So that’s your lot on a very strange but very exciting first day at the 2019 Masters. For a while we had nine players bunched in the lead at -3, but Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Ian Poulter, Dustin Johnson and the evergreen Phil Mickelson pulled ahead. Tomorrow promises to be another entertaining, if possibly a little wet, day at Augusta. Please join us. Thanks for reading today. Nighty night!
-6: DeChambeau, Koepka
-5: Mickelson
-4: Poulter, D Johnson
-3: Harding, Scott, Rahm, Kisner, Aphibarnrat
-2: Conners, Holmes, Bjerregaard, Woodland, Woods, Fowler, Smith, Kizzire, Molinari, Day
-1: Finau, Hoffman, Oosthuizen, Fleetwood, Na, Olesen, Langer, Kuchar
Koepka sends his second into 18 pin high. He’ll have an eight-foot look at a birdie that’d give him sole ownership of the first-round lead. But first some unwanted attention for Paul Casey, who trudges up the hole with a face like thunder, having hit a tree and then thinned his approach, his third shot, through the green. His putt coming back up the hill doesn’t make it. He ends with a double-bogey six, and that’s an 81, the second-worst score of the day. He’s +9, just one ahead of Angel Cabrera. Par for Jordan Spieth, whose troubled three-over 75 suddenly doesn’t seem so bad. And finally Koepka, who can’t make his birdie putt, but he’s back in 31 for a blemish-free 66!
Mickelson rolls in his birdie putt! That’s a five-under-par 67, and the old boy is just one shot behind the twentysomethings DeChambeau and Koepka! With Tiger in the house after a 70, there are some fairytales waiting to be written this weekend. Meanwhile his partners both end the day over par: Justin Thomas with a 73, Justin Rose with a 75.
It’s been a sensational late afternoon’s play at Augusta National. A penny for the pre-tournament favourite Rory McIlroy’s thoughts: having shot 73, his worst opening round since coming here as a 20-year-old in 2010, a year in which he missed the cut. He’ll be seven off the first-round lead at least. Here’s Andy Bull on his difficulties.
Phil up the last. He’s wedging in from the centre of the fairway. Straight at the flag. It spins eight feet short of the cup, a wonderful approach that only looks workaday given what DeChambeau got up to a few minutes earlier. He’ll have a look at birdie for a 67. He’s nearly 49 years old! This is why you’ve got to love golf.
DeChambeau takes off his trademark flat cap as he approaches the 18th. The gallery rises as one to give this amazing young man the acclaim he deserves. He’s come back in 31 strokes! And in what style! Six birdies in the last seven holes! A glorious 66. DJ putts up from the swale for his par; a fine up and down. That’s a 68. And back on 17, another great scramble, and it’s by ... who else?
Quagmire
. Brooks Koepka, who splashes delicately to four feet, a fine result from a downhill lie in the big bunker, and tidies up for par. Day pars the last for a two-under 70, incidentally.
-6: DeChambeau (F), Koepka (17)
-4: Poulter (F), D Johnson (F), Mickelson (17)
Bryson DeChambeau is an artist all right! He whips an iron into 18 from the best part of 200 yards. His ball lands on the green and makes its way towards the flagstick, rolling at speed. It hits that stick, bang in the centre. But it somehow doesn’t drop, bouncing back an inch or so. Really not sure how that didn’t fall into the cup! That would have been an eagle for the ages. But he’s more than happy to take the birdie that’ll give him a share of the lead at -6. Meanwhile DJ tugs his approach down the swale to the left and into the patrons, while back on 17, Koepka’s second finds the bunker guarding the green front right. Bryson DeChambeau, though! Shot of the day, no question. If it’s not shot of the tournament come the end of the week, we’ll have witnessed something pretty special.
Dustin Johnson rips his driver down 18. Fairway split. DeChambeau takes a fairway wood and finds the first cut on the left. Day finds the short stuff but he’s well short of DJ having also forgone his big stick. Up on the green, Bubba knocks in a 12-foot par saver and the two-time winner signs for a first-round 72.
The Open champion Francisco Molinari has gone under the radar today. A steady round for most of it, not a great deal going on. But he’s finished with birdies at 15 and 18, and suddenly that’s a two-under 70. Four off the lead and he’s very well placed. Meanwhile a much-needed birdie for Jordan Spieth at 16, and he’s back up to +3.
BREAKING NEWS: Brooks Koepka is human. He sends his tee shot at 16 to eight feet, but doesn’t quite hit the birdie putt, leaving it a turn short of the cup. That would have been five birdies in a row. Four will have to do, and as leader he allows himself a rueful grin as he walks off the hole. Actually it’s not even that rueful, it’s a full on dazzling smile. He’s enjoying life at the moment, and whyever not. He stays at -6.
Bryson DeChambeau is an artist. He’s on the extreme back edge of 17, having forced his ball up there from the trees, much like Rory McIlroy did hours ago. McIlroy took three putts from that position; DeChambeau draws his wedge and strokes a chip into the cup for birdie! One of those you just knew was dropping, from quite a way out. Glorious. No wonder these things sometimes take their time. It’s some leader board, this!
-6: Koepka (15)
-5: DeChambeau (17)
-4: Poulter (F), D Johnson (16), Mickelson (16)
Yeah, Koepka specialises in tricky up and downs all right. He lobs softly from the bottom of the bank behind 15, and sends his ball gently rolling to three feet. Another birdie, and that’s four birdies in a row, and five in six holes. Meanwhile his partner Paul Casey’s nightmare continues. He’d pretty much stemmed the bleeding after the double at 5 that dropped him to +5, dropping only one more shot when he took two to escape from a bunker at the back of 12. But now he’s passed up his chance of a first birdie of the day, yipping from very close range at the final par-five. He’s a study in frustration.
Mickelson’s tee shot at 16 is almost a carbon copy of DeChambeau’s. An inch or so away from an ace. He’ll move to -4, and those back-to-back bogeys at 10 and 11 seem a world away already. A par for Poulter up the last, and he signs for a fantastic 68. And Koepka’s drive wasn’t quite as far right as I’d thought ... I might have hallucinated some trees, do forgive me ... but he doesn’t take advantage of any lucky bounce he might have had. He sends his second over the back of 15; it’ll be a tricky up and down. Then again, Koepka specialises in tricky up and downs.
On the last, Aphibarnrat wedges to 12 feet, and rolls in the putt. Given the waywardness of his drive, that was a fine par save. He signs for a three-under 69, as does Kisner, who adroitly got up and down from the back. Birdie for Mickelson at 15, and the three-time winner is just two off the lead at -3. And both Dustin Johnson and Jason Day make birdie at 16, having knocked their tee shots close ... just not as sensationally close as DeChambeau. Everyone very happy right now.
-5: Koepka (14)
-4: Poulter (17), D Johnson (16), DeChambeau (16)
Play’s slowed up a bit, and the final group is forced to wait for 15 minutes on the 15th tee. A few fingers may point a couple of groups ahead, as DeChambeau took an age over his eagle putt. The leader Koepka, who has spoken with some feeling about slow play in the past, is clearly a little irritated, and sends his drive into filth down the right in frustration. Thing is, though, you can’t knock DeChambeau too much, because the young man has oodles of talent. On 16, he lands his tee shot 20 feet to the right of the flag, using the slope of the green to gather his ball towards the hole. For a second, it looks like dropping for a hole-in-one, but the ball skims the right-hand edge and stays out. He’ll be tapping in for a birdie that’ll take him into a share of second at -4.
Aphibarnrat sprays his tee shot at 18 into the trees on the right. The drive that cost Justin Rose the 2017 Masters. He does well to batter his ball out of the woods, despite his club crashing into branches on his backswing. He’ll have an up and down from 100 yards or so to save his par. Kisner will have a slightly less tricky up and down, but he’s gone over the back and there isn’t a whole lot of green to play with from there.
