Tommy & The Crew - Masters 2026 wrap. Out now.
Tommy Does Golf - The Podcast
EPISODE 9
SEASON 01
14 April 2026
tommy: Welcome to Tommy Does Golf, the podcast where three old timers give you our opinions on everything. Golf. I'm Tommy Long, joined by fellow PGA professionals, James Morgan and Paul Charman. With over a hundred years and counting in the golf industry between us, we are well into our back nines. We'll do our best to stay on topic for just like our tee shots these days.
This podcast could go anywhere. We are hoping you enjoy the banter and maybe just maybe we'll share a few pearls of wisdom along the way. Let's get into it.
Welcome to our US Masters wrap episode along with the crew. I'm gonna try and unpack what unfolded at Augusta National. This week we've managed to drag our tips to Neil Hickman back into the studio. Neil, thanks for joining us. It's great to see you, mate. See you. Okay. That's enough waffle.
Let's get stuck in. So Rory McIlroy becomes the fourth player in history to win back to back green jackets. He follows in the footsteps of Jack Lau, Sir Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods, illustrious company. [00:01:00] It seems crazy that Rory waited so long for his first Master's win achieving that only last year when he also became the sixth player in history to complete the career slam, and only a year later he's won his second.
It's a little bit like London buses, really. You wait for ages. Then two turn up in quick succession. Rory finished on a score of 276. 12 under par. ~Yeah,~ given his first two rounds of 67 and 65, which gave him the largest 36 hole lead in history, a six shot lead at the halfway stage, it's kind of amazing.
That was the number he actually finished the tournament on after 36 holes. I thought he was gonna kick on and get close to Dustin Johnson's record of 2 68 20 under par, which Dustin Johnson set in 2020. But it just proves that winning a major is hard, extremely hard, and creating history, which is what he was going for.
Winning back to back Green jackets is even harder. So I've got to tell our listeners that we do have someone looking very smug sitting in the studio. The reason being is that in our 2026 Predictions podcast that we put out back in January, James picked Rory to win the Masters predicting that he would go back to back.
I had my doubts, not because of his ability, but simply because it had only been done three times before. So James, through gritted teeth. Well done. The pressure is now on Paul and myself for one of our preseason major picks to win one of the three remaining majors this year.
My pre season pick for the masters was Justin Rose. I'm absolutely gutted for him. It's his fifth top five finish at Augusta, and he's gonna be absolutely devastated that he didn't get the job done. It was the infamous aiming corner where the wheels fell off for him.
I think he bogeyed 11. Then on the 12th hole, he said it longer left and he hit a really poor chip shot. I think he possibly took too long over that shot. Maybe overthought it and duff. His third shot apart from Off the Green wasn't the best either, and he actually did well to hold the return apart for a four.
Then on 13, he hit a great iron shot into 20 feet above the flag, giving himself a look at Eagle and three, putted it for par. He must have walked off that green knowing that he'd given three shots back to the field. It's funny because we're Justin lost. Today, I think Rory did the opposite. On 11, he made a fantastic two part on the hole that he doubled the day before in round three,
Then he made a fantastic birdie on 12 and on 13 he was through the back of the green putted from off the green to about 10 feet and knocked it in for another birdie. So on that stretch, he picked up two shots, whereas Rose dropped two shots. Final leaderboard. Let's have a look where Royal finished on 12 under.
World number one. Scottie Scheffler was second outright on his own. 11 under par tied for third on 10 under. We obviously had Cameron Young, one of Neil's picks for the masters. Russell Henley, justin Rose, and then Tyrrell Hatton, another one of James's outside bets.
Tyrrell shot 66 in the final round to get him into that tie for third, but Rory, he kept us in suspense. On 15, he hits it right into the trees. Chips out then hits a pitch shot that I'm sure he'll admit. He caught it slightly heavy. It only just pitched onto the green, and unfortunately he didn't have any back spin on it.
Otherwise it would've zipped back into the water and it could have been a different story. He made par there. And then on 16 he was obviously pumped with adrenaline. He sent it straight over the flagstick, through the back of the green. Into a fairly similar spot, ~funny enough~ to where Tiger hit it when he famously chipped in on his way to winning.
A few years back, Rory hit a fantastic ~popup from off the green. Uh, sorry. Rory hit a fantastic~ part from off the green to finish only a matter of inches away and he made his three. Then on 17, he misses the green to the right and made what turned out to be a crucial up and down because on 18 he hits it way right off the tee again into the trees.
And he ends up making a pretty staunch five to get the job done. It wasn't the final round I was expecting. For me the third round was probably more exciting than the final round. but Rory hung in there. He was one of the only players in the field that actually went backwards on moving day.
