AUGUSTA, Ga. — Patrick Reed said this week there are “10 to 12 guys who have a really legitimate opportunity to win the green jacket.”

It doesn’t take math major to determine that would eliminate more than 85 percent of this week’s 91-player field from winning the 90th edition of the Masters Tournament.

Told of Reed’s assessment, Bryson DeChambeau quipped, “I hope I’m one of those 12. That would be nice.”

Unlike Reed, DeChambeau has yet to claim a Masters title, but it’s still safe to assume he was among Reed’s short list.

The bigger point is that heavy underdogs rarely win at Augusta National. The first major of the year is the only one that is played at the same course every year. It’s a stiff test that lends itself best to those who are not only immensely talented with their ability to hit a variety of shots, but have experience with the different winds, course conditions and nuances that make Augusta National one of the most unique tests in golf.

And Reed explained 10 to 12 are more players than he typically believes enter a Masters with a legitimate chance of winning.

“I just feel like with how deep golf has been, especially this past year to two years, that the fields are obviously getting a lot stronger,” he said. “I feel like the field this week is really strong like always. I feel like it used to be five or six, maybe seven guys.

“It just makes this event a little bit more special and even more fun going out there and playing against the best.”

Three of the past four Masters have been won by the current top two players in the world: Scottie Scheffler in 2022 and 2024 and Rory McIlroy last year, when the Northern Irishman completed the career grand slam in a dramatic playoff victory over Justin Rose.

Included in that stretch was the 2023 victory by former world No. 1 Jon Rahm.

The last player to win the Masters in his first attempt was Fuzzy Zoeller, who overcame a six-shot deficit and beat Ed Sneed and Tom Watson in a playoff 47 years ago.

Today, McIlroy will begin his quest to become only the fourth player in history to win consecutive Masters. If successful, he would join Jack Nicklaus (1965-66), Nick Faldo (1989-90) and Tiger Woods (2001-02).

“It’s arguably maybe not the largest field in golf, but it’s the strongest,” McIlroy said this week. “There’s so many great players and so many players with so much experience on this golf course, it’s not quite like some of the other major championships. It seems like you get a lot of the same guys contending year in and year out.”

The conditions could serve to increase that likelihood this year.

Augusta National has not seen a drop of rain this week. After some chilly and breezy conditions this morning, the forecast calls for mostly sunny — and completely dry — skies throughout the tournament.

That includes temperatures in the mid-80s during the weekend. That’s an equation for a firm and fast Augusta National, which will demand precision with all elements of players’ games.

“The forecast looks great,” Scheffler said. “It’s going to get firm and fast. I would imagine they would like the greens to get fast. I think that increases the challenge of the golf course.

“I’m excited to see how it plays this week. We might get a little bit of wind, too. The golf course is shaping up nicely.”

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley said Wednesday that the club supports governing bodies’ efforts to reduce elite driving distance, which he says are needed to protect golf’s integrity.

“My feeling on this subject is [that] failure’s not an option,” Ridley said during a news conference ahead of this week’s Masters. “I think we need to continue to work together to come to some agreement. Tough issues like this require compromise, and I think there has been some compromise to date.”

The United States Golf Association announced in March that it might not implement a new Overall Distance Standard, which would reduce elite driving distances by 15 yards, until 2030. The USGA and R&A had previously stated the new testing rules would apply to elite players in 2028 before affecting all golfers in 2030.

“I want to reemphasize that support and affirm our position as the USGA and R&A represent their collective obligation as custodians of the game,” Ridley said. “I also want to be clear that our position is grounded on much more than protecting the Augusta National golf course. We will continue to make modifications as are necessary to react to driving distances that in some cases exceed 350 yards.”

Ridley noted that amateur Jackson Herrington, who qualified for his first Masters as the 2025 U.S. Amateur runner-up, told him that he drove balls over the fairway bunkers on Nos. 1 and 5 during practice rounds this week

“About a 325-yard carry, and one was into the wind,” Ridley said.

The Masters tees on the par-4, 445-yard opening hole were pushed back 20 to 25 yards in 2002 and additional 15 to 20 yards four years later.

The par-4 fifth hole was lengthened to 445 yards in 2003 and extended by another 40 yards in 2019.

“I’ve said that we can make changes, but there’s not much we can do to make [additional] changes-unless we tear down the Eisenhower Cabin, and we’re not going to do that,” Ridley said of the iconic cabin near the 10th tee, which was built by the club for U.S. President Dwight E. Eisenhower and his wife in 1953.

