The Masters 2024 LIVE: Latest news and updates from Augusta ahead of first major

There has always been a sense that the Masters is a fairytale or fantasy for golfers and perhaps next week’s first major championship of 2024 most resembles The Wizard of Oz. There are the extremes of colour (Augusta National loves green), a fabled route (onto the property along Magnolia Lane and around it via Amen Corner), peculiar tradition (the Butler Cabin), a strange but beguiling prize (the green jacket) and a cast of characters desperately trying to overcome their flaws.

But this year, there is an added feature for the Augusta fairytale and it is the sense that something malevolent and threatening is hanging over this other-worldly location.

Read Matt Cooper’s full preview of the 2024 Masters:

Shane Lowry has revealed that a green jacket ranks highly on his “bucket list” as he bids for Masters triumph.

The Irishman’s victory at Portrush remains his sole major triumph, but Lowry is confident that his best golf remains ahead of him and he can still challenge in the biggest events.

The 37-year-old was a part of Europe’s successful Ryder Cup in Rome last year and would like to taste victory on American soil, too, while an Olympic medal is also in his sights.

Tiger Woods reiterated his belief that Rory McIlroy will definitely win the Masters during his career to complete the grand slam as McIlroy kept his own media duties to a minimum.

McIlroy was the last player to register at Augusta National around 30 minutes before his scheduled press conference, which started early and saw the world No 2 answer just seven questions.

One of those was in response to Woods having earlier insisted it was just a “matter of time” before McIlroy earns a green jacket to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Woods himself in having won all four major titles.

“It’s flattering,” McIlroy said. “It’s nice to hear, in my opinion, the best player ever to play the game say something like that.

“Does that mean that it’s going to happen? Obviously not. But he’s been around the game long enough to know that I at least have the potential to do it. I know I’ve got the potential to do it too. It’s not as if I haven’t been a pretty good player for the last couple of decades. But, yeah, it’s nice to hear it when it comes out of his mouth.”

Tiger Woods insists he can win a sixth green jacket and 16th major title, despite detailing the pain he faces on the vast majority of shots at Augusta National.

Woods has played fewer than five-and-a-half competitive rounds since undergoing ankle surgery in April last year after withdrawing from the Masters during the third round. The 48-year-old returned to action in the Hero World Challenge in December and completed all 72 holes, but was forced to withdraw from the Genesis Invitational in February due to illness after six holes of the second round.

Woods had also suffered a back spasm which led to a dreaded shank on the 18th hole in round one, but stuck to his tried and tested answer when asked what he thought he could achieve this week. “If everything comes together, I think I can get one more,” Woods said, adding with a smile: “Do I need to describe that any more than that, or are we good?”

Yet that question and answer came just minutes after Woods had candidly described the issues that the litany of injuries he has suffered over the years – including almost losing his right leg following a car accident in 2021 – cause him on anything but a perfectly flat lie.

Jon Rahm insists his competitive edge has not been dulled by his move to LIV Golf as he bids to become just the fourth player to win back-to-back Masters titles.

Rahm’s shock move to the Saudi-backed breakaway competition came after he had previously pledged his loyalty to the PGA Tour and criticised LIV’s 54-hole format, with no cut and a shotgun start as “not a golf tournament”.

The two-time major winner has failed to win any of the five LIV events he has played but travelled to Augusta on the back of finishing fourth in Miami on Sunday and winning the team event at Doral.

“I’ve had a lot of fun playing in those events,” Rahm said. “The competition’s still there. Yeah, they’re smaller fields but you still have to beat some of the best players in the world and you still have to play at the same level you have to play on the PGA Tour to win those events.”

Somewhat of a forgotten star since his move to LIV, Cameron Smith was, at one point, golf’s hottest property having won the Players Championship and Open Championship in the same season.

A quiet character off the course, it’s easy to forget the Australian’s impressive record at Augusta, with four top-ten finishes in the last six years. Having notched up impressive performances, too, at last year’s PGA Championship and US Open, finishing T9 and fourth respectively, it’s clear that there are few courses capable of withstanding the 30-year-old’s aggressive style and flat-stick prowess.

With a T2 finish at the LIV’s most recent event in Hong Kong, Smith may well be peaking at the right time and could slide under the radar of his more outspoken and higher-profile LIV colleagues.

Joaquin Niemann was the only golfer keen to lean into the LIV-PGA Tour rivalry before last year’s Masters, suggesting he had a fire under his belly to outperform his PGA Tour rivals “knowing that they hate us”.

An eventual T16 finish didn’t give him much reason to gloat but the Chilean returns to Georgia in the best form of his life, having enjoyed a productive winter on the DP World Tour followed by two wins in LIV’s first four events.

Such displays earned the 25-year-old a late invite to the Masters but, with last year’s finish at Augusta marking his first top-20 in a major, he must now take his game to another level yet again if he is to back up his invite and contend with the game’s best.

Clark won for the first time on the PGA Tour only one month prior to tasting major success last year but, since then, the American’s displays have ensured he won’t be regarded as a flash-in-the-pan major champion.

Capturing his second victory on tour at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February this year, the 30-year-old finished runner-up to Scheffler in back-to-back weeks at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship. This April will be Clark’s first trip around Augusta in competition but there is no suggestion so far in his flourishing career that such a prospect should faze him.

Following a tough spell with injuries in 2022, Brooks Koepka looked ready to re-announce himself on the major stage at this tournament last year before falling short after Rahm’s superb Sunday showing.

The American, though, didn’t have to wait long to break his near four-year winless major run, tasting victory at the following month’s PGA Championship at Bay Hill with a commanding two-shot victory.

Where Scheffler revels in his unnerving consistency, Koepka’s day-to-day record is more hot and cold. He has three wins since his move to LIV but has finished inside the top ten just once in their first four events.

But the 33-year-old is the man for the big occasion and there is no greater stage than Augusta. With two second-place finishes at Augusta in his last five starts and quite possibly the greatest major championship player of his generation, he is not someone to be overlooked.

Most golf fans are well aware of the statistic which makes Aberg appear an unlikely contender, namely that Fuzzy Zoeller was the last player to win the Masters on their tournament debut back in 1979.

In addition, the Masters will be Aberg’s first appearance in any major, but the 24-year-old Swede has defied the odds since turning professional in June 2023, winning on the DP World Tour and PGA Tour and justifying his wild card by helping Europe regain the Ryder Cup.