DeChambeau very nearly guides in a long eagle putt across 15. Not quite, and he’s forced to check himself as he shapes to celebrate, but it was a fine effort nonetheless. He moves to -3. Day doesn’t quite hit his birdie putt from 18 feet and remains at -2; he’s holding his hip and back, wincing as he bends to pluck his ball from the hole. Plenty of time on the treatment table tonight. Par for DJ too, a result of flying his second over the back. He remains at -3.
Kisner scrambles another par, this time at 17. He’d been up against it ever since sending his drive away to the left, but a fine pitch to five feet saved the day. His partner Aphibarnrat saw a birdie putt lip out. He was a couple of millimetres away from picking up five shots in five holes. Meanwhile on 14, the astonishing Brooks Koepka keeps on trucking, firing his second over the flag and steering in a right-to-left 20-footer for his fifth birdie of the day, and his fourth in the last five holes! The usual long-way-to-go caveats apply, but nevertheless ... are you beginning to wonder why Koepka wasn’t short-priced favourite, seeing he’d won two of the last three majors? Yes, me too.
-5: Koepka (14)
-4: Poulter (16)
-3: Harding (F), Scott (F), Rahm (F), Kisner (17), Aphibarnrat (17), D Johnson (14)
Bernhard Langer is off the back of 18 in three. He putts up the bank, curling a left-to-right 40-footer into the cup for par! He ends the day with a one-under 71. Bernhard Langer is 61 years old. Meanwhile the relatively youthful Ian Poulter, 43¼, makes his birdie putt at 16 to grab a share of Koepka’s lead. Meanwhile bogey for Bryson DeChambeau (25) at 14, and I didn’t tell you that Phil the Thrill (nearly 49) birdied 13, back-to-back birdies fully repairing the damage caused at 10 and 11. The latter two are -2. Hey, this leader board suddenly looks a little bit more normal.
-4: Poulter (17), Koepka (13)
-3: Harding (F), Scott (F), Rahm (F), Kisner (16), Aphibarnrat (16), D Johnson (14)
So here’s a stat: the highest number of players to have ever tied the 18-hole lead at the Masters is five. That happened in 1964 and 1993. But that’s a record that might still be standing come the end of the day, because Brooks Koepka, who has won two of the last three majors, is now leading this one alone. A fuss-free two-putt birdie at the par-five 13th, and he nips ahead of the pack at -4. He may soon be joined there by Ian Poulter, who creams his tee shot at 16 to six feet.
It’s now a nine-way tie for the lead! Ian Poulter birdies 15, and this is gloriously daft. With DJ still to play the second par five on the back nine, and Koepka yet to travel down either of them. you’d expect someone to break out of this group and snatch the first-round lead. Wouldn’t you?
-3: Harding (F), Scott (F), Rahm (F), Kisner (16), Aphibarnrat (16), Poulter (15), D Johnson (13), DeChambeau (13), Koepka (12)
Aphibarnrat joins the ever-expanding leading group at -3 by rolling in his birdie putt at 16. The big man’s four under for the last three! Easy to forget that he tied for 15th here on debut in 2016. Meanwhile a sensational escape by Kisner, who opts against trying to gently chip close, and sends his ball way past the hole, using the slope back towards the flag to gather the ball close. He leaves himself a three-footer to retain a share of the lead.
Kisner pulls his tee shot at the par-three 16th. Disaster: the ball bounces off the bank to the left of the green and towards the drink. Just as he’d reached the top of the leader board as well. But a stroke of good fortune, as it snags in the thick grass and stays dry. He’s not left with an easy chip up - there’s little green in front of the flag - but at least he’s not wet. His playing partner Kiradech Aphibarnrat meanwhile lands his tee shot in the centre of the green, the ball gathered left and down towards the hole by the camber. He’ll have a look at birdie from ten feet or so. He’ll fancy his chances, too, having just eagled 13 and birdied 15 to move to -2. Meanwhile up on 18, Kevin Na bogeys to end his day with a 71.
So having waited for nearly an hour to put up a fresh-looking leader board, then given in and posted one anyway, here’s what happens almost immediately. Brooks Koepka knocks in a putt from the fringe at the back of 12, and joins the co-leaders. Then Jason Day moves to -2 with birdie at 13, despite suffering from a pulled muscle in his left side for which he requires physio treatment. His playing partner Bryson DeChambeau birdies too, following a two at 12. Dustin Johnson makes it a trio of birdies in the third-last group. And finally a third birdie on the bounce at 15 for Kevin Kisner, who joins the pack at the top! So once more, with feeling ...
-3: Harding (F), Scott (F), Rahm (F), Kisner (15), D Johnson (13), DeChambeau (13), Koepka (12)
-2: Conners (F), Holmes (F), Bjerregaard (F), Woodland (F), Woods (F), Fowler (F), Smith (F), Kizzire (F), Na (17), Aphibarnrat (15), Poulter (14), Kuchar (14), Day (13)
There hasn’t been much movement at the top of the leader board for some time now. But let’s have a look at the thing anyway.
-3: Harding (F), Scott (F), Rahm (F)
-2: Conners (F), Holmes (F), Bjerregaard (F), Woodland (F), Woods (F), Fowler (F), Smith (F), Kizzire (F), Na (17), Kisner (14), Poulter (14), Kuchar (14), D Johnson (12), DeChambeau (12), Koepka (11)
Mickelson did indeed salvage his bogey at 11. And the salvage job continued. Given that he’d also bogeyed 10, he’d slipped to level par. But you don’t win three green jackets around here without a bit of moxie, and he bounces back with birdie at 12 to go into red figures again at -1. His partners aren’t so happy right now, though. Rose nearly misses another tiddler; in fact he was sure he’d pushed it to the right from three feet, but the hole snaffled his ball. He stays at +4 (having bogeyed 9, which I might have not mentioned, apologies). Justin Thomas meanwhile lands a fine 9-iron pin high, but misses the eight footer he’d left himself. He cocks his head back like a Pez dispenser, in high irritation, but he’s still level par, so it’s far from the end of the world.
A bulletin from our man Andy Bull, toiling away in Augusta. It regards one of today’s honorary starters, the three-time champion Gary Player, who has been holding court in typically rococo style.
Thought you might like a few highlights from what’s become one of my very favourite Masters traditions: the press conference after the honorary start, when Jack Nicklaus and everyone else sits down to listen to Gary Player deliver a series of rambling soliloquies about golf and everything else, today he touched on Tiger’s swing, why Byron Nelson’s overrated, his favourite Winston Churchill quotes, the benefits of having a cold shower every morning, nutrition, racism, gender equality, strategies for coping with jet lag, mobile phones, tai chi, life in the South African townships, table manners, and everything else that’s rattling around inside his head. My favourite bit of this year’s monologue was probably when he was asked, quite simply, how impressed he was by Jennifer Kupcho’s play in the inaugural women’s amateur last week. Here’s his full answer. Stick around for the pay off.
“It just goes to show, everybody talks about long hitting. I get so tired hearing about long hitting all the time, because if you look at two of the leading players ‑ I won’t mention their names - they were like 129th and 130th in accuracy, and they were 1 and 2 in the world. If you look at 1986 when Jack won at the age of 46, quite remarkable. He was on the 17th green with a plus, minus 20‑foot putt. Seve was down the fairway at 15 with a one‑shot lead, 5‑iron to the green, knocks it the in the water, that long drive didn’t mean anything. Every putt you hole over that distance means something.
So golf really is a game of putting today, of short game. It’s not long driving. And it’s the mind. We haven’t scratched the surface of the mind. These women are coming into golf now, and these young people are coming into golf now, realizing that if they shoot par, it doesn’t mean a thing. So they’re adjusting their mind according to the conditions. And also the equipment is improving so much. It’s quite remarkable. If you really take clubs, we had a - one of my charity days in England, and we had all the clubs from, I don’t know, 1920, and we had Tom Watson hit them. He couldn’t hit them very well, and then Charl Schwartzel came, and it was remarkable. He had the same ball, and to see the difference. The ball was going 200 yards, and then it was going 360 yards. And to see the difference in the grooves and everything.