He obviously shot a 73, really battled and allowed the rest of the field to catch up. I think going into the final round, there was probably 10 players within four or five shots of the lead. I always feel a bit deflated when the Masters is finished because it's such an amazing tournament. I think it's because we know it's gonna be another 12 months before we can all put our feet up again and watch the drama unfold.
But fair play to Rory. He's made history back to back, fourth person to do so. He also moves onto six major victories now, which moves him alongside Lee Trevino, Sir Nick Faldo, and Phil Mickelson. I can't see his career finishing on six. I think he'll kick on and win a few more. But boys, I've waffled far too long.
I'm gonna come over to you for your thoughts. We're gonna start with the smug looking. James, who has, picked a winner. First tournament up. James, what do you think?
james: So, really happy that he won. It felt for, for Justin Rose. I think Justin Rose hit the front too early. He, you know, mean he starts making all those birdies, he gets a two shot lead and then you see him standing over that second shot on 11 and he couldn't make up his mind.
And then, you know, shoves it. And then, we know his demise from then onwards, but I think if JR had been just tied for the lead, he might've played a little bit more aggressively. But that chip on 12, everyone listening to this, we've all had that chip. ~Uh,~ and how he made four after he did that, and again, it looked like he had it too far back in his stance.
He didn't want go over the back of the green. And everything about that was just like, Ooh. But I mean, Rory. I've put here in my notes grand slam question mark.
tommy: Yeah.
james: Now no one's ever done a career grand slam
tommy: in a calendar year. No
james: calendar year. Sorry. Yeah.
tommy: Well you have to win the first one to be able to do it. So there's only one player that can do it this year.
james: And that's the whole thing ~is it's like,~ could he, I mean, that would just build the excitement if he wins the next one. But he played, some fantastic golf. But when you look at his driving stats,
paul: ~yeah. ~
james: ~Uh, so.~ One of the steps I had after 36 holes, the 91st player in fairway's hit was 91st, and the person that was 90th was Rory with a six shot lead.
tommy: Neil gave his stats.
neil: For all four rounds, his accuracy was 55.36%. Which gave him 53rd, outta 54
james: that made the cut. But again, that goes to show you a golf course like Augusta, where there isn't any rough, and you've just got trees and lightning, fast greens.
He knows his way around this so he knows where to lay it up and then can save himself with his wedges, et cetera. But then a lot of the other players were doing that. So what's it gonna be like when you get on a US Open course and you have to drive it straight?
tommy: Yeah,
james: so the Grand Slam is probably a little bit of a pie in the sky thing. But then I think now he is got the win from last year.
He drew off that. So when he got himself into a situation where he started making birdie, he's like, right, I'm going for it. And when he started making bogies, he didn't panic. And he didn't, he just goes, I'm just gonna stick to him a process and keep going and keep going. And yeah, you gotta take your hat off to,
paul: ~yeah.~
james: Having said that, whilst I would like to gloat over that, I'm not gonna gloat too much because I backed Bryson DeChambeau
Patrick Reed for top 10. He finished 12th. I've got, Sepp Straka, Collin Morikawa and someone else to finish top 20 and Straka outside. So the TAB have done very nicely at me and my return from that is zero.
paul: The fact is, though, that had you actually put money. On Rory.
He would've lost,
james: he would've missed the cut AndBryson DeChambeau would've a green jacket on.
Exactly. I am the curse.
Mark Calcavecchia open Champion past Open Champion at Royal Troon in 1989, got kicked out having his phone on. Don't you love it?
neil: I do. Well, but they didn't kick out Donald Trump's granddaughter. No. Maybe she got away with, they didn't see it.
Tommy: Do you know what though? A reporter phoned Calcavecchia up to try and get some sort of, reaction out of him. And Mark Calcavecchia actually said Fair play.
It was a fair cop ~gov,~ you know. He said, I've got nothing negative to say about that. So I thought that was pretty cool as well. Paul, before we go to Neil for some stats on the tournament, go on,give us your take.
paul: Blown away by Rory's achievements, ~you know, you've already mentioned how, you know,~ how extraordinary it is for him to go back to back. ~Um, yeah.~ I also thought that it ~was a, a,~ had a strange vibe to it, that tournament. It did have a strange vibe. Um, you know, even though obviously there was, there's drama, there's always drama.
You know, when Rory's involved, there's always drama. I had a feeling he was gonna hit that shot off the last, the driver. And I was thinking all you gotta do is just hit it as hard as you can, as straight as you can.
