Here are the other winners from the 2026 Masters. The Participation Jackets, if you will. Let’s get to ’em.
Honorable mention: All of us
After a week at Augusta with gloriously limited screen time I buzzed back through social media on post-Masters Monday to catch up on what I’d missed. This proved a spectacularly stupid way to process the golf tournament; somehow the conversation had shifted to burning topics like whether Rory McIlroy should be keeping score or what Florida’s governor thought of his scouting trips to Augusta.
Look, petty gripes are encouraged. I’m more than happy to hear nit-picking about golf course setup or TV production or bird selection on Jason Day’s vest or anything your heart desires — as long as we’re keeping in mind that, as far as golf tournaments go, this one was pretty damn good. So this is a reminder to myself, and I suppose to you, dear reader, that we’re all winners for how this all went down. Augusta National showed out, the weather cooperated and we got a legitimate back-and-forth, plot-twisting Masters Sunday between a handful of the very best golfers in the world.
10. Michael Brennan
Brennan announced his arrival in an improbable win at last year’s Bank of Utah Championship, where he got into the field via sponsor exemption and — in his first PGA Tour start as a pro — won the whole thing. It’s been uneven since then, but Brennan held his own in his first major as a pro; his T24 at Augusta National is his best finish anywhere in 2026.
8. Maverick McNealy
He’s not a flashy personality, doesn’t play a flashy game and doesn’t have a flashy resume in major championships. But Mav McNealy logged his first career top 20 thanks to a typically hot putter and a Sunday 67; it was a particularly impressive result given he shot 77 on Thursday.
9. Russell Henley
When Henley birdied four of the first eight holes on Sunday to get to 10 under par he suddenly had a legitimate chance to win his first major championship. Instead he couldn’t make a birdie putt and played the final 10 holes even par. The good news: that was his fifth top-10 finish in his last seven major starts and the first top-three of his career. Trending up at age 37.
“I hit it amazing today. I gave myself a bunch of looks. Unfortunately, I didn’t capitalize on those looks on the back like I would have liked to,” he said. “I felt like I handled the pressure well, handled the conditions well. It was tricky out there.”
7. Tyrrell Hatton
LIV Golf had a largely disappointing week; just one of its players finished under par or inside the top 30. But even though that golfer, Tyrrell Hatton, saw his chances to win all but vanish in a Saturday 72, his splendid Sunday 66 left him T3 and immensely satisfied with the way he finished. By finishing top 12 he also guarantees a return visit next year, which he said was on his mind with a baby on the way.
“To be honest most of the back nine I just wanted to make birdies because my wife is due in six weeks and I was thinking about it would be cool to come back next year, and our little girl will be pretty much 11 months, so it would be amazing to see her in a boiler suit,” Hatton said, referring to the caddie uniforms families wear at Wednesday’s Par-3 Contest. “Obviously you see all the other dads and their families and the little ones in boiler suits is so cute.”
6. Scottie Scheffler
There’s no chance the World No. 1 is interested in a Participation Jacket (the times more I type that phrase the more I’m planning to trademark it) but Scheffler entered the week as a new father, was coming off his “worst” two starts in over a year and sat 12 shots back at the halfway mark; if he was anybody else he’d be No. 1 on this list. (Instead we’ll slot him semi-randomly at No. 6.)
A bogey-free weekend left Scheffler solo second, just one shot off McIlroy’s winning number, and will more than silence the doubters. McIlroy won the tournament; Scheffler’s still the best golfer in the world. Between the two of them they’ve won four of the last five majors as well as four of the last five Masters, and McIlroy now has six majors to Scheffler’s four. Game on.
“I think the major championships bring out the best in me sometimes, and I had some good starts last year and I obviously had a good week this week,” Scheffler said. “There’s a few shots I’d like to have back, but overall put up a good fight.”
5. Jordan Spieth
Speaking of trending iron play: Jordan Spieth is flagging it right now. His T12 is his best result at a major in three years and came largely thanks to his approach game, which DataGolf had as fifth best in the field. Spieth remains remarkably dependable at Augusta National, where he has nine top-15 finishes in 13 career starts. He’s trending towards dependability everywhere else, too, if he can get his putter to cooperate.
“I hit it better [this year] than the year I won and I hit it way better than any of the second places or fourths,” he said. “Probably the best I ever hit it here and I typically putt these greens very well. That part is a bit frustrating. Again, putting can be streaky so just get on the right streak and go try to win next week.”
4. Jake Knapp
Knapp has played eight tournaments in 2026. He has now finished T11 or better in seven of those eight after a relatively quiet seven-under-par showing. It felt like a particularly significant finish because Knapp had played just four prior majors as a pro (three MCs and a T55), making this by far his best result.
3. Cameron Young
If you take Young at his word, he left the Masters disappointed in the result but pleased with his play.
“There is no negative to take away other than obviously I would’ve loved a different result,” he said. “But in terms of the golf, I played plenty well enough to win today and plenty well enough to win by a couple I think. So, just one of those days. If you go through the back nine I pretty much had a birdie chance on every hole and didn’t make any. That’s how it goes sometimes.”
The tournament felt like Young’s to win when McIlroy, his playing partner, three-putted from five feet at No. 4 and gave Young a two-shot edge. But there was still so much golf to be played; Young went bogey-bogey-birdie-bogey at 6-7-8-9 and then strung out nine consecutive pars on the back as McIlroy slipped past him.
So why does he get a Participation Jacket? Because he just clutched up to win the Players, because he’s just gone T3-win-T3, because he’s No. 3 in the world — and because this time last year he missed the cut at the Masters and fell outside the top 60 in the OWGR. That’s a hell of a few weeks and a hell of a year.
2. Max Homa
Max Homa didn’t win the 2024 Masters but he did finish T3, which meant he got an automatic invite to the 2025 Masters, where he finished T12, which meant he got an automatic invite to the 2026 Masters, where he finished T9 thanks to a bogey-free Sunday 67 — and secured an invite to the 2027 Masters. Things could be looking up for Homa, whose iron play and putting have both been trending up since the start of the season. Now it’s just a matter of pretending that every other course is Augusta National…
“Yeah, it feels high,” Homa said of his result, with a smile. “I would like next time to be in contention earlier, not need a miracle on Sunday. “But for not having it all and feeling like I left some out there, I’m really proud of just the golf, [and] my brain was so good. Yeah, it was fun.”
1. Collin Morikawa
It takes a very specific set of circumstances to feel shocked by the No. 7-ranked golfer in the world finishing seventh place at a pro golf tournament, but given Collin Morikawa’s pre-tournament form (scratched on his second hole at the Players with a back injury, then sat out the next three weeks) plus his tournament-week form (was clearly in pain, wasn’t moving well, had to mess with his swing just to make it through a simple shot) this was probably the most impressive non-win of his impressing young career.
“Trust me, it’s going to be one of the best tournaments forever,” Morikawa said. “I’m going to remember this one for many reasons, but just more how strong the mind is, to be able to go out and convince yourself that everything is going to be okay.”
You can watch more analysis of the 2026 Masters at the video below.
“>