So the mind adjusts to time and sometimes it adjusts to the future, and that’s what’s happening. And so we know now, if you’re just an ordinary player or do an ordinary score, you might as well not be a pro. And certainly people are going to turn pro, and they are not going to make it because they all think it’s a bed of roses and don’t realize it’s a very lonely life, traveling with time changes, away from your dear ones and country and etc. But the mind, I’m so convinced the mind is such a valuable asset, and I’m going to be repetitive and say we haven’t scratched the surface yet.
So I’m not surprised they did that, but it’s remarkable to see a woman, and the putting ‑ and the greens are so good today. When I think of the greens we played on, the spike marks and old bermuda grass, if you look at a green today, honestly, this is why ‑ how can you compare Tiger Woods to Jack Nicklaus? It’s not fair. Let him play today with these greens and raked bunkers or bunkers all the same width, and with a driver and a ball that goes 50 yards further. This man finished second in 19 major championships, 19. This is what people forget when they want to make a comparison. So it’s very hard to make comparisons, but the greens are just like a snooker table today. If you’ve got any sort of a putting stroke and you hit it on line, it goes in and it doesn’t bounce off. And also, people also don’t realize, Bobby Jones, when you talk about Bobby Jones ‑ I think when I played in my first Open Championship, they never changed the pin one day. The pin was there in the practice round and stayed there in the tournament. Can you imagine that?
I remember people getting in bunkers, and they couldn’t get out at Lytham & St Annes. I couldn’t get out, put it in the bunker there. And I went to Brigadier Brickman, and I made the biggest error. I said, ‘May I have an appointment.’ He said, ‘Yes.’ So I went in, and I said, ‘You know, just being in America, and I love The Open, in America they have got rakes all over at every hole, I love The Open; may I buy 18 rakes for this tournament?’ He says, ‘You little insolent bastard, get out of my office.’”
Ian Poulter has been going along very nicely all day. Birdies at 1 and 6. A bogey at 9, but a very unfortunate one: in the bunker at the back of the green, he set his ball out on the big u-shaped route it needed to take to reach the hole. It looked perfectly paced en route, but the margins between success and failure at Augusta are so slim, and his ball snagged the apron at the apex of the curve, and like Frank Costanza, stopped short. He’s not let that affect him, though, and has just birdied 13 to get back to -2.
Mickelson sends his drive into the pine trees down the right of 11. He tries to whip a low hook onto the green, but skims a branch and the ball sails straight into the water to the front-left of the putting surface. No matter! He sends his fourth, from the dropzone, screeching to a halt by the hole. Unless he messes up big-time, he’ll be escaping with a bogey and will hang on in there at level par. Meanwhile birdies at 13 and 15 for Kevin Na, who has finished in the top dozen here on a couple of occasions, in 2012 and 2015. He’s -2. And back-to-back birdies for Kevin Kisner, at 13 and 14, who has in the past come close at the Open, the PGA and the Players, without ever landing a big one. He’s -2 as well.
Updated
Eagle for Matt Kuchar at 13, having crashed a splendid second to eight feet. He’s -2. Dustin Johnson responds to a dropped shot at 10 with a 25-foot left-to-right curler across 11, a birdie that takes him back to -2. Birdie for Brooks Koepka at 10, after a second shot arrowed straight at the flag, 12 feet close, no mean feat on a treacherous hole. A good few minutes for the USA.
A sorry end to Patton Kizzire’s round. The 33-year-old from Montgomery, Alabama, found the centre of the 18th fairway with his tee shot, but then pushed a short iron wide right and couldn’t get up and down to save his par. He nevertheless ends with a most acceptable 70, one off the lead.
Jordan Spieth’s travails continue apace. From the front of the steep-faced 9th green, he fails to get his ball up onto the top and it comes rolling back to his feet. Spieth does incredibly well to bump his next shot up to four feet, limiting the damage to bogey. He’s out in 40. Tiger took 40 on the front nine in the first round in 1997, of course, and ended up cantering home by 12 strokes. Mind you, Tiger came back in 30 that day, and a similar turnaround for Spieth would be quite a story the way he’s been playing of late.
Cameron Smith finished in a tie for fifth place last year. He’s coming at Augusta again: a fine 70, birdies at 13, 15 and 16 salvaging an average performance and launching the young Australian up the leader board to -2. As for his playing partners? Rickie Fowler also signs his name to a 70. But it’s a dispiriting 73 for Rory McIlroy, who ends bogey-bogey after hooking big into the trees down the left of 18, then missing a short par saver up on the green just as it looked a successful scramble was on the cards. He’s +1, and far from out of it, just four off the lead right now, the early predictions of low scoring having failed to materialise. But he’ll need to ignore this stat: 77% of the previous 82 tournaments here have been won by folk in the top ten after round one. And that’s been the outcome for the last 12 tournaments in a row. Lucky 13 for McIlroy? He’ll need to up his game if that’s to be the case.
Updated
Pars for Tiger and Rahm up 18. Both will be happy, both having missed the green in regulation. Tiger ends with a 70, Rahm a fine 69 and a share of the current lead. Tiger will be more than happy with that 70: it’s his joint-second lowest first-round score, and from there he won in 1997, 2001 and 2002. His lowest, for the record, was a 68 in 2010, but he could only finish in a tie for fourth that year.
-3: Harding (F), Scott (F), Rahm (F), Kizzire (17)
-2: Conners (F), Holmes (F), Bjerregaard (F), Woodland (F), Woods (F), Fowler (17), Smith (17), Olesen (14), D Johnson (9), Mickelson (9)
Speaking of miserable starts by one of England’s pre-tournament hot picks ... Paul Casey is +5 through the first seven holes. The nadir came with a double bogey at 5, the result of taking two to get out of a fairway bunker. Elsewhere, Brooks Koepka finds the 8th green easily in two, then takes three putts to spurn a fine birdie chance. An overly aggressive eagle attempt the root cause of that. The US Open and PGA champion is -1. And a double for Xander Schauffele up the last; a decent opening round suddenly turns into a 73: he’s +1.
Rory’s in trouble again, this time at 17. A drive sent into the Tiger trees down the right. Like Woods before him, there’s no route to the flag. He’s forced to send a low scuttler up towards the green. His ball squirts onto the putting surface, but he’s left with a 60-foot uphill monster along the back of the green. He leaves that one a good 12 feet short, and it leads to a three-putt bogey. He’s back to level par again. Meanwhile Tommy Fleetwood pars the last to sign for a first-round 71. And the 2017 runner-up Justin Rose has started appallingly. Bogeys at 5 and 7, followed by a missed tiddler at 8. Another dropped shot, and he’s +3 already.
Tiger falls out of the lead with bogey at 17. It’s mainly the fault of a drive whistled into the trees down the right, though letting a six-foot par saver slip by the hole didn’t help matters either. He’s -2. And so is his old sparring partner Phil Mickelson: the three-time Masters champion follows birdie at 2 with another at the next par-five, the 8th.
Spieth’s woes continue with a double at 6, the result of a wayward tee shot pushed right. His tee shot at 7 sails off to the right as well, but he extricates himself from bother with a fine second to the back of the green. He can’t quite make the birdie putt coming back from 20 feet, but par will suffice after that tee shot. He’s +3. Last year’s opening round of 66 seems an awfully long time ago right now.
Rory’s on the match all right! He sends his tee shot at 16 a little bit long, and leaves himself a 30-foot left-to-right curler for his birdie. But he judges the putt beautifully, the ball curling right just in time and dropping gracefully into the cup. He’s -1 and has a much sunnier disposition than the Rory of hole 11. A small fist-pump betrays his inner steel. His partner Rickie Fowler has also been going well lately: birdies at 11, 12 and 15, and he’s one turn away from a fourth in seven holes at 16. But he’s staying at -2. Up on 18, Charley Hoffman pars and signs for a 71. And on 8, Dustin takes two putts from distance to card a birdie that takes him to -2.