Over those bunkers ~fly,~ you'll be fine.
tommy: Yeah.
paul: You'll have a shot into the green. ~Carve it into the trees. You know, I mean,~ I think he was lucky on the last, ~you know, I know he is, got a few shots in hand. Um,~ it could have ended up behind a tree. He could have had to chip out sideways. Who knows? It could have ended up, but he's managed to get into the green side bunker and Fair play to him, you know? It's a great tournament because, you know, they say the cream comes to the top.
And I do think that in a tournament like this where these players have played this golf course, many, many times, you do see the cream coming to the top. With five holes to go, I had a horrible feeling for Rory that Scott.
was on the charge, wasn't he? Fair play to him. He didn't make it, but it was close.
tommy: Well, based on what you've said, I just had a little quote that I just wanted to get in there at some stage, and it's probably quite a good time to mention it I dunno if you boys saw this, but there was a player caddy conversation that went on in the second round, that I thought was really interesting. I love it when they can get close and personal and we can listen in to what they're saying.
On the ninth fairway, Rosie was looking at playing his second shot. He was adamant it was a nine nine. And Mark Fulcher is caddy. Said to him, i'm sure it's an eight hit an eight iron. don't get fooled by the optical illusion here. Play the numbers.
And with that, Rosie got the eight iron fully committed to it. Even though in his mind before, future had said that he thought it was a nine, he hit it pin eye to 10 feet.
And knocked it in for birdie. So it's the caddies as well, is what I'm saying is like the more they caddy for their player around there, the more experience they become and they know when to reign them in and go, no, I actually disagree with you on this. Like, this is what we did last year, or whatever it might be.
paul: Going back to what I said earlier on, and I'll finish on this, these are just a couple of quotes that I've taken from a couple of people and we'll start with great Jack Nicklaus
Jack Nicklaus said The Masters isn't just another tournament. It's something really, really special. I get as much excitement driving down Magnolia Lane now as I did 40 years ago. Alright, Gary Player, if they have a course like this in heaven. I wanna be the head pro. Brilliant. Okay. Um, this is a great one.
Fuzzy Zoeller. I've never been to Heaven and thinking back on my life, I probably won't get there either. I guess winning the Masters is the closest I'm gonna come. Ben Hogan. If the masters offered me no money at all, I would still be there every time trying just as hard. And I think when you see and hear some of these.
You know, amazing legends of the game. Yeah. legends
tommy: Mm-hmm.
paul: Talking about a golf course like this, you then start to realize how much these players respect that golf course.
tommy: Neil. You've been very patient. Give us some interesting stats.
neil: So yeah, the eighth came out the easiest hole this year, averaged, 4.624. So that was ranked the easiest hole very closely followed by the second But, sergio Garcia didn't enjoy his t-shot off the second today, but we'll leave it at that.
tommy: We won't actually, we'll come back to that. Oh yeah,
neil: then the 13th and the 15th. So again, the four easiest holes was your par fives as they are in most tournaments.
The fifth stayed the toughest hole. 4.297, followed by the 11th. The 17th and the fourth total birdies for the competition this year. Paul, what do you think?
tommy: Paul More than 120. I'd say
paul: I would say yeah, at least 121.
tommy: Go on
neil: 956
paul: So close.
tommy: Yeah,
neil: yeah, yeah. 29 eagles. 109 birdies on the eighth with eight eagles and 110 birdies on the 13th with seven equals, scoring average was 72.859. So 12 under was, very good against the field. Yeah, I think
tommy: And a hole in one by Shane on the sixth hole in the third round, wasn't it?
neil: Yeah. Yeah.
james: So, Ian Poulter, was going through this cabinet that he's got for the masters.
You get a piece of crystal for an eagle, you get a crystal bowl for a hole in one, and you get another piece of crystal for, lowest score of the day. And he's had this cabinet, and it would've been about six foot high by about three foot wide. He did have a little bit of crystal in there, and his comment was, I wonder how big Tiger Woods' cabinet would be with all his crystal, with how many eagles he would've made.
Tommy: We will come back to the Sergio t shot in a minute. Before we do that though, james, what was the story with Bob McIntyre?
james: So he wasn't having a very good day as we can all relate to. So he dumps it in the water twice and then he gives the hole the finger, and then he had some audible obscenities in his microphone. And then he continued on foul mouth quite a long way around the golf course.
