Masters 2024: Will the first round be delayed by bad weather?

AUGUSTA, Ga. – It’s tough to get golf to agree on much these days, but any Masters competitor or caddie we’ve talked to this week has said—the greens at Augusta National might be faster than any year in recent memory.

Unfortunately, there’s some wet weather coming that might influence that a bit. Of course, Augusta National employs a Sub-Air system that allows the club to control the amount of moisture on the playing surfaces quite expertly. The course might just lose a bit of its crispiness on Thursday.

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A current look at the weather shows showers from 11 p.m. on Wednesday night through 5 a.m. The first round is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m., but there are also thunderstorms possible around that time, according to Accu Weather. We’ll see if Augusta gets lucky—the weather report has actually improved since Tuesday.

We usually get a little wet weather during Masters Week. Play was delayed last year on Friday and Saturday—creating a marathon Sunday in which Jon Rahm hit the final putt without much daylight left. The 2019 Masters was also affected by weather as play was delayed in 2019, causing split tees to be used for a final round that began in the morning on Sunday.

So it’s just a matter of how much the first round will be delayed and whether that affects the ability for competitors to be able to complete their first rounds on Thursday or not. At least it’s not likely to be the complete washout that some feared earlier in the week.

Even better news? The weather for the rest of the week looks immaculate—and there’s even the possibility of some decent winds on Friday to help dry the course up.

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