Quite a few names at -1 right now. Deep breath: Tony Finau (F), Charley Hoffman (17), Louis Oosthuizen (17), Marc Leishman (17), Xander Schauffele (17), Tommy Fleetwood (16), Haotong Li (16), Bernard Langer (12), Ian Poulter (9), Matt Kuchar (9), Francesco Molinari (9), Rafa Cabrera Bello (9), Dustin Johnson (7), Phil Mickelson (7) and Brooks Koepka (6). Haw! This is going to be a hell of a week! Anything could happen, and on this subject, here’s Simon McMahon: “Early days, indeed, but could the greatest comeback since Lazarus really be on? Henry Cotton, Open champion in 1937 and 1948. Julius Boros, US Open champion in 1952 and 1963. Hale Irwin, likewise in 1979 and 1990. Ben Crenshaw, two Masters titles 11 years apart. Now, who last won a major in 2008? Seems like 11 could be the magic number this year.”
Sergio finished with 73, not bad since the 2017 winner never really got going. He’s in the clubhouse alongside the defending champion Patrick Reed, who repaired a lot of early-round damage with an eagle on 13, but bogeyed the last to end the day on a downer. The last two champions are both +1. Meanwhile Rory’s eagle putt on 15 never looks like dropping, but he’s lagged it close and that’s a birdie that takes him back to level par. After a torrid first 11 holes, the pre-tournament favourite has hauled himself right back into this tournament. That resilience augurs well for the rest of the week. Doesn’t it?
Tiger, perhaps wary of hitting his chip from the back of 15 through the green and into the water on the other side, doesn’t get his ball up onto the putting surface. His second chip rolls to kick-in distance, but that’s the chance of a birdie at the par-five gone, and from prime position in the centre of the fairway. Coming behind, McIlroy is staging something of a comeback after those back-to-back bogeys at 10 and 11. Birdie at 13, and despite toying with the trees down the left of 15 with his drive, he’s found the dancefloor in two with a wonderful shot through the smallest of gaps. He’ll look at eagle from 40 feet.
T2-1-2-11-3. Jordan Spieth’s record at Augusta is quite frankly ridiculous. But here’s his last five starts: T51-T54-CUT-T24-T30. A strong start last week at home in Texas, a couple of 68s, ended averagely with 73-72. Suffice to say the three-time major winner is not in form right now. Will the smell of the azaleas trip a switch in this brilliant young man’s head? Time will tell, but there’s no fast start. Bogeys at 1 and 3 sandwich a birdie at 2, and he’s +1 through the first five holes. He may have taken some heart from a fine up and down from sand at 4, though, given that he’d found a horrible downhill lie in the bunker. Rule nothing out with Spieth.
Adam Scott sends his approach to 18 right at the flag, stuck towards the back of the green. He’s left with an uphill putt from 12 feet ... and it’s guided straight into the cup. What a finish. It’s not quite Charl Schwartzel in 2011, but birdies at 15, 17 and 18 have whistled the 2013 champ right up the leaderboard and into a share of the lead! After a slow start to this Masters, it’s beginning to hot up with a couple of golf’s biggest showing at the top.
-3: Harding (F), Scott (F), Woodland (15), Woods (14), Rahm (14), Kizzire (13)
-2: Conners (F), Holmes (F), Bjerregaard (F), Olesen (12), Poulter (8)
A rush of blood to Tiger’s head at 15. He’s split the fairway, but hits a hot one over the water and through the green. He’s off the back, down a bank, near a tree. At least he went nowhere near the water. In more par-five news, there’s no birdie for Ian Poulter at 8, but the experienced Englishman is still in a promising position at -2 thanks to his earlier birdies at 2 and 6.
Oosthuizen, who came so close in 2012 but was ultimately undone by that Bubba escape from the trees in the play-off, is launching yet another major-championship bid. He’s making birdies - at 2, 3 and 11 - but letting shots slip from his grasp too. Bogeys at 5 and 7, and the latest at 15, a short par putt yipped, horseshoeing out. He’s by no means in bad nick, though, at -1. Gary Woodland, coming behind, makes no mistake at the par-five 15th though. A birdie, and he’s got a share of the lead at -3.
Thanks to John. And what a time to come back, because Tiger has just guided in a right-to-left 25-footer on 14! It’s back to back birdies, and he’s got a share of the lead in the Masters! Early doors, but what the hell: the dream is very much on! Rahm had the chance of immediately leapfrogging him, but his birdie effort slipped by the left of the cup from 15 feet and he stays at -3 too. Meanwhile birdie at 17 for the 2013 champion Adam Scott, following up one at 15, and he’s just one off the lead.
-3: Harding (F), Woods (14), Rahm (14), Kizzire (13)
-2: Conners (F), Holmes (F), Bjerregaard (F), Scott (17), Woodland (14), Olesen (11), Poulter (7)
The weather, in terms of the wind dropping, or being less troublesome at least, seems to be favouring those who are playing later. That means Jon Rahm is well placed to capitalise, as is Tiger. Tommy Fleetwood is back on evens, now.
Here’s the leaders as it stands and Scott takes back over:
-3: Harding (F), Rahm (13)
-2: Conners (F), Holmes (F), Bjerregaard (F), Woods (13), Oosthuizen (14), Woodland (14), Kizzire (12), Olesen (10), Poulter (7)
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Rickie Fowler’s eye is in, and he almost sinks his iron shot on 13 but the ball bounces off the back. He would go level at the top if he could sink his chip for an eagle, and you couldn’t back against him but this time he can’t get a clean hit on the ball. He will have to settle for a par.
Rory’s shot on the 13th is conservative. He is yet to lose his cool despite a couple of collywobbles. Sandy Lyle, the 1988 winner, catches a break on 13. He says a rude word, and then laughs as the bounce rescues a ball headed for oblivion.
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Kizzire, who can go into the lead, approaches the 12th. “Sit, sit,” he calls out in vain to a ball that goes flying into the flower arrangements. He seems unlikely to be on the leaderboard, as he is deep in the shrubbery. All he can do is scoop the ball out. And the next is not much use, either. He has to putt for a bogey. He sinks that, and it counts as a save considering the jungle he had to play out of.
Tiger at 13, having driven 305 yards, has 190 to the flag. “Down, down,” he says, and it stays down, and makes the green, but there is a heck of a lot of green between his ball and the hole. Harding is both clubhouse leader and overall leader before Jon Rahm’s birdie takes the Spaniard to the top. Should Tiger hole his eagle putt, he too will be -3. He takes his time over this, his face deep in concentration, and he looks to lay up rather than sink the big one. And it’s a beauty of a lay-up. A birdie beckons, and so does -2. After Li birdies, Tiger steps up to roll in his ball for a two-putt birdie. It goes in, via a little bounce. The great man leaves Amen Corner with his name among the leaders.
Meanwhile, Lucas Bjerregaard’s previous share of the lead is at an end having committed a bogey at the final hole. Hard lines for him. Tommy Fleetwood’s charge seems to slowing a tad, as he is on a run of pars as he takes to the 15th. He’s well in touch, though.
There are 49 players between evens and -3.
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Louis Oosthuizen, runner-up at the 2012 Masters - ESPN headline “Who Might You Be?” - is now within one shot of the lead.
More rueful Rory, as he fails to sink what looks a very doable putt for a two on 12.
Rickie Fowler, though is rolling, with birdies at 11 and 12.
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It is concertina-ed at the top, with 25 players within two strokes of the lead. Lucas Bjerregaard, the young Dane, has a share of the lead with Harding, and is going into the final hole. A birdie on 13 and 15 has his there. Joining them is Patton Kizzire, who approaches Amen Corner after two pars.
