Scottie Scheffler and Ludvig Åberg were the main stories on Sunday, but there are a couple other odds and ends to run through from the 2024 Masters.

The Next Step

By Will Knights

There is no simulating the pressure you feel in a major championship. No one knows that better than Max Homa, who recorded his best finish in a major with a T-3. More importantly, he recorded his second straight top-10 finish in majors, after years of struggling in golf’s biggest events. At the 2024 Masters, Homa was in the thick of things for most of the day, even tied for the lead at points before ultimately seeing his chances derailed by some greenery behind the 12th green.

Golf fans are certainly accustomed to Max’s name by now, and many are likely aware of his major struggles, too. He’s been open about those struggles in the past, noting how much he cares about majors and how badly he wants to perform. “The rhetoric on me, and this is from myself, as well, is I have not performed in [major championships],” he said on Sunday night. “I performed for all four days. I didn’t throw a 65 in there and sneak my way in. I had to sleep on this every single day, this feeling and kind of this monkey on my back. For me, I think it’ll change some things, and then in other ways it’ll change nothing at all.” If you want to read the tea leaves, I’d say what will change for Max after this week is the fact that he now knows what it’s like to compete on a major Sunday. That’s experience you can’t approximate elsewhere, and given Homa’s mental approach, it seems likely to only serve him well going forward.

A Proper Test

By Andy Johnson

All we ever want out of a championship golf course is for it to provide a quality test for the best players in the world. Not a rigged test, but one that allows for the best players to rise to the top of the competition. This week we finally got the elusive firm and fast Augusta National, and it absolutely delivered. The course conditions combined with challenging weather meant players had to excel at every facet of the game in order to find success. In the end, the leaderboard was exclusively populated by world-class players, with the clear best in the sport finishing at the very top. It was a sensational week for Augusta National, a week that began with a journalist wondering if Tour pros could shoot 59 there and ended with most of those Tour pros leaving with tails tucked between legs. What a tournament.

Perils of Hero Ball

By Will Knights

Collin Morikawa knew he was too aggressive on his approach into the 11th green on Sunday. He said as much to Amanda Balionis after the round. But while he didn’t necessarily need to hit the hero shot at that moment, deep down he knew he needed to step on the gas.

Morikawa finished seven shots behind Scottie Scheffler this week, but the scoreboard doesn’t tell the full story. He was stride for stride with Scheffler for much of the weekend. But as Scottie started to pull away on Sunday, it was incumbent on Morikawa to fight back. He chose the wrong moment and failed to execute, but his mindset was correct. The only way to keep up with Scottie when you’re out of position is to be more aggressive than him and pull it off.

By his standards, it’s been a rough go for Collin Morikawa. He has just one win since July 2021, and he’s been usurped as the best ball-striker on the PGA Tour. If he’s going to regain his standing as one of the best in the world, it starts with better tee-to-green performances. He did exactly that at Augusta.

This piece originally appeared in the Fried Egg Golf newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.