MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 10, 2026

Tom McKibbin

Quick Quotes

Q. How would you sum up that week?

TOM McKIBBIN: I don't know. A bit annoying. Fun. Yeah, it was a bit of everything. Probably a little bit of every emotion.

Q. Why are you saying annoying?

TOM McKIBBIN: Well, missed the cut. It's a bit annoying, isn't it? Yeah.

Q. You played very well in a lot of spots. A couple of mistakes here and there at the greens. You said yesterday caught you a little bit. Caught you out in the first toted and then the second shot on the second, it obviously wasn't the start you were looking for. You did well to come back from it.

TOM McKIBBIN: Yeah, two good shots in the first and then a three-putt, which was frustrating. And then a great tee shots on two, and then it just came out really low off the lie and caught the tree. Yeah, not a great start. 3-over after two is not ideal with the rest of the course still to play.

But, yeah, I played the last sort of 13 holes really nice and even sort of coming in I hit a few really nice shots, especially on 17, and got a little bit unlucky there.

So, yeah, overall I hit a lot of good shots. A couple of too many putts, and then the second is probably the only real, like, bad, bad shot that really cost me.

Q. What will your learnings be from this week? You've got many more Masters ahead of you.

TOM McKIBBIN: Yeah, I think just sort of the experience. The more times you can play, especially on the greens. I think the greens are obviously the trickiest part and sort of a lot of putts the first two days as the course changes so much from the practice days, yesterday was a little bit of guesswork maybe.

I knew maybe what they would do slope-wise, but like, speed was, like, they were so quick.

Then uphill they are still quite slow. Then going out this morning, again, you think they're going to be super quick, but that little bit of dew and stuff, it's like a little bit of guesswork on the greens.

Q. Tom, how fast was this putt on 16?

TOM McKIBBIN: Yeah, pretty quick. I think it just got over the slope, and it still rolled about eight feet past. Yeah, I mean, it was silly of me to leave it up there.

Q. You live in Dubai, right? How did you prepare to come here? What was your mind preparation?

TOM McKIBBIN: I played three LIV events and then came out here a week before. Yeah, I played for three events and had a week's practice, and that's about it.

Q. Have you been in Dubai in the last month?

TOM McKIBBIN: No.

Q. Why?

TOM McKIBBIN: I was playing three golf tournaments.

Q. What's going on over there?

TOM McKIBBIN: Playing golf, yeah.

Q. Are you afraid a little bit when you will go back home?

TOM McKIBBIN: No.

Q. When you played yesterday and obviously the greens were extremely quick compared to the practice days and then you come out today, how do you feel? Explain to people at home that don't know what it's like. Are you just nervous, tentative, afraid to blast one past? How does it manifest itself?

TOM McKIBBIN: Yeah, I wouldn't say nervous. I think sort of uncertain is the word. I think it's, like, you don't really know what's going to happen until you hit the putt. Obviously once you sort of hit it outside 25 feet, you're just trying not to three-putt really. Some of the putts have so much slope. Even on 18 you can hit it off the sides of the greens and sort of use the slopes, but then, yeah, sometimes you just might not see a foot or so. Then it might keep going. Yeah, you're sort of always trying to leave yourself the stress-free second putt where.

Q. How much does this make you want to come back again and have another go at this, because I'm sure you would like a do-over even to just go back to Thursday morning, would you, and with the experience that you have now and play from the start?

TOM McKIBBIN: Yeah, I think it's probably the first time I've came to a place and sort of felt that, like, field and try to not miss it again. Obviously it's very hard to get in. Yeah, I definitely like to try and get back here at some point. It would be nice. It's definitely the best golf tournament the that I've ever played. Yeah, it would be good to come back.

Q. Annoying, but enjoyable?

TOM McKIBBIN: Yeah, very enjoyable. Yeah, the practice days leading up coming before, having a couple of rounds, and then getting it sort of started in the tournament, yeah, very, very enjoyable. Obviously it's stressful out there the last two days once there's stuff on the line, but it was -- yeah, it was really good.

Q. You must have looked at this golf course for so many years watching the Masters. Now that you've played it, which hole really stood out for you that maybe surprised you or you really loved playing it more than you expected? Do you know that to be the case?

TOM McKIBBIN: I don't know. I mean, I liked every hole. Every hole was pretty good. Yeah, I mean, it's hard to beat that 11, 12, 13. Those are pretty iconic holes, but I think people on TV maybe don't realize how hard some of the shots are. I certainly didn't. I sort of had heard how hard they were, but when you watch it on TV, you cannot see any of the slopes on the fairways and even the greens. The greens don't look as slopey as they are and then once you stand over the ball with a long iron or a wood, I mean, it feels so strange. You never get it anywhere else.

Q. Which shot will stay with you from the week? I'm sure there are some that you hit well or played well. Is there one that you think that's -- more of the same, please?

TOM McKIBBIN: I hit a lovely 7-wood into 15 today. I sort of had to cut it around the trees and hit it about 20 feet. It was nice to pull off one iconic shot that I had watched on TV. That was nice. Then I hit another really good shot into 10 ten, which is enjoyable as well.

Q. What was the club number?

TOM McKIBBIN: 5-iron. 5-iron, yeah.