On the 12th, Jon Rahm, Li and Tiger all play it somewhat safe. Li’s is the best of the three off the tee, and he has a far better birdie chance than his playing partners but undercooks his effort. Tiger plays a lovely bump and run to put himself within barely a foot of par. Jon Rahm, from the depths of a bunker, is in danger, as his sand shot is uncontrollable but he holes out.
Rory’s wedge shot on 13 is a bad one. It never gets off the surface and skids to a halt. Rory’s expression is rueful, as he is on course for a bogey and going to +2, which he duly does.
Behind Rory, Rickie Fowler has just sunk a long one to go back to even par. Could this be the year? His drive on the next is a pearler, too.
Evening, all. As I step into the shoes of greatness, Tiger is negotiating Amen Corner on the 11th, and his third shot, a dribbler that he tried to aim up and back round again fell short. Jon Rahm, though, sinks his shot for birdie with a downhill slider. Tiger shoots for par, after Li misses from close in. Tiger, his stance adroit, sinks it before Li meekly accepts his bogey. Something of a chance gone for Tiger on a biddable hole, but he is often conservative around the turn.
Up steps Rory, at +1 after that previous goof, and he is concerned about the wind on the 11th. And then concerned about his approach shot which he bunts over the green. A charge today looks unlikely.
Meanwhile, the defending champion, Patrick Reed, lands an eagle three on the 13th, the first of the tournament on that hole.
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McIlroy just can’t get anything going. He finds the bunker to the right of the treacherous 10th, and does extremely well to splash to five feet. But his putter, the most troublesome club in his bag, lets him down again. A bogey that drops him back to +1. Not the boost he was looking for going into Amen Corner. Another short putt missed on 16, and Bjerregaard should be leading this tournament on his own: he fired a towering tee shot over the flag at 16 to eight feet, but couldn’t make the putt coming back. He remains at -3.
And with that, I’m off to be watered and fed. I’ll see you all again soon, but in the meantime, the wonderful John Brewin will lead you through the next few minutes. Anon!
Lucas Bjerregaard really has responded well to the double bogey on 4 that wiped out his two early birdies. He’s since birdied 6, 13 and now 15 to rise to -3. And that’s given him a share of the lead, because Justin Harding couldn’t get up and down from the bunker guarding the front right of 18, and it’s a bogey to finish for the South Africa born American. He’s still the new clubhouse leader with his 69, though, a shout clear of Corey Conners. There are 20 players currently at -1, all of whom are most certainly not listed below.
-3: Harding (F), Bjerregaard (15), Kizzire (8)
-2: Conners (F), Holmes (2), Howell III (14), Woodland (10)
Henrik Stenson makes an awful mess of 13. He sends his second into the famous par-five long. His ball disappears in the azaleas on the bank behind the green. After looking for it for nearly all of the allowed three minutes, he trudges back to play his fourth ... but suddenly someone finds it! He comes back with a spring in his step ... drops ... then thins his chip down the bank, across the green, and into Rae’s Creek. He’s now hitting six from the drop zone back over the water. His chip in isn’t all that. Two putts, and that’s a heart-shattering triple-bogey 8. He clatters down the leader board to +3. Meanwhile his playing partners Finau and Garcia both have short birdie putts. Finau makes his and moves to -1; Sergio yips his and that’s a dismal three-putt par. The 2017 champ remains at +1.
The minute Kizzire makes it to -3, Harding pulls away again! He splits the fairway at the deceptively difficult 17th, then arrows his iron from 160 yards to eight feet. In goes the birdie putt, and he’s got sole ownership of the lead! Meanwhile forget about Cabrera’s certain bogey at 17: he gets up and down from 90 feet to scramble his par. Still adrift at +10, but perhaps the comeback starts here. (You can’t let your head drop, can you.)
-4: Harding (17)
-3: Kizzire (8)
-2: Conners (F), Holmes (15), Bjerregaard (14), Howell III (13), Woodland (10), Li (9), Na (6), Langer (5)
Patton Kizzire is enjoying the par fives today. Having eagled 2, he now birdies 8, chipping his third from 55 feet to kick-in distance. He joins Justin Harding in the lead at -3. Few will have expected this leader board. One of golf’s bigger names tries to do something about it: Rory McIlroy birdies 8 too, and he’s back to level par. He was an inch away from eagle, as well, chipping super-close from the back of the green at the par-five.
Credit to Ian Woosnam, who rallied a little towards the end of his round with birdies at 15 and 16. Sadly those came after a run of quadruple bogey, bogey, bogey, bogey. That’s an 80. But he’ll not be trailing the entire field after the first round, because Angel Cabrera is currently +10 through 16, and has lashed his drive at 17 into the trees. It’s been a steady rather than spectacular mess for the 2009 champion. No big disaster like Woosie on the 11th, just a constant flow of bogeys. Ten in his last 13 holes, and another one coming up I’ll be bound.
Sergio sends a gorgeous tee shot into 12. He’s five feet from the flag. In goes the birdie putt, and he’s back to +1 again, refusing to buckle despite some typically erratic play. Pars for Stenson and Finau, who are both level for their rounds. Back on 9, Tiger sends his tee shot into the pines down the left, but the ball takes a kindly kick off the straw and juts right, presenting a route into the green. He grabs the opportunity with both hands, wedging wonderfully to four feet and stroking in the birdie putt. He turns in 35, as does his partner Rahm, who makes bounceback birdie. They’re both -1, a shot behind the third member of the group, Li, who played the front nine in 34 strokes.
Here comes legendary two-time winner Bernhard Langer! The 1985 and 1993 champion whip-cracks his tee shot at 4 to 15 feet, then rattles in the putt. A birdie to add to the shot he picked up at 2, and he’s in the leading grou... ah, scrub that. Because the unheralded debutant Justin Harding has moved to -3 after a fine birdie at 15. Having found the pines down the right with his drive, he chipped out, then stuck his third to four feet. In goes the putt. And he probably should be two clear of the field now, having sent his tee shot at the par-three 16th to 15 feet, but he leaves himself three feet short. Par and the lead will suffice. Can Harding become only the fourth debutant to win here, and the first since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979? (For the record, Horton Smith and Gene Sarazen, the first two champions in 1934 and 1935 were the other two.) A long way to go, to be fair.
-3: Harding (16)
-2: Conners (F), Holmes (14), Bjerregaard (13), Fleetwood (9), Woodland (9), Li (8), Kizzire (7), Langer (4)
So close to a sensational eagle for Haotong Li at 8! His drive and second shot find the first cut down the left, and he’s chipping his third from 80 yards or so. He trundles it straight towards the hole, and it’s surely dropping ... but it grazes the right lip and doesn’t topple in. Such a shame, and a smiling Tiger ushers his young playing partner forward to tidy up. Li rushes up and complies. He joins the leading group at -2. Par for Tiger (E) and a bogey for Rahm (E), both missing short putts and trudging off in a funk.
Sergio’s career record at the 11th: he’s +26. It’s fair to say he doesn’t like White Dogwood too much. But he’s on the dancefloor in two. As is Finau. Long birdie chances for those two. Stenson however pulled his drive towards the trees down the left, and can only send his second into the Larry Mize Swale to the right of the green. Meanwhile birdie for the glacial JB Holmes at 13, and he joins the group at the top of the leader board. Zoom! Wow! Watch him go!
A limp end to Corey Conners’ round. He finds the heart of 18 in regulation, but races a long putt ten feet past the flag and can’t make the one coming back. Nevertheless, he signs for a first-round 70 at a tournament he could only dream of contesting 11 days ago. He’s the early clubhouse leader, currently in pole position of a crowded leader board.