“We’ll make changes when we can, but I think it’s time to really address this issue. It’s been talked about for a long time. There’s certainly commercial interests that are at play here, and we all know what those are.”

The USGA and R&A announced in January that they were seeking additional input on whether it would be more efficient to implement the rollback for all golfers on a single date instead of a staggered start. The input period ends April 16.

“Unfortunately, many courses, including some iconic venues, do not have that option,” Ridley said, about making course changes to accommodate increased length. “Until recent years, golf has been a game of imagination, creativity, and variety. The game has become much more one-dimensional.

Ridley argued the proposed equipment changes would be “immaterial” to recreational golfers.

“Regulation of the golf ball is not an attempt to turn back time or stifle progress,” he said. “It is an effort to preserve the essence of what makes golf the great game that it is.”

Also, Ridley said Augusta National Golf Club supported five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods’ decision to step away from competitive golf and his administrative roles with the PGA Tour to seek treatment, following his DUI arrest in Florida on March 27.

Woods was involved in redesigning the existing course and a new nine-hole short course at The Patch, which will open to the public on April 15.

Later this year, Augusta National Golf Club will break ground on a new TGR Learning Lab, a STEM learning facility that Woods and his TGR Foundation created more than two decades ago.

“I would like to add that we fully support Tiger’s recent decision to focus on his health and well-being,” Ridley said. “Our commitment to the TGR Foundation and to Tiger personally has not wavered. We wish him the very best.”

AUGUSTA, Ga. — When Gary Woodland last played the Masters in 2024, he was months removed from surgery to remove a brain tumor.

At that point, it may have appeared to outsiders that he’d finished his fight. Woodland, though, said he “didn’t know what the future held.”

Woodland, now 41, revealed in a Golf Channel sit-down last month he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in the wake of the surgery. The tumor, which was not fully removed in surgery, was located near his amygdala, the part of the brain that controls fear and anxiety.

Not three weeks after going public about his PTSD, Woodland won the Texas Children’s Houston Open, his long-awaited first victory since claiming the 2019 U.S. Open. Even then, in the midst of his biggest on-course triumph in years, Woodland was struggling mentally.

“I had a big battle Friday of Houston,” Woodland said Tuesday ahead of his Masters return. “I got hypervigilant on the ninth hole, and I battled the last 10 holes thinking people were trying to kill me. I have security with me. The Tour’s been amazing.

“But I talked to Tour security that night and I told them what I was going through, and every time I looked up on the weekend, my security team was behind me. Any time I got startled on the weekend, I turned around — last year I didn’t talk to Tour security. I fought this on my own. It was awful. Turning around and knowing that I’m safe, having somebody there with me, it’s the only reason why I won like two weeks ago.”

Woodland revealed that the PGA Tour communicated with Augusta National ahead of his arrival, and he’s since met with Augusta’s security team.

“I’ll have, just like on tour, I’ll have security with me,” Woodland said. “The main deal is they were showing me where security is. The whole deal for me is it’s visual, right? If I can see somebody, then I can remind myself that I’m safe constantly.

“So I have a good idea now where security is on every hole. The big deal for me, my caddie knows too. So he can constantly remind me. Like I said, I don’t have control when this thing hits me, and it’s tough. It can be a fan. It can be a walking score. It can be a camera guy running by me, just any startlement from behind me can trigger this pretty quickly. Knowing where the security is is a constant reminder that I’m safe.”

Woodland said he hoped his win in Houston has “a bigger impact on somebody else’s life,” and that his message to those coping with similar adversity is to reach out and talk to somebody.

“We live in a world, as men and especially as an athlete, that you put your head down and you fight through it. I’ve done it my whole life,” Woodland said. “This is honestly one battle that I’m not able to do on my own. I tried, and it wasn’t working.”

Woodland’s 13th career Masters start is set to be even more emotional than his 12th.

“People ask me, ‘How was the win (in Houston)?’ The one thing I know is having this brain tumor and having PTSD, it doesn’t matter if I win or lose. It doesn’t care,” he said. “I had a tough time (that week) battling this stuff. A lot of stimulation comes with winning, stuff I hadn’t seen in a long time.

“It’s a big week for me this week. The fans are very close on the tee boxes. There’s a lot going on. There’s probably not a safer golf tournament in the world, so I’m happy for that, but it’s still a battle in my head if I’m safe or not. That’s a tough pill to swallow.

“I’m emotional from the standpoint I know how close I probably was to never being back here, and I’m very proud of myself for earning my way back.”