Lurking around Augusta National’s greens Monday, jumping group to group, was Collin Morikawa. He didn’t hit a full shot. The two-time major winner only chipped and putted while walking the back nine in a practice round, potentially a sign he’s still not 100 percent from the back issue that forced Morikawa to withdraw from The Players Championship last month.

Morikawa’s game returned to an elite level with a win at February’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but the 29-year-old’s back gave out on his second hole at the Players. What made it worse is that it came two days after Morikawa spoke at length about the improvements he made to his body and how he’s taken better care of his back, in particular. He then backed out of the Valero Texas Open last week as he still wasn’t ready.

The key to his Masters hopes will be following if he’s playing full swings in a practice round the next two days. He said he’s been hitting balls at home for the past week, but feeling comfortable in a tournament is a different challenge.

“It’s not exactly where I want to be, and it’s unfortunate, but that’s just the body, and I can’t push it,” Morikawa said. “It’s been a little bit of a mental battle, I think, just trying to trust with where it’s at. The back actually feels fine. It’s just other parts of the body not cooperating a little bit how I want.”

Interestingly, Morikawa brought up the example of Augusta National Women’s Amateur participant Bailey Shoemaker going viral last week for a 75-second clip of her standing over the ball before swinging. She said her delays stem from a nerve injury in her arm and a resulting mental block.

“When you hurt yourself swinging, it’s a completely different beast of itself because you just don’t know,” Morikawa said. “There’s a little bit of a commitment, trust.”

He’s still trying to rediscover that trust. — Brody Miller, staff writer

Left to right, Cameron Young, Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns skip balls over No. 16’s pond on Monday. (Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)

Here’s what else our reporters are seeing

After two-time Masters winner Scottie Scheffler hit his tee shot on the 16th, a good one, the thick gallery around the hole started chanting “skiiiiip… skiiiiip.” Ever the pleaser, Scheffler dropped a ball down in front of the pond, gave himself a dangerous downhill stance, and ripped an absolute laser skipping across the water, onto the green, and into the back bunker on the right. Satisfied, many witnesses started marching off like football fans heading to the parking lots in the final minutes of a blowout.

When Scheffler later joined his father, Scott, behind the clubhouse, he said he wasn’t sure where his trick shot ended up. Scott was sitting in a chair next to a walker; he said he broke his pelvis in a fall while doing some painting work at his house and will need a scooter during the tournament.

“I find joy in simple tasks,” Scott said. His pain was eased by the recent arrival of his and wife Diane’s fourth grandchild, Remy, the second son of Scottie and wife Meredith.

The conversation turned to UConn coach Dan Hurley, who had a Monday night date with Michigan in the national championship game. Scottie was curious about Hurley’s sideline disposition. His father, a proud New Jerseyan, spoke of the UConn coach as a genuine representative of Garden Staters who offer no apologies for being who they are and speaking their minds. Scottie was born in New Jersey but identifies more as a Texan.

Earlier, Scott spoke of his time as a scrappy defensive specialist at St. Cecilia High School in Englewood, N.J., where he was never afraid to dive for loose balls. “I had to play that way,” Scott said. “Scottie played that way, too, but he didn’t need to. He had the talent that I didn’t have.”

As a young father himself back in the day, Scott Scheffler said he never could have fathomed having a son who would become the world’s top-ranked golfer and the winner of two green jackets and four total major championships in four years.

“Scottie was just a kid who loved sports,” his dad said, “and who worked really hard to turn this into reality.” — Ian O’Connor, columnist

Wine o’clock under the umbrellas

Beneath the sprawling oak tree that sits adjacent to the Augusta National clubhouse is a meeting of the minds of golf. Annika Sorenstam, adorned in her members-only green jacket, and 2006 U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy were among the names floating around the area today. Also omnipresent? Stefan Schauffele, the father of two-time major champion Xander Schauffele, who strolled leisurely into the gated area under the branches, sporting a baby blue linen suit and a straw hat.

While his son looks to secure a green jacket this week, the elder Schauffele will remain in his usual position — seated under the nearby umbrella-shaded lunch tables. Schauffele told The Athletic that he spends the time there drinking as much wine as he can from the club’s coveted wine cellar. If you know, you know: It’s an elite selection of bottles. Schauffele says he doesn’t have a particular preference for white or red, but instead, he asks his server for whatever is the rarest in the stash. — Gabby Herzig, staff writer

Fore hard right!