-2: Conners (F), Harding (14), Fleetwood (7), Woodland (2), Kizzire (6)
-1: Wise (14), Holmes (12), Bjerregaard (12), Howell III (10), Scott (9), Hoffman (8), Leishman (8), Li (7), Rahm (7), Lyle (6), Na (4), Olesen (3), Langer (3)
McIlroy continues to sputter. He doesn’t find the green at the par-three 6th, chips eight feet past the flag, then leaves the putt coming back on the high side. He’s +1 again, so doesn’t need to be driving into the trees down the left of 7. Nothing’s really happening for his partner Rickie Fowler, either. Another pre-tournament pick, last year’s runner-up has five pars and a bogey at 3 to show for his first six holes. Time for these big names to regroup: you can’t win the Masters on Thursday, but you can sure as hell play your way out of contention. Sergio meanwhile, having turned in 37, bogeys the difficult 10th to slip back to +2. Bogey for Stenson, too, who slips back to level par. Finau pars to remain at level. Amen Corner coming up!
You’ll have noticed the name of Tommy Fleetwood on the most recent leader board. He’s just birdied 7 to move to -2. Gary Woodland, whose immense length is just the ticket on fairways drenched by rain earlier in the week, has responded to an opening-hole bogey with birdies at 2, 5 and now 7. He’s -2 as well. Bogey for Li at 6, the result of a tee shot pulled well left, but he’s parred 7 after finding himself just off the front in two, a fine up and down from 35 feet, and the ship’s steadied at -1. Meanwhile a bunker save for his playing partner Tiger, who remains at level par.
Corey Conners was the last man to qualify for this year’s Masters. He did it in some style, too. A couple of Mondays ago, the 27-year-old Canadian had to win a six-man play-off to earn a place at last week’s Valero Texas Open. Having made it, he then won his first-ever title on the PGA Tour in sensational style: his final round consisted of four early birdies followed by four consecutive bogeys, then a back nine of six birdies and three pars. Having previously had this weekend pencilled in as Time Off, he’s suddenly teeing it up here ... and how he’s taken advantage of this unexpected opportunity! He’s just followed up birdies at 13 and 14 by arrowing a long iron from 220 yards to four feet at 15, and knocking in the eagle putt. He’s leading the Masters! I hope someone’s keeping his wife Malory topped up: she became a star last Sunday after reacting entertainingly to her husband’s rollercoaster antics while understandably keeping a glass of Grape-Based Steadier nearby at all times. God speed Corey. God speed Malory.
-3: Conners (16)
-2: Wise (13), Harding (13), Fleetwood (7), Woodland (7), Kizzire (4)
The defending champion Patrick Reed isn’t coming into this tournament in any sort of form. He isn’t in possession of too much hope right now, either, having bogeyed 4 and now 7. He’s +2. Meanwhile Matt Wallace will already be wondering whether it was a wise idea winning the par-three contest yesterday. Nobody’s ever followed that up with victory at the main event, of course, and the 28-year-old debutant has started out with bogey. There are some forces you just can’t fight.
Amen Corner has taken a real chunk out of 1991 champion Ian Woosnam. He found water twice at 11 to run up a quadruple-bogey 8. Then he got wet again at the short 12th; another bogey. And finally a bogey at 13, having sent his drive into the trees down the left. Ooyah, oof, ow. He’s propping up the entire field at the moment at +9, one behind Angel Cabrera, another former winner who isn’t having such a great day. The 2009 champ has bogeyed eight of his last nine holes, and he’s +8. And while we’re reporting the travails of former champions, Danny Willett’s day continues to turn sour. Having birdied 2, he then carded back-to-back bogeys at 5 and 6, and has now tripled 10, sending his second into a shrub down the right, taking a drop, then making a real hames of the next chip. He’s +4.
Trouble for Tiger down 5. He sends his tee shot into sand down the left, and can’t reach the green in two from there. But he gently lifts a lob wedge to six feet. However he misses the short saver, and drops back to level par. Bogey for Rahm, who slips out of the lead; he’s -1. And a no-fuss par for Li, who looks to be enjoying himself. And why not, he’s got a share at -2. Meanwhile Stenson nearly drains a long eagle putt at 8, but it shaves the cup and rolls six feet past. he misses the one coming back for a disappointing three-putt par. He remains at -1. Birdie for Sergio, though, who suddenly doesn’t look in such a muddle at +1. And a birdie for Finau as well; he moves back to level par.
Rory will be feeling a lot better about himself. He’s birdied 3, having crashed a drive to the bottom of the big hill guarding the front of the green, then chipping from 40 yards to four feet and knocking in the birdie putt. Now he’s fired a long iron over the flag at the par-three 4th. He’s got a 40-footer coming back, so it’s hardly a gimme for birdie, but it looks as though he’s slowly working his way back into the groove after a very shoddy start. He’s level par.
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A tramline birdie for Jon Rahm at the par-three 4th, and the big Spaniard joins the leading group! That no longer contains Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open champ bogeying 5. But there’s MASSIVE news on 2, where 1988 hero Alexander Walter Barr Lyle has made a ten-footer for birdie. Time for a leader board, then, just because Sandy’s on it. I’m allowed.
-2: Harding (11), Wise (11), Li (4), Rahm (4), Kizzire (2)
-1: Conners (14), Kanaya -a- (9), Holmes (9), Grace (8), Bjerregaard (8), Stenson (7), Oosthuizen (5), Fleetwood (4), Schauffele (4), Woods (4), SANDY LYLE (2), M Kim (2), Kaymer (2)
Patton Kizzire hasn’t done anything in the majors. Yet. The 33-year-old from Montgomery, Alabama has played in six majors before, missing the cut in four of them, and recording a best performance at the 2016 PGA, just sneaking into the top 50. But he’s now one of the leaders of the Masters Tournament, holing a 70-foot chip at 2 for the first eagle of the week.
McIlroy tries to follow in Li’s footsteps. He’s down by the side of the 2nd in two as well, pretty much exactly where Li was. His chip isn’t quite as sensational, though, to seven feet. And he misses the birdie putt. He remains at +1, far from an ideal start by the world number three. But how about this from Li? He chips to 12 feet at the short par-four 12th for back-to-back birdies! He joins Harding, Oosthuizen and 22-year-old US prospect Aaron Wise (who having dropped a stroke at 1, has since birdied 2, 7 and now 10) in the lead. Birdie at 3 for Rahm too.
-2: Wise (10), Harding (10), Oosthuizen (4), Li (3)
-1: Kanaya -a- (9), Holmes (8), Grace (8), Bjerregaard (7), Stenson (7), Fleetwood (4), Schauffele (3), Woods (3), Rahm (3)
A stunning birdie at 2 by Li, who had reached the side of the green in two. He chips from 30 feet to a couple of inches, and taps in to move to -1. Schauffele is alongside the young Chinese star, as the Californian has dropped a stroke at 3. He’s yet to make a par, having birdied the first two.
Sergio is short of the par-three 6th. He putts from the fringe, up and over a ridge crossing the green. Well, up it, anyway. Then back down. He’s not given it enough, the ball starts trickling back, then ends up at his feet again. His shoulders slump, his head drops. Oh Sergio! The second attempt gets over the hill easily, but he shoves it well to the right. He can’t make the 12-footer he’s left himself, and that’s an awful double-bogey five. He’s +2. Meanwhile big news on 2, as Tiger, hunting his fifth green jacket and 15th major, sends a poor second into the bunker guarding the front. But he splashes out close and tidies up to make his first birdie of the week! That’s a great up and down, and he’s -1, the patrons reacting accordingly.
Not an ideal start for the pre-tournament Rory McIlroy. His opening drive is a wild slice into the woods down the right of Tea Olive. He can’t reach the green in two from there, and he can’t get up and down from the front. He’s +1. Eddie Pepperell bogeys 5 and 6, and all of a sudden he’s +1 too. And a dreadful start by one of the pre-tournament ones to watch, Hideki Matsuyama: bogeys at 1, 2 and 3, and he’s +3 through the first four.
Some more movement at the top of the leader board, and some big names are slowly cranking into gear. Schauffele makes it two birdies from two, while Oosthuizen registers back-to-back birdies with his second of the day at 3. Tommy Fleetwood birdies 2; Bjerregaard heads in the right direction again with birdie at 6. And Grace slips out of the lead with bogey at 7.