He gets pulled up afterwards by officials and he had an official reprimand and it's in their code of conduct
paul: Okay.
james: That he had to go through. And if he has another outburst there is the opportunity for them to ban him from playing.
tommy: Really. Okay.
james: Because it's an invitational tournament,
tommy: right?
james: I think the warning was along the lines of his invitation, will be receded. Okay. So it's interesting there. They have a code of conduct for everything. Jason Day was told beforehand what he was not allowed to wear one of his outfits. He was told that's not coming.
tommy: Yeah. Neil,
neil: Sergio today. He got reprimanded on the fourth tee, to cool it down. And I think the first thing was. If he carried on, it was gonna be a, another warning was a two shot penalty. And then the a warning after that was disqualification.
tommy: The second hole today. Yeah. He smashed the tee marker with his driver
The thing about that, right. And the thing that, look, we've all had moments we are not proud of on the golf course. Right. So I'm not gonna. Judge him for that. However, surely there must be something going on in the background for him to react like that.
I mean, he was no way near winning the tournament. He's an ex champion. That place, as we know, is just amazing. And hopefully he'll realize he's let himself down massively because he is a role model. They're all role models and I just think it's disappointing that he's done that.
But there must be something going on in the background, and I hope it's not, really bad for Sergio, what's happening in the background there, but to react like that.
It can't have just been the way he was playing and a bad tee shot. I think.
There was another player who's won it before, and I'm not gonna name names, but the camera was on him on the 15th Green, and he came off having made birdie and he just let out this. Heap of spit onto the ground, and I just thought, why are you doing that onto this golf course?
I just, the spitting thing
neil: comes down to a lack of respect
tommy: just do it into a handkerchief. Nobody needs to see it. I'm not gonna name who it was, but you boys probably saw it as well. Same thing.
paul: I do think that, the fact that a tournament like the Masters does have these stringent regulations, stringent rules and regulations, and, we talked about the phone situation earlier. You know what's great is that they stick to the rules and they apply them.
tommy: Absolutely.
paul: If you are out of line for whatever it is that you've done, you will get reprimanded. Yeah, you will. They will follow the letter of the law,
tommy: It was a funny masters.
Like I said, it was almost like the third round was the exciting round. I mean, Rory got it done and. You know, in the history books, we'll look back and Rory's got his sixth major and he's become the fourth player to win it back to back. But yeah, it was just, I dunno,
james: I think the fact that he got so far ahead, six shots ahead and then started losing shots, were all like, oh no, please don't.
tommy: Yeah.
james: Please don't do this. Yeah. But then when you see other people charging at him
paul: Yeah.
james: And of all of them, Scottie Scheffler. I mean, you've gotta tip your hat as much as he's not my favorite player, but he's an amazing talent. Yeah. He's the one that stepped up and said, I'm coming for you.
paul: Yeah.
james: It's not the Rory show. Yeah.
paul: And I think as well that, at the time when everybody was holding their hands on their heads going, Rory, what are you doing? You know, Rosie, I think had just taken the lead after nine holes. I think he had actually just gone into the, I think he birdied nine, didn't he?
So there's a part of you that's like, ah, Rory. And then there was another part of you that was just like, Rosie. Come on boy. Yes, you can do this. Do you know what I mean? Come on. Mean you can do this. Go for for it. Rose.
james: My sister, not a golfer, doesn't play golf at all. She will swish a golf cart once every five years. She was watching the Masters. She was texting me from the uk. Come on, Rosie. Yeah, that's all it was.
Come on, Rosie. Non-golfers. Were going, come on Rosie. And then when he fell over, she went to bed two holes from the end she went, oh, Rosie's not winning. Now I'm off the bed.
tommy: Do you know what though? I think the thing that has always impressed me about Justin Rose, and I'm sure it'll be the same with you boys, is that he's such a champion in defeat.
You know, in the sense that he is so gracious. Immediately afterwards when he's gonna be absolutely devastated. I saw a post, that he put out, it was minutes after. Congratulations Rory, on going back to back. I've just gotta keep knocking on that door, you know?
And I just think he's a champion of a bloke, isn't he? I just think he's amazing. Neil's got one more thing. Come on, Neil.
neil: I was just gonna say, I'm just gonna put my order in for an egg salad hat.
tommy: That's awesome. That hat.
neil: Does anyone else want an egg salad hat?
tommy: It was brilliant. It was yellow today, wasn't it?
What's the next major? So next up it's the U-S-P-G-A championship at a Aronimink Golf Club on the 14th of May. I believe that starts, we are gonna have a pre-tournament pod the week before. So listen out for that. We'll drag Neil back in for that one, if not beforehand. All that's left to say is that's our wrap everybody. Thanks fellas. See you next time.
james: Yeah. Thanks Tommy
Paul: Cheers. good Job.
Tommy: If you've made it this far, we hope it's because you've enjoyed listening to Tommy Does Golf. To make sure you never miss our podcast, please hit follow. For more of our content or to get in touch, head to Tommy does golf.com. So until next time, no matter how you are playing, smile, laugh, and most important of all, enjoy the walk.