Scheffler, Robert McIntyre, Gary Woodland
- 1:56 pm — Harris English, Marco Penzi, Shi Woo Kim
