AUGUSTA, Ga. — Greetings from the Augusta National Golf Club, and welcome to a newsletter where we spend an inordinate amount of time breaking down a dinner photo of men of various ages, sizes and fashion senses.
Is it stupid? Of course it’s stupid, but that’s kind of the entire point.
One thing I wanted to point out before we get to 14 Masters Eve thoughts is that we’re giving away two OGIO golf travel bags to readers this week. Eligibility to win = be subscribed to the newsletter and comment on this tweet with who you think is going to win and why. You don’t even have to be correct. All you have to do is comment.
Also, don’t forget to join our fantasy contest right here before Round 1 starts!
Name drops today: Max Homa, Sandy Lyle, Fred Ridley, Justin Everdeen and Jason Day.
Thanks to — you guessed it — OGIO for presenting today’s newsletter.
I am traveling this week with both their Alpha mid travel cover as well as their Renegade vault carry-on. Both are tremendous pieces of luggage and the best I’ve ever had in both categories.
I don’t know that OGIO makes a bag big enough to carry all my hopes and dreams for a certain 2015 champion at this tournament this week, but if someone does, it’s them. Because when it comes to stuff you really care about, you can be assured that OGIO makes a premium (and amazing) version of it.
OK, now onto the news.
Bryson's garage.
1. Late on Tuesday, I walked out to the 18th green to watch Ludvig finish up his practice round. It was after 6 p.m., and I was lugging around merch for my children and one of our subscribers.
After the round ended, he made his way from the 18th green over to the clubhouse, stopping to sign autographs and take pictures with kids.
When he went through the walkway by the big tree near the clubhouse, a group of men in green jackets began congregating for their exclusive dinner.
Ludvig walked the other way toward the locker room as shutters clicked, wives smiled and grown men tried to contain their giddiness over Rory’s insane wine menu.
The Masters is nothing if not a collection of tensions. The tension of the tournament being held in a rundown old town but also at the most prestigious and beautiful golf course in the world. The tension of intimacy this course creates in person with the grandeur that is perceived on television.
Add another one to the list: The tension of somebody who’s come close multiple times walking off to the left while his peers — who played just slightly better than him the last two times — gathered to the right.
It was a small thing, perhaps a tiny thing, but the accumulation of tiny but meaningful moments is part of what makes this place so great.
[Jason here] Everyone is ragging on Spieth's purple on purple outfit, but I'm grateful that I can run this illustration back from last year. Never change Jordan.
2. Speaking of the champions dinner! I don’t know when this happened exactly, but the annual image coming out of that room is somehow one of the more anticipatory moments of major championship season (very normal sport stuff that a dinner photo is such a meaningful thing in our ridiculous sport).
Here’s what dropped on Tuesday evening.
Some thoughts.
• DJ’s mega white teeth-black shirt combo is amusing and just in general, the black shirt really needs to go. Green on black with a dark gray tie is 🤮
• Likewise, Spieth needs an intervention. We cannot be doing green on purple on darker purple. This is what happens when Greller’s not there to step in.
• Sandy Lyle looks like he’s about to lecture for 90 minutes on applied mathematics. Also remains the GOAT Wiki page (Masters record: One top 10, one win).
• Jose Maria looks like he’s ready for Rory’s wine choices. Also, this made me laugh.
• Danny Willett stands out as a, “Wait … what exactly happened here” guy.
• They jammed the winner of two of the last four — and maybe the second best player of the last 40 years — in the corner like he’s at the kids table! Somebody on Twitter said he legit looks like he’s photoshopped in.
• Rahm looks dapper. Tie is a little bright for me. But he’s got a good vibe going. You can hate on the haircut (fair), but I think everything he’s doing there is pretty strong.
• Faldo makes DJ (!) look small.
Wagyu Filet Mignon, Sautéed Brussles Sprouts, Glazed Carrots, Vidalia Onion Rings à la Normal Sport
• I don’t understand how Adam Scott is 16 years older than Scottie Scheffler. Makes zero sense.
• Crenshaw looks like he’s fun as hell to have a great dinner with. Just the man. Also, agree with this take.
3. I want to talk about Rory’s quote from last year about being willing to get your heart broken. Justin Rose basically said it again on Monday.
… I kind of realized that you can't skip through a career without a little bit of heartache and heartbreak, no chance. If you're going to be willing to win them, you've got to be willing to kind of be on the wrong side of it as well.
The key is showing up. The key is to try to be as free as you can in those moments. Yeah, you kind of have to hope a little bit along the way that it's your day.
… Hopefully with that mindset, keep chipping away, my day might still happen where a little bit of something goes my way.
That's the hard part. All we can do as players is to focus on our game, focus on our skill set, and make the odds in our favor the best we can.
Justin Rose
Make the odds in our favor …
Justin Everdeen
If you’re going to be willing to win them echoes what Rory said last year. This is a curious thing to me. I understand the concept, but I don’t totally know what it means in the context of playing golf.
Is it a physical thing, a mental one, an emotional position or a bit of all of the above?
So I asked Scottie about it.
I think a lot of the way I look at golf tournaments is I love being in that environment, I love trying to succeed and get the most out of myself when things are tough, and it's challenging playing, I think, late in tournaments. It's really difficult to win, and so being able to have a chance to do that is something that's special already.
There's certainly an aspect of putting yourself out there because, if you put yourself in the arena enough times, you're going to fail and you're going to succeed. That's just part of it.
There has to be some acceptance there that you're going to have maybe some great wins and you're also going to have some tough losses, but ultimately we just keep going.
Scottie Scheffler | 2026 Masters
I still feel like my questions have yet to be answered.
What does it mean to put yourself out there in terms of how you play the 15th hole or what you’re thinking when you get to the 18th tee? How does one put one’s self out there in those moments, and conversely, how does one not put one’s self out there?
My hunt for answers — which I’ve been on since Rory brought it up a year ago — will continue throughout this week. And I’ll keep reporting back.
This post will continue below for Normal Club members (all 1,038 of them) and includes notes from the grounds on Wednesday, another Rory thing I’ve been thinking about and my pick to win the 2026 Masters.
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Kyle is one of the best in the golf world at finding and synthesizing the absurd, the thoughtful and the fun things that make being a golf fan worthwhile.
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