Masters weather: First round delayed due to storms in Augusta

AUGUSTA, Ga. — It’s the opening day of the first major of the golf season — but we’ll have to wait just a little longer for the 2024 Masters to truly begin.

Thursday morning storms in the Augusta, Ga., area have delayed the opening round at Augusta National, pushing back the honorary starters’ tee shots and tee times.

Augusta National Golf Club emailed an update at 5:21 a.m. ET, saying “We continue to monitor the weather closely. Gate openings and tee times have been delayed until further notice. The first round will not begin before 9 a.m.”

Honorary starters Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson were scheduled to kick off the tournament with their annual ceremonial tee shots at 7:40 a.m., and the first player tee time was scheduled for 8 a.m. That will now all be pushed back, and we’ll wait to see for exactly how long.

The good news, according to Weather.com, is that Thursday morning’s weather forest actually looks better than 24 hours earlier. There’s a slightly less chance of rain — around 20 percent from 7 to 10 a.m. — although a chance of scattered thunderstorms around 8 and 9 a.m. Once that passes, the Masters might be able to get rolling.

The Thursday afternoon forecast is partly cloudy with a high of 80 and little chance of rain, although players will have to deal with winds of about 17 mph.

This story will be updated when more information becomes available.

Josh Berhow

Golf.com Editor

As GOLF.com’s managing editor, Berhow handles the day-to-day and long-term planning of one of the sport’s most-read news and service websites. He spends most of his days writing, editing, planning and wondering if he’ll ever break 80. Before joining GOLF.com in 2015, he worked at newspapers in Minnesota and Iowa. A graduate of Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minn., he resides in the Twin Cities with his wife and two kids. You can reach him at joshua_berhow@golf.com.