Masters Fans Upset About Round 1’s Featured Groups Missing Three Key Players

Andy Nesbitt | Apr 11, 2024

Apr 10, 2024; Augusta, Georgia, USA; Rory McIlroy hits balls on the driving range during a practice session on Wednesday. / Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Network

The 2024 Masters Tournament is officially underway after a brief weather delay, and while it's great to have the tournament back in our lives, fans watching the early coverage have one big complaint—arguably the best group of the early session not being one of the featured groups on the streaming broadcasts being shown on ESPN+, Masters.com, and the brilliant Masters app.

That big pairing not being shown consists of Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world, Rory McIlRoy, a fan favorite still chasing his first Masters win, and Xander Schauffele, a player picked by many to win his first major this week.

The two featured pairings being shown are Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick and Nick Dunlap as well as Wyndham Clark, Cameron Smith and Viktor Hovland.

There's a strong chance Scheffler's group will be shown on Friday, and the weather delay will get a lot of their round in the main broadcast on ESPN that starts at 3 p.m. ET, but fans really wanted to see that group from the start of their round.

Scottie Scheffler… world number one…. IS NOT in @TheMasters featured group… https://t.co/Vhx6ikiwEI pic.twitter.com/iHQwwoOLtR

— T2G (@TeeTwoGrn) April 11, 2024

Not having a way to watch the Scheffler-McIlroy-Schauffele pairing live is massively disappointing

— Joseph LaMagna (@JosephLaMagna) April 11, 2024

The fact Scottie, Rory, and Xander aren’t a featured group shows where golf TV currently stands

— Warren G (@WarrenGross) April 11, 2024

Scottie, Rory, X not being live is silly. what are we doing? why don’t they just do a full broadcast? they’ve got everything out there and every broadcaster in town. we don’t need holes and featured groups. we’ve outgrown that.

— Alex Zacharias (@alexjzacharias) April 11, 2024

Who would want to watch Scheffler, Mcilroy, and Schauffele anyway? Clearly, they are nobodies in the golf world since they are not a featured group today.

— Devin Pinney (@King_Devbear) April 11, 2024

How in the world would they not put Scottie, Xander, Rory in a featured group??? #themasters

— Brad Warner (@bwarner1224) April 11, 2024

How is Scotty Scheffler not a featured group… #TheMasters

— Josh Rogers (@JoshRogers13) April 11, 2024

The Masters app is fantastic but how is Scheffler not the featured group? Who makes such decisions?

— InTheFlesch (@Steve_Flesch) April 11, 2024

I really don’t understand how that’s not a featured group https://t.co/4AOulQjMrx

— Ethan (@TheEthanD) April 11, 2024

@TheMasters Featured Groups not including the group with 3 of top 8 players in the world. How are Scheffler, Schauffle and McIllroy not a featured group?

— amaurys perez (@aperez0306) April 11, 2024