One of the best parts of attending the practice rounds at the Masters is the higher possibility of interacting with players — or at least getting very close. If you venture far enough out onto the golf course, you’ll likely find a spot where you can reach out and touch them, and No. 6 tee is one of those locations.

World No. 4 Tommy Fleetwood had a unique practice round grouping on Monday, playing with the U.S. Mid-Am champ, Brandon Holtz, and U.S. Amateur runner-up, Jackson Herrington. As the trio waited to hit their tee shots on the par-3, a vocal patron began singing Fleetwood’s praises, calling him “the best in the field” and describing how good the Englishman will eventually look in the green jacket.

With a smile, Fleetwood responded when he finally stepped up to the tee: “Oh boy, I think you’re going to be disappointed.”

But that wasn’t even the most entertaining sound bite from the group: Holtz, a reinstated amateur who works as a real estate agent in central Illinois, was chopping it up with the spectators behind the tee box, before firing at the pin. It was a nice moment, until Holtz’s ball headed toward the wrong pin. He hit a cold shank, and the crack of the hosel was deafening. His shot soared toward No. 16 green, eventually finding the pond that players typically skip their balls over during practice rounds. — Herzig

Thousands of patrons descended on Augusta National Golf Course on Monday for the first Masters practice day. (Hector Vivas / Getty Images)

The view from Amen Corner

On the bank behind the 12th tee on Monday, after watching a series of golf balls sail into the sky and toward Amen Corner’s ultimate postcard setting, a young boy made a loud observation about the Masters competitors who delivered them.

“It’s like they are all in heaven here,” he cried.

Cruz Shirey, an 8-year-old golfer from Las Vegas who has won acclaim at the state and national levels, was sitting on his father Gabe’s shoulders and wearing a white Masters cap covered with player autographs. In other words, Shirey had the best seat in the house.

The Shireys were watching with another eight-year-old, Landyn Kelly, who finished second in Sunday’s Drive, Chip and Putt national finals at Augusta National, along with Landyn’s parents, Brandi and John. They were part of an especially large Monday crowd that included patrons who had been rained out of last year’s opening day of pre-tournament practice.

That view around the 12th tee is popular for the obvious reasons — the Hogan and Nelson bridges, Rae’s Creek rippling beneath them, and the front and back bunkers that make the target look absurdly small. That the Shireys were standing there behind rows of patrons sitting in green Masters folding chairs was a minor miracle in itself.

“We parked and get up to the ticket line at 7 a.m., and when they go, ‘Your ticket, sir,’ I go like this,” as Gabe Shirey patted his four pockets. His tickets had fallen out of one of those pockets.

“For two hours we asked over 200 people, ‘Have you seen tickets? Have you seen tickets?’

“And all of a sudden a security guard goes, ‘Here’s your tickets.’ They found them on the ground on our walk from the car to the front gates. I bawled like a baby in that moment. I thought we were screwed. I said, ‘I guess we’ll just go back to the airport and go home.’ … So that moment you witnessed us having was extra special. I almost wasn’t here today.” — O’Connor

U.S. Amateur champ Mason Howell is a high school senior with a Masters tee time. (Hector Vivas / Getty Images)

Other notes from Monday at the Masters

• U.S. Amateur Mason Howell had patrons leaning forward in anticipation on Monday, as his tee shot on No. 6 (playing at about 180 yards) hit the backstop on the green and rolled to the flag stick, coming to a stop agonizingly close to an ace. “That would have been pretty sweet, but we’ll save it for the tournament,” said Howell, who’ll stay in the Crow’s Nest on the ANGC property Monday night. — Hugh Kellenberger, senior managing editor

• A theme on Monday was the Masters first-timers listening to their elders. Chris Gotterup tagged along with Justin Rose for a practice round and took care to watch Rose’s shots and approach before hitting his own. Harry Hall and Jake Knapp (playing in his second Masters) went out for a practice round with past champions Vijay Singh and Fred Couples, taking full advantage of the opportunity to pick their brains. — Kellenberger

• Rose himself has become a bit of a story this week, or perhaps the memories of last year are the story. He admitted people stopped him walking around on Monday, wishing him well and saying 2026 will be his year. So many people remember his late run to force a playoff at last year’s Masters, and in turn, they feel sympathy for the 45-year-old veteran who had consecutive major runner-up finishes at age 44. “That’s fine,” Rose said, “but I’ve got to kind of be aware of that, be ready for that, and I’ve got to have my own narrative and not kind of buy into everyone else’s narrative.” — Miller