Five with ties to Alabama are in the field
Five players with ties to Alabama will tee off Thursday in the first round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. Here are their tee times and pairings. All times are CDT.
Davis Riley
Davis Riley, a native of Montgomery who played for the Crimson Tide, is 109th in the Overall World Golf Ratings. He’s making his Masters debut. He finished T6 in the Puerto Rico Open and seventh in Tampa in March. In 2024, he won in Fort Worth by five strokes over Keegan Bradley and Scottie Scheffler for his second career PGA Tour win. In 2023, he and Nick Hardy won a team event in New Orleans. As a PGA Tour rookie in 2022, he notably finished runner-up in Tampa, T-4 in both New Orleans and Fort Worth and T13 in the PGA Championship at Southern Hills. While At Alabama, he was a two-time All-American and represented the United States in the 2018 Arnold Palmer Cup. He twice reached the final of the U.S. Junior Amateur, finishing runner-up to Scottie Scheffler in 2013 and to Will Zalatoris in 2014.
Tee time: 6:40 a.m. Paired with Patton Kizzire
Patton Kizzire
Patton Kizzire, who played for Auburn, is making his third Masters start and first since 2019. He ranked 140th in the OWGR. He is also making his first major championship start since the 2022 U.S. Open. In September, he won in Napa for his third career PGA Tour win and first since winning in Mexico in 2017 and Honolulu in 2018. Also last year, he finished T8 in Truckee, California, T10 in Myrtle Beach and T11 in Mississippi. He first earned his PGA Tour card through the Korn Ferry Tour in 2015 when he won Player of the Year honors with two wins and 12 top-10 finishes. At Auburn, he was a two-time All-Southeastern Conference selection.
Tee time: 6:40 a.m. Paired with Davis Riley
Danny Willett
Danny Willett, who played for Jacksonville State, is making his 11th Masters start. He is the only player in the field with ties to Alabama to have won the Masters. In 2016, he bested fellow Englishman Lee Westwood and Jordan Spieth by three strokes He was five strokes back with six holes to play as Spieth started his second nine. His bogey-free 67 in the final round included birdies on Nos. 13, 14 and 16 and he became England’s second Masters champion and first since Nick Faldo won his third title in 1996. His eight DP World Tour wins include its flagship event in England in 2019 and its season-ending Tour Championship in Dubai in 2018. He is currently 384th in the OWGR. He has represented his country and continent in the Walker Cup, Ryder Cup and the Olympics and before turning professional, he spent 12 weeks in 2008 as the top-ranked amateur in the world.
Tee time: 7:24 a.m. Paired with Nicolas Echavarria of Colombia and Davis Thompson
.Nick Dunlap
Nick Dunlap, a native of Birmingham who played for Alabama before turning pro during his sophomore year, is making his second Masters start. Last year, the 2024 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year became the first player in PGA Tour history to win as both an amateur and a professional in the same year. He won in La Quinta, California in January as an amateur and won in Truckee, California in July as a professional. When he won in La Quinta, he became the first amateur to win on the PGA Tour since Phil Mickelson in 1991. HHe moved up over 4,000 places in the OWGR and, the day before he turned professional, became No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. In 2023, he won the U.S. Amateur and represented the United States on winning teams in the Walker Cup in St Andrews and the Eisenhower Trophy in Abu Dhabi. He’s currently 42nd in the OWGR.
Tee time: 8:36 a.m. Paired with Robert MacIntyre of Scotland and Billy Horschel
Justin Thomas
ustin Thomas, who played for Alabama, is making his 10th Masters start. He’s current No. 8 in the OWGR. He has top-25 finishes in six of his nine starts at Augusta National, including fourth in 2020 and T8 in 2022. He has four top-10 finishes worldwide in 2025, including runner-up in La Quinta in January and in Tampa in March. In the second half of 2024, the two-time PGA champion competed in his eighth Tour Championship at East Lake and closed his year by finishing runner-up in Japan and third in the Bahamas. As an amateur and a professional, he has represented the United States in the Eisenhower Trophy, Arnold Palmer Cup, Walker Cup, Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup and the Olympics.
Tee time: 9:15 a.m. Paired with Scottie Scheffler and Jose Luis Ballester (A) of Spain
Have a story idea or a news item to report to Alabama Golf News? Email editor Gregg Dewalt at bamagolfnews@gmail.com
Featured image of Justin Thomas courtesy of Augusta National
