This Masters is missing something it usually has — but that’s okay

On Tuesday afternoon, Rory McIlroy took his seat at Augusta National’s press-room podium and acknowledged what everybody else already knew: This year’s different.

“I think the best way that I can describe it is … for the past 17 years I just could not wait for the tournament to start, and this year I wouldn’t care if the tournament never started,” McIlroy said. “Yeah, it’s completely different. I feel so much more relaxed.”

For more than a decade the Masters had been a pressure-cooker for McIlroy, the missing piece in his major resume, a constant reminder of what he should have had but didn’t. Now? He’s got it. It’s all good. Nobody’s taking away that green jacket. He looks lighter with it on.

But it’s not just McIlroy that’s different this year. The entire tournament is. There’s something missing from Augusta National that’s almost always here:

Tension.

For decades, Tiger Woods loomed large over every event he played, even this one, casting a welcome but massive shadow from his 1997 Masters victory on. Phil Mickelson cast a wide shadow of his own, first in his quest to win a major, to unseat Woods, to win another, and another, and another. McIlroy was the heir apparent to their superstar status — but also to the expectation that comes with it. If you’re a golf fan, you remember the way it intensified after McIlroy’s close call in 2011, the way it ramped up further after he won each of the other three majors. Each year, he returned with the messiest thing of all: Unfinished business.

But McIlroy’s quest is fulfilled. Neither Woods nor Mickelson is here. Arguably, the tournament’s two top players — Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm — already have green jackets, exempting them from angst. The weight of expectation is more fairly divided.

As dominant World No. 1, Scheffler would be subject to otherworldly expectations, but he has managed them thus far this year, first with his level of play (very good, just not spectacular) and then as a new father (though he says he’s been sleeping just fine).

The LIV vs. PGA Tour war for golf’s future has simmered, at least around here. When Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau talk about a rivalry, it’s between two individuals rather than two leagues. That’s not to say there’s a deal on the horizon to unify professional golf — there very much does not seem to be a deal on the horizon, nor even earnest efforts in that direction — but, as these guys like to say, it is what it is.

Some golfers whose fame could theoretically place them under the most pressure are playing just okay in the lead-up, diverting our focus. Jordan Spieth has been good but not great. Ditto Brooks Koepka.

And the guys who have been playing well don’t quite have the notoriety that would ratchet up the pressure. Cameron Young, Robert MacIntyre, Chris Gotterup, Jacob Bridgeman, Akshay Bhatia — they’re excellent and they’re ascendant, but they’re not yet burdened by what could be.

There are some guys who no doubt feel the weight of expectations. Xander Schauffele came close in 2021, plays his way into the mix just about every year and enters in strong form — when’s his Masters coming? Ludvig Aberg threatened in each of his first two Masters and has been pre-labeled a superstar. Bryson DeChambeau certainly has that combination of talent and audience and doesn’t yet have a green jacket. Justin Rose has come the closest of anybody in the field; he’s a three-time runner-up and two-time playoff loser, including last year. And then there’s Tommy Fleetwood, who conquered his PGA Tour win quest but still has a major-championship dragon to slay.

Still, their collective internal pressure will likely outweigh the external; they’ll only be stories if they win, not if they don’t (unless, of course, they put themselves in position to fail).

But I think it’s fine that there’s no pre-tournament tension. That there’s no pre-assigned main character. The Masters hype creates itself. We can sit back and let it play out, letting the sport’s most famous field — which is in particularly perfect condition this year, by the way, with a pleasant forecast on top — take center stage.

There’s a collective sentiment of confusion around the media center, where “experts” typically herd around picking a few different players. “Everybody is picking everybody this year,” one writer told me, summing it up nicely. Count Patrick Reed among the perplexed pundits.

“I definitely feel like this year you have 10 to 12 guys who have a really legitimate opportunity to win the green jacket,” he said.

Eventually, the tension will build on its own. First slowly, then quickly. There’s built-in tension because it’s such a difficult course to navigate, such a difficult tournament to win, such a massive, meaningful accomplishment to do so. The tournament will play out. The tension will build.

It’s okay that it’s not the other way around.

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