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Rory McIlroy tied for the Masters lead after Round 1

April 10, 2026

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⛳️ A familiar face leads at Augusta

(Hassan Ahmad/Yahoo Sports)

18 holes into the 90th Masters, two men are tied atop the leaderboard at 5-under par. One is five-time PGA Tour winner Sam Burns. The other? Well, let’s just say there’s no green jacket hangover this year at Augusta.

Dan Wolken, Yahoo Sports:

When Rory McIlroy went to put his tee in the ground on No. 1 for the first time Thursday as defending Masters champion, the familiar nervous shake in his hand showed up like clockwork. It was a good thing to feel.

After 52 weeks of conversation about completing his career Grand Slam, the weight it lifted off his shoulders and the occasional struggle to motivate himself for The Next Thing, McIlroy was hoping he’d have that familiar sensation of struggling to set his ball on the tee as he prepared to hit his first shot of the Masters. For a golfer, it’s almost like proof of life.

“I’m thankful that I felt the same as I always have,” he said. “I think it would be worrisome if I didn’t feel that way because it definitely still means something to me.”

Year after year, McIlroy’s anxiety at Augusta National has been the dominant storyline of his relationship with this tournament — even last year when he had to overcome some mental disasters on Sunday to finally claim his green jacket. It would be hard, if not impossible, to say definitively that McIlroy has come back here freed up from those demons. This is golf, after all.

But if that were the case for McIlroy, it would probably manifest in a round like the one he played Thursday: All over the place off the tee but relentlessly committed to his shots, efficient around the greens and deadly on the par-5s where his length and experience gives him such a huge advantage.

Translation: After shooting 67 for the co-lead on a day where his game wasn’t nearly that good, Rory might be as dangerous as ever as he tries to become the first golfer since Tiger Woods in 2001-02 to win back-to-back here.

Who else is in contention? 79 of 89 Masters winners were within five shots of the lead after Round 1, which is good news for the 32 golfers at even par or better. But narrow the focus a bit and you’ll see that the winner is probably even closer to the top of the leaderboard: 18 of the last 19 champions were in the top 11 after Thursday. The only exception? McIlroy last year.

That cuts the list of contenders in half, with McIlroy and Burns (-5) leading a group of nine golfers at 2-under or better, plus another seven sitting at 1-under.
And half of them have serious championship pedigree, with eight former major winners in the group: McIlroy (-5), Patrick Reed (-3), Jason Day (-3), Scottie Scheffler (-2), Xander Schauffele (-2), Shane Lowry (-2), Justin Rose (-2) and Gary Woodland (-1).

The other side: Plenty of pre-tournament green jacket hopefuls struggled on Thursday, most notably LIV Golf’s Bryson DeChambeau (+4) and Jon Rahm (+6). In fact, none of LIV’s 10 competitors finished under par. Other surprisingly tough days included Robert MacIntyre (+8), Min Woo Lee (+6) and Ludvig Åberg (+2).

The last word: “The course is only going to get drier and firmer and faster as the week goes on,” said McIlroy, referencing the warm weather and clear skies expected through Sunday at Augusta. “I think as the golf course speeds up, it only gets more difficult out there,” added Burns. “And I think it’s going to be a really good test.”

Follow along live as cut day unfolds at Augusta.

📸 Pics du jour

Las Vegas — Denver upset top-seeded Michigan, 4-3 (2OT), on Thursday night to book a spot in the NCAA men’s hockey title game. They’ll play Wisconsin, who beat North Dakota, 2-1.

Standing tall in net: Johnny Hicks made 49 saves in goal for the Pioneers, including 13 in the double overtime period. Overall, Michigan outshot Denver, 52-26.

New York — Jayson Tatum nearly had a triple-double (24-13-8) in his first game back at Madison Square Garden since rupturing his Achilles there last spring, but the Knicks came away with the 112-106 victory behind 26 points (and some clutch 3-pointers) from Josh Hart.

Head-to-head: The Knicks took the season series against the Celtics (3 wins, 1 loss). I have a feeling we could be seeing these two teams again in the playoffs.

San Diego — Xander Bogaerts hit a walk-off grand slam in the 12th inning to lift the Padres past the Rockies, 7-3, and send Petco Park into a frenzy.

Unhittable: Padres reliever Mason Miller struck out the side in the ninth inning to continue his dominant start to the season. He’s now struck out 16 of the 21 batters he’s faced and has surrendered just one hit.

🏀 NBA playoff picture: Two games left

The regular season comes to an end on Sunday, and while the West is set (aside from seeding), the East still has five teams fighting for playoff spots.

Where it stands: The Raptors, Hawks, Magic, 76ers and Hornets — separated by just two games — have all clinched at least the play-in. But two of them will earn automatic playoff berths depending on this weekend’s results.

Raptors (45-35): at Knicks, vs. Nets
Hawks (45-35): vs. Cavaliers, at Heat
Magic (44-36): at Bulls, at Celtics
76ers (43-37): at Pacers, vs. Bucks
Hornets (43-37): vs. Pistons, at Knicks

Jockeying for seeding: The Knicks could catch the Celtics for the No. 2 seed if they win out and Boston loses out, but New York also leads Cleveland by just one game for the No. 3 seed. In the West, the Nuggets, Lakers and Rockets are separated by one game for the Nos. 3-5 seeds.

