April 15, 2026

Welcome to the twenty-second edition of The Tee Sheet - your weekly read on what matters in the world of golf right now.

The Masters tournament is over. The green jacket has been handed out for another year. Rory goes back-to-back. It was an awesome weekend, but there is more ahead.

We have the post-Masters blues, but the Tour has assembled another elite field and sent them straight to one of the best courses on the schedule. Welcome to Hilton Head for the RBC Heritage.

Let’s dive in!

Note: Rising / Falling includes biggest movers in the OWGR Top 150

Tourney Recap

Rory McIlroy took a six-shot lead into the weekend at Augusta (the largest through 36 holes in Masters history) and still had to earn every bit of it.

He opened Thursday with a 67, co-leading with Sam Burns, before Friday turned into something special. McIlroy birdied six of his final seven holes, shot 65, and walked into the weekend with a lead that looked insurmountable.

Saturday changed that. He shot 73, struggling around Amen Corner and double-bogeying the 11th, while Cameron Young — who had started the day eight shots back — went out and matched the tournament low with a 65 of his own. By sundown the two were tied at 11-under, co-leaders, with Sam Burns one back and a stack of contenders within range. It was shaping up to be an all-time Sunday finish.

They were paired together in the final group Sunday — McIlroy defending his title, Young chasing his first major after six top-tens without one. Young birdied the second to briefly take the solo lead, but bogeys on six and seven let McIlroy back in. Young never led again. He played the second nine with nine straight pars and finished tied third at -10, two behind.

For a moment on Sunday, Justin Rose had moved ahead of the final pairing. The 45-year-old made the turn with the lead at 12-under after shooting 32 on the first nine, and for a player who has lost here twice in playoffs and led this tournament more times than almost anyone without winning, it felt like his moment. After some tough bogies on 11 and 12, Rose started to fall. By the time he steadied himself on the back nine McIlroy had birdied 12 and 13 to move clear. Rose finished tied third at -10. Another Rose near-win at Augusta, the most painful kind of consistency.

Scottie Scheffler, starting the final round four shots off the pace, made a quiet and serious run. He played the weekend bogey-free — the first player to do so at Augusta since 1942 — birdied 15 and 16 late in the round to get within two, and posted 11-under in the clubhouse (solo second). His birdie putt on 17 was as close as they come to going in.

Tyrrell Hatton shot 66 on Sunday and Russell Henley shot 68 to finish tied third alongside Rose and Young at -10.

Back to the champion, McIlroy closed with a 71 — birdies at 12 and 13 put him out front, and a wild drive at 18 into the trees added some unnecessary drama before a closing bogey won it. He finished at -12, one clear of Scheffler.

McIlroy’s final stretch on his second nine Friday will be remembered for a long time.

He is now the fourth player in Masters history to win back-to-back, joining Nicklaus, Faldo, and Tiger Woods.

Six major championships, matching Nick Faldo's European record. Two green jackets in two years at a place that made him wait seventeen years for the first one…

After the ceremony, he said simply: "I want more."

The week after the Masters used to be a comedown.

The RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links is now a Signature Event with a $20 million purse and 700 FedExCup points on offer, which means the field that arrived in Hilton Head, South Carolina on Tuesday is nearly as loaded as the one that just left Augusta.

Sixteen of the world's top 20 are in the field. The season's biggest moment is one week old and the race for FedExCup position is already back on.

Harbour Town is Pete Dye's design, built with Jack Nicklaus as a consultant, and it has hosted this tournament since Arnold Palmer won the inaugural edition in 1969. At par 71 and 7,243 yards it is one of the shorter courses on Tour, but short does not mean easy. The greens are among the smallest on the PGA Tour and water comes into play throughout the course.

Last year Justin Thomas won in a playoff over Andrew Novak — his first win since the 2022 PGA Championship — holing a putt just outside 20 feet on the first extra hole to claim the title in dramatic fashion.

Thomas returns as defending champion but arrives off a T41 at the Masters. The more interesting conversation starts with Scottie Scheffler, the 2024 winner here and the man who became the first player since Bernhard Langer in 1985 to win the Masters and RBC Heritage in the same season. He comes in off a bogey-free weekend at Augusta.

Cameron Young arrives with momentum from the Players Championship win and a strong showing at Augusta where he played in the final group. Matt Fitzpatrick won here in 2023 in a playoff over Jordan Spieth (the 2022 winner). Russell Henley, a former Georgia native who shot 68 Sunday at Augusta to finish T3, fits this course precisely: accurate off the tee, elite approach play, built for small greens. Collin Morikawa has two top-10 finishes in his last five starts here and had a great Sunday at Augusta.

The RBC Heritage has quietly become one of the best tournaments on the calendar despite being the immediate follow-up to Augusta. Stacked field, tight leaderboards, coastal wind making the closing holes unpredictable, and a course that looks great. Worth your weekend.

Another issue in the books. We've got a Masters for the ages behind us and a loaded spring schedule ahead — more majors to preview, plenty more tournaments to break down, and a FedExCup race that's just getting started.

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