-2: Harding (8), Oosthuizen (3), Schauffele (2)
-1: Tway (10), Wise (8), Kanaya -a- (8), Holmes (7), Bjerregaard (7), Grace (7), Grillo (6), Fleetwood (2)
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A bit of trouble for Sergio at 5, down a big bank at the back in two. A tricky up and down. But he bundles a fine chip up, his ball clattering into the flag and leaving a kick-in par putt. He’s been steady and ... until then ... unspectacular. But it’ll do. Bogey for his partner Stenson, who can’t rake in a 35-foot par saver, the result of a poor approach. Finau, who had dropped a stroke at 4, pars to remain at +1. Meantime, the defending champion Patrick Reed is out. Steady and unspectacular. Three pars in the first three holes.
Branden Grace has recorded top-five finishes at the US Open, the Open and the PGA. He’s shot the lowest round in major-championship history, 62 at Birkdale in 2017. But he’s never really featured at the Masters. Perhaps this year will change everything. Having bogeyed the opening hole, he’s followed up with birdies at 2, 4 and 6, and he’s grabbed a share of Justin Harding’s early lead at -2. Regulation pars meanwhile for Tiger, Li and Rahm down Tea Olive.
Just the one man out front now. Emiliano Grillo bogeys 5 to slip into the pack at -1, while Kevin Tway once again fails to make par, this time with bogey at 9. Justin Harding at -2 on his own. Xander Schauffele, a major winner waiting to happen, starts his bid with birdie at 1. Danny Willett drops shots at 5 and 6, and he’s tumbled down to +1. And Louis Oosthuizen, who made the first televised albatross at the Masters on 2 back in 2012, birdies the same hole to join the big group at -1.
Tiger! The 14-time major champion and four-time Masters winner takes to the tee, and batters a drive down the middle of the fairway. Lovely. Jon Rahm, who finished fourth last year in only his third appearance, clatters one over the big bunker down the right. The third member of this featured group is Haotong Li, who you’ll remember shooting 63 on the final day of the 2017 Open, finishing third as a 21-year-old rookie. Li’s happy with his tee shot as well, straight down the track. He was asked earlier this week if he could become the first Asian winner at Augusta National. “Why not?” he smiled modestly. Indeed. Why not?
Kevin Tway has played eight holes now, and only parred two of them. Those came at 1 and 3, sandwiching birdie at 2. Since then, he’s gone birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie, and that latest one at 8 gives him a share of the lead at -2. Meanwhile a solid start by another debutant, Eddie Pepperell. The 28-year-old from Abingdon birdied 2, and is -1 through the first four holes. The carefree and immensely likeable Pepperell famously shot a final-day 67 at last year’s Open after a few pints the night before. Perhaps he was on the mint juleps last night.
Here’s how quickly things can change at Augusta. Lucas Bjerregaard sends his tee shot at the par-three 4th into the sand at the front, chips out to seven feet, then takes three putts from short range to record a double bogey. He tumbles out of the lead and back into the pack at level par in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile Stenson doesn’t play a particularly good approach into the short par-four 3rd, having taken care off the tee with an iron. He only finds the fringe. But in goes the chip, and he joins the group at -1! A third straight par for his partners Sergio and Finau.
-2: Harding (6), Grillo (4)
-1: Tway (7), Kanaya -a- (5), Grace (4), Pepperell (3), Stenson (3)
This is poor from Sergio at 2. In prime position in the centre of the fairway, he tugs his long iron into sand guarding the front left of the green, doesn’t get particularly close with his splash out, and that’s a big opportunity to card an early birdie gone. Pars for Finau and Stenson too, but everyone in this group made hard work of that. Meanwhile Justin Harding and Emiliano Grillo have joined Bjerregaard at the top of the leader board at -2, after birdies at 6 and 4 respectively. The South African Harding is playing in his first Masters at the age of 33, and only his third major in total, having missed the cut at the 2013 Open and last year’s PGA. Grillo has yet to deliver on his early promise, having made the top 20 here in 2016 as a 23-year-old. Both looking to make their first big impression on a major. They’ve started well.
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Lucas Bjerregaard is playing in his first Masters, and his first major since missing the cut at the 2015 US Open. The big-hitting 27-year-old Dane saw off Tiger Woods in the WGC-Match Play Championship recently, finishing fourth, and looks to be warming to life on the PGA Tour: he also ended in a tie for 12th at the Honda Classic, and inside the top 30 at the Players. In fine form, then, and he’s started out very well here: after birdies at 2 and 3, he leads the Masters on his own, the amateur Kanaya having dropped one at 4.
-2: Bjerregaard (3)
-1: Tway (7), Harding (5), Willett (4), Kanaya -a- (4), Grillo (3), Pepperell (2)
Sergio splits the fairway at the inviting par-five 2nd with a 323-yard boomer. Meanwhile early reports of other former winners. Slow starts for the 1991 champ Ian Woosnam, who has bogeyed 4 and 5, and Mike Weir, the first left-handed winner at Augusta in 2003, who drops shots at 1 and 4. They’re propping up the early leader board at +2. Bogeys at 1 and 4 sandwich birdie at 3 for 2009’s Angel Cabrera. The 2011 victor Charl Schwartzel has parred the first two holes. Better news for 2016’s Danny Willett, who is in red figures early doors with birdie at 2. And of course you can always depend on Freddie Couples to put on a show round these parts: the evergreen, ever-popular 1992 winner birdies 2, then hands the shot back at 3, and he’s level par.
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A real nerve-settler for Sergio, who wedges delicately up the bank, landing his ball just over the top, and letting it roll to four feet. In goes the saver. Par salvaged. That’s fine work after a shaky start. Finau trundles his chip from the front to four feet as well, and rolls in the par putt with confidence. But Stenson’s effort at converting his 30-foot birdie putt is woeful, always missing by a distance on the right, and short to boot. He’s left with a shaky three footer; in it goes. All three will be happy enough to walk to Pink Dogwood with pars in their pocket.
Sergio sends his second into the swale to the right of the putting surface. He’ll have a tricky up and down from there, with not much green to play with. One of his partners, the big-hitting Tony Finau, is faced with a similar dilemma, having left his second short. The third member of this morning’s first featured group, the 2016 Open champion Henrik Stenson, is on in regulation, looking at a 30-footer for birdie.
Sergio tees it up! Ah Sergio. The 2017 champion - we’ll always have 2017 - didn’t exactly defend his title in style last year, infamously running up a first-round octuple-bogey 13 on the par-five 15th. “It’s the first time in my career where I make a 13 without missing a shot,” he said afterwards. Shades of Maurice Flitcroft’s “I thought I putted well, apart from five putts on the 11th” after his 121 in Open qualifying in 1976. Anyway, Sergio’s Augusta form continues as he sends his opening drive into the deep, high-faced bunker down the right of Tea Olive. On this very subject, here’s Adam Hirst: “Should be a great one, big name winner please! Big Name Out of Contention by Hole 5: I’m going for Phil Mickelson this year. I’d go for Sergio but I know you’d hate me for it.”
Takumi Kanaya keeps on keepin’ on! The 20-year-old amateur from Hiroshima, who guaranteed his participation here by winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur last October, has a fine CV already: he won the Japan Amateur in 2015, then finished runner-up at the 2017 Japan Open, a single shot shy of winner Yuta Ikeda. At the Sony Open in January, he bested Bubba Watson by a stroke and only missed the cut by three. He’s currently ranked the seventh best amateur in the world. Now he’s got a share of the lead at the Masters, having added to that opening-hole birdie with another at 2! Already he’ll be dreaming of winning the low amateur prize here, just like his compatriot and mentor Hideki Matsuyama did in 2011. It’s only fair to mark this occasion with the first leader board of this year’s blog.