📺 Weekend Watchlist

⛳️ The Masters

The action continues at Augusta with today’s main broadcast airing on Prime Video (1-3pm) and ESPN (3-7:30pm) before CBS takes over on Saturday and Sunday (2-7pm). The Masters app, Paramount+ and more will again have full coverage beginning at 8:30 this morning.

Notable second-round tee times: Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Brooks Koepka (9:55am); Scottie Scheffler, Robert MacIntyre, Gary Woodland (10:19am); Patrick Reed, Tommy Fleetwood, Akshay Bhatia (1:08pm); Rory McIlroy, Cameron Young, Mason Howell (1:44pm)

🏀 NBA Finale

All 30 teams play both today and Sunday to close out the regular season. Tomorrow is a rare league-wide off day.

What to watch: In addition to two critical Eastern Conference matchups with playoff implications — Cavaliers at Hawks (Fri. 7pm, Prime) and Magic at Celtics (Sun. 6pm, ESPN) — we’ve got an epic game on Sunday night in San Antonio between Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs and Nikola Jokić’s Nuggets (8:30pm, ESPN).

🏒 Frozen Four

Wisconsin and Denver face off in the NCAA men’s hockey national championship tomorrow in Las Vegas (5:30pm, ESPN).

Trophy case: Denver has won 10 national titles, including two in the last four years, while six-time champion Wisconsin seeks its first since 2006.

🎾 Monte-Carlo Masters

The quarterfinals are already underway, with No. 3 Alexander Zverev defeating João Fonseca to reach the semifinals and No. 2 Jannik Sinner vs. No. 6 Felix Auger-Aliassime starting shortly on the Tennis Channel.

Full schedule: Today’s other two quarterfinals, played in succession following the conclusion of those above, are No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz vs. No. 8 Alexander Bublik and No. 5 Alex de Minaur vs. Valentin Vacherot. The semifinals are tomorrow and the final is on Sunday (9am, Tennis).

More to watch:

🏒 NHL: Lightning at Bruins (Sat. 12:30pm, ABC); Capitals at Penguins (Sat. 3pm, ABC); Golden Knights at Avalanche (Sat. 8pm, ABC); Penguins at Capitals (Sun. 3pm, TNT)
⚾️ MLB: Angels at Reds (Fri. 6:45pm, Apple); Giants at Orioles (Fri. 7:15pm, Apple); Diamondbacks at Phillies (Sat. 1pm, FS1); Guardians at Braves (Sun. 7:20pm, NBC)
⚽️ Friendly: USWNT vs. Japan (Sat. 5:30pm, TNT) … In San Jose.
⚽️ MLS: Portland vs. LAFC (Sat. 4:45pm, Apple/Fox) … First-place LAFC (5-0-1) have yet to concede a goal.
⚽️ Premier League: Chelsea vs. Manchester City (Sun. 11:30am, USA) … City (61 points) trail first-place Arsenal (70) by nine points with eight matches left and a game in hand.
🏁 NASCAR: Bristol (Sun. 3pm, FS1) … The Cup Series is nearly one-third of the way through its 26-race regular season.
🚴 Cycling: Paris-Roubaix (Sun. 4:30am, Peacock) … Tadej Pogačar continues his quest to become the first rider to sweep all five Monuments.
🥊 Boxing: Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov (Sat. 5pm, Netflix) … Tottenham Hotspur Stadium hosts Fury’s first fight since 2024.
👊 MMA: UFC 327 (Sat. 9pm, Paramount+) … Jirí Procházka and Carlos Ulberg’s light heavyweight title bout headlines the card in Miami.
🏉 Women’s Six Nations: Week 1 (Sat. 7:30am, Peacock) … Seven-time reigning champion England opens its title defense.

Got plans this weekend? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. Get tickets now!

⚾ Baseball trivia

79 years ago today, Jackie Robinson signed his first major league contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Question: Which Negro Leagues team did Robinson play for before joining the Dodgers?

Answer at the bottom.

⛳️ Meet the realtor playing the Masters

On a normal Thursday afternoon, Brandon Holtz would be selling houses. But this week, he is teeing it up at the Masters.

Dan Wolken, Yahoo Sports:

With their Azalea cocktails in hand, a few dozen of Brandon Holtz’s family members and golf buddies from Bloomington, Illinois, walked toward the second green Thursday morning at Augusta National and watched him line up a birdie putt.

“This is insane,” said City Petersen, who has played a few July 4 tournaments as Holtz’s partner at Lakeside Country Club, the nine-hole course where Holtz spends most of his Saturdays.

“It wasn’t real until we got here,” said Steve Gildner, a friend in the insurance business. “When he was stretching this morning, he was between [Dustin Johnson] and Rory [McIlRoy]. It’s crazy.”

Can you imagine if the local real estate agent in your regular golf game decided to enter some amateur events and ended up qualifying to play in the Masters?

Though admittedly an oversimplification of Holtz’s story — more on that in a moment — it’s pretty much the experience his friends had Thursday watching him play with two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson and Nicolas Echavarria.

“This will ruin Crestwicke for him,” John McGrew, who plays with Holtz at the local country club, said with a laugh.

Between the jokes, the drinks and the busting of chops from outside the ropes, it barely mattered that Holtz shot 81. Nerves? Yes, there were a few, particularly on the first tee. Did he play as well as he hoped? Absolutely not.

But all in all, it was the kind of day that reaffirmed the thought Holtz has held in his mind all week: He already won before hitting his first shot.

Keep reading.

Trivia answer: Kansas City Monarchs

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