-2: Tway (4), Harding (2), Kanaya -a- (2)
-1: Willett (2), Snedeker (2), Holmes (1)
Updated
There are six amateurs competing this year: Kevin O’Connell and Devon Bling of the USA, Takumi Kanaya of Japan, Viktor Hovland of Norway, Alvaro Ortiz of Mexico and Jovan Rebula of South Africa. A couple of them have already made their mark. The 19-year-old UCLA student Bling made a hole-in-one at the 7th in the par-three yesterday, pitching into the heart of the green and sending his ball spinning back into the cup in the most satisfying style. He high-fived anyone and everyone in delight. A member had told him to hit his sand wedge 120 yards, aiming for the middle of the building in the distance, so he did exactly that. “I told him later: ‘That was a great number!’” Bling finished in a tie for third with Bubba Watson and Martin Kaymer, not bad company to be keeping. And now Kanaya has birdied the opening hole of the 2019 Masters, to join the bunch of early leaders at -1, alongside the aforementioned Tway, Brandt Snedeker, Justin Harding and JB Holmes!
Fast starts are crucial at Augusta. More than three-quarters of the previous 82 tournaments have been won by a player who finished the opening day in the top ten. So it’s already time to get busy. The pre-tournament favourite Rory McIlroy, out in just under a couple of hours, will be champing at the bit, given the conditions. It’s overcast right now, but due to get warm and sunny later. However, thanks to the rain that came down in buckets on Monday and Tuesday, the course will be soft and receptive, playing long, just how the likes of Rory and Dustin Johnson like it. The greens will be as slick as ever, mind, thanks to Augusta’s fancy SubAir drainage system. Conditions ideal for scoring, then. Golf fever running very high as a result.
The first birdie of the week has been made by Kevin Tway. The son of 1986 PGA Championship winner Bob, 30-year-old Kevin won his first event on Tour earlier this season at the Safeway Open, a victory that booked his place at Augusta for the very first time. He was just off the green at the downhill par-five 2nd, Pink Dogwood, in two, and got up and down to become the first player this week with a red figure by his name. He’s -1, and what a start to his Augusta career.
Another glorious tradition of Masters week: the par-three contest. For a while, it looked like the 1988 Masters champion Sandy Lyle had added to his 1997 and 1998 par-three victories in this relaxed Wednesday shebang. But officials discovered a scoring error - shades of Roberto De Vicenzo and Bob Goalby in the tournament proper in 1968 - and Lyle dropped into a play-off with Matt Wallace. The 28-year-old Englishman won at the third extra hole, to become the ninth debutant to win the par-three contest on his first go. Great news on the one hand, but what Augusta giveth, Augusta taketh away: no winner of the par-three has ever gone on to win the green jacket the following Sunday. A rookie error?
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“Ladies and gentleman, the 2019 Masters Tournament is officially underway!” Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley there, with the words that got the little white dimpled thing rolling down the verdant highways of this famous old course once more. But it was the honorary starters who did the deeds. Gary Player - a three-time winner here and a man who played the back nine in 30 strokes to win from seven back in 1978 - and Jack Nicklaus - six green jackets, the most famous of all his valedictory 1986 putter-aloft triumph - hit the opening drives down Tea Olive. Nicklaus is a grand 79 now, Player absurdly sprightly for 83. Two legends embrace. Arnie looking down from somewhere. The crowd go wild. You’ll not hear many bigger cheers this entire week. Here we go, then!
There’s only one way to start, isn’t there?
Welcome to our coverage of the 83rd Masters Tournament!
It seems like only yesterday. Rory McIlroy arrived at Augusta National on Sunday 10 April 2011 as the 54-hole leader of the Masters. He was four strokes ahead of the field. He was still leading standing on the 10th tee. But not for very much longer. His drive hit a tree and ricocheted towards some nearby cabins. He ended up with a triple-bogey seven. His head gone, he three-putted 11, four-putted 12, then lashed his drive at 13 into Rae’s Creek. “Well, that wasn’t the plan!” he quipped after shooting 80, eventually finishing tied for 15th in what had appeared to be a one-horse race.
2011, though! Where have those eight years gone? Best not to think about it. But Rory has since collected all of the other majors, the FedEx Cup, and most recently the unofficial fifth major, the Players. Pretty much all that’s left to achieve - using broad brush strokes here, but you get the drift - is to claim the big one that got away when he was a mere pup of 21.
If the bookies, who have McIlroy a short-priced favourite, are right, this could be his year. Holywood’s biggest star is in fine fettle after his win at Sawgrass, a victory that ended a long barren run. If he manages it, he’ll become only the sixth man in the Masters era to complete the career slam, after Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. That’s a helluva club to join. God speed, Rory.
He’s not going to have it all his own way, though, is he? Plenty of other players will be thinking it’s their time, too. Dustin Johnson’s game is tailor made for Augusta. Ditto the new world number one Justin Rose, who has unfinished business here after losing that play-off to Sergio a couple of years back. Rickie Fowler was runner-up here last year and has to win that maiden major at some point, surely. Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Jason Day and Tommy Fleetwood have all the tools. Brooks Koepka and Francesco Molinari are form horses in the majors. Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed aren’t on their games right now but know what it takes to win here and what better place to get back in the saddle?
Then of course there’s Tiger. The great man returned to winning ways last season by landing the Tour Championship, his 80th victory on tour but his first in five years. After a rough time, the four-time Masters champion is back ... and sixth favourite this week behind McIlroy, DJ, Rose, Rahm and Fowler. Having come so close at last year’s Open, then even closer at the PGA, this could be the fairytale to end all fairytales. Is number 15 on the cards? It could be on the cards. God speed, Tiger.
There are others. Many others. Bubba, Bryson, Casey, Oosthuizen, Matsuyama, Finau, Leishman, Kuchar, Sergio, Phil, the Sonics. But we’ll be here all day, and the golf fever’s raging. Won’t someone please call Dr Golf? He’ll get going at 2pm BST, 9am in Georgia. It’s on!
BST times; US unless stated; *amateur
13.30 S Lyle (Sco), M Kim, P Kizzire
13.41 T Immelman (SA), M Kaymer (Ger), D Bling
13.52 L Mize, J Walker, S Cink
14.03 JM Olazábal (Sp), K Na, T Olesen (Den)
14.14 B Langer (Ger), M Wallace (Eng), A Ortiz (Mex)
14.25 A Noren (Swe), K Bradley, M Fitzpatrick (Eng)
14.36 V Singh (Fij), B Horschel, J Rebula (SA)*
14.47 K Kisner, K Aphibarnrat (Tha), S Imahira (Jpn)
14.58 Z Johnson, I Poulter (Eng), M Kuchar
15.09 F Molinari (It), R Cabrera-Bello (Sp), T Hatton (Eng)
15.31 B Watson, P Cantlay, S Kodaira (Jpn)
15.42 D Johnson, B DeChambeau, J Day (Aus)
15.53 P Mickelson, J Rose (Eng), J Thomas
16.04 J Spieth, P Casey (Eng), B Koepka
16.15 A Landry, A Long, C Conners (Can)
16.26 I Woosnam (Wal), K Mitchell, K Tway
16.37 M Weir (Can), S Lowry (Irl), K O’Connell
16.48 A Cabrera (Arg), A Wise, J Harding (SA)
16.59 D Willett (Eng), B Snedeker, T Kanaya (Jpn)*
17.10 F Couples, Si Woo Kim (Kor), JB Holmes
17.32 B Grace (SA), E Grillo (Arg), L Bjerregaard (Den)
17.43 C Schwartzel (SA), C Howell III, E Pepperell (Eng)
17.54 S García (Sp), T Finau, H Stenson (Swe)
18.05 A Scott (Aus), H Matsuyama (Jpn), K Stanley
18.16 P Reed, W Simpson, V Hovland (Nor)*
18.27 C Hoffman, L Oosthuizen (SA), M Leishman (Aus)
18.38 T Fleetwood (Eng), X Schauffele, G Woodland
18.49 T Woods, Haotong Li (Chn), J Rahm (Sp)
19.00 R McIlroy (NI), R Fowler, C Smith (Aus)
Updated
