84th Masters Day One: Ugly Early, Then Surprises Until Dark

It wasn’t exactly an ideal Thursday morning at Augusta National Golf Club.

It was barely light and misty when six-time champion Jack Nicklaus and three-time winner Gary Player made their way to the first tee.

“Good morning.  My name is Fred Ridley and on behalf of the membership at Augusta National Golf Club I’d like to welcome you to the 2020 Masters.”

Gee, thanks Fred, as if none of the 200 or so gathered there just before 7 a.m. didn’t know who you are.

Jack and Gary swung away and the 84th Masters was on.

The skies stayed dark, the mist turned to a drizzle.  The very early tee times got going — two tee start this year.  It didn’t take long before the horn blasted, ending play and bringing the players in from the course.  Thunderstorms were in the area with some lightning on the radar.

The light rain got heavy and water was running all over the place.  Augusta National drains incredibly well — money can buy the best drainage systems in the world.

Still, everyone sat around for two hours, forty-five minutes.  Play resumed around 10:30 with a rainbow on the horizon, perhaps a good omen for defending champion Tiger Woods.

Tiger had the tough task of starting off the 10th.  Ten and 11 are ranked the two toughest holes on the course.  Tiger pulled his approach left at 10, got it up-and-down for par then survived a hooked tee shot at 11 and made par there.  The defending champion got through those two toughies, made easy par at 12 then scored the first of his birdies at the 13th.

On a day filled with surprises Tiger would provide a very pleasant one.  Woods went on to shoot a bogey-free, four-under par 68, his first-ever bogey-free first round in The Masters and his first bogey-free round in his last 106 rounds in majors.

He put himself in the conversation for a sixth Green Jacket.  Only a shot behind Tiger was 50-year-old Phil Mickelson, who finished Friday morning and missed from five feet at 18 to join Tiger at 68.  Phil signed or 69.  As good as those scores may have looked, 63-year-old Bernhard Langer tied Tiger with a 68 of his own and clipped Lefty by a shot.

Here’s how the other surprises and non-surprises shook out on day one:

Surprise:  Pre-tournament favorite Bryson DeChambeau struggled mightily right out of the box.  He made a nice par at 10, survived a big swooping hook at 11, found the ball in the pines, punched out and salvaged a par.  He made another at 12 but at 13 he paid the price for shoving his tee shot into the pines and pine-straw right of the fairway.  His second found the bushes behind the green, unplayable but he still had to find it.  He hit a provisional but it found Rae’s Creek.  It was imperative he find the ball in the bushes.  They did, just in time.  He took the penalty and the drop, messed up his fourth, left his fifth 12 feet above the hole and walked off with a double-bogey 7.  By day’s end, he was fortunate to shoot 70.

Surprise:  Paul Casey opened with 65.  Last year he shot 81 in the first round.  If Augusta National kept records for best first-round improvement, Casey would have snagged that honor, chopping 16 shots off his opening round of 2019.  By the way, Casey came in as a 100-t0-1 shot to win.  .

No Surprise:  Lee Westwood was among the early leaders.  He went out with a five-under par 31 on the front nine and eventually finished four-under, tied with Tiger at 68.  Westwood played well on the European Tour since the return from COVID shutdown.  He’s putting well and his short game has been the best it’s been in years.  Still, Westwood came in as a 150-to-1 shot to win.

Surprise:  First-timer Jazz Janewattananond from Thailand shot 69.  He’s a 1000-to-1 shot to win.  It’s 100-to-1 that Sir Nick can pronounce Jazz’s last name.

No Surprise:  Green Jacket winner Jordan Spieth opened with 74 on a day made for low scores.

Surprise:  Sixty-two year-old Larry Mize, whose spectacular playoff chip at the 11th won him a Green Jacket in 1987 and drove another stake through Greg Norman’s heart, shot a two-under par 70.

No Surprise:  World’s No. Jon Rahm posted a three-under par 69.  He survived a shaky start that saw him make bogeys at 11 and 12.

Surprise:  U.S. Amateur runnerup John Augenstein from Owensboro, Ky., was the only amateur in red numbers.  He shot a dazzling 69, finishing Friday morning.

Overall, Thursday turned out to be a perfect day for scoring.  As Tiger pointed out, the greens were soft and slower than normal.  You could pretty much throw darts and mistakes weren’t accentuated they way they are when the greens are firm and fast.  All in all, it looked like “The National” played to a par of 70 with a lot of scores in red number.

There are plenty of big names in solid position after their first round.

World’s No. 1 Dustin Johnson ran in a nice birdie putt at the 18th to shoot 65 and share the 18-hole lead with with Fritelli and Casey.  D.J. is looking very strong.  It was his first bogey-free round at The Masters.

Justin Thomas was totally solid.  But he did miss a birdie attempt at the 18th to tie Casey.  Still, he posted a 66 and J.T. looks really good.

First-timer Matt Wolff, is four-under through 11 but couldn’t finish strong and wound up with a 70.

Dylan Fritelli three-putted the par five eighth for par then finished with a par at nine to tie Casey at seven-under par.

Brooks Koepka went 15 holes without a birdie but made eagle at 15 then added birdies at 16 and 18 to shoot two-under.

The contenders are lining up with the biggest names of all squarely in the hunt.

The weather forecast has turned nice, looks like smooth sailing the rest of the way.  They’ll finish round one Friday morning, get right to the second round and play until dark then finish the second round early Saturday morning.  Trimming the field to the low 50 and ties should get them back on schedule by the end of the day Saturday.

The final round will start early Sunday morning and finish early Sunday afternoon.

Still a long way to go in the final major of 2020.

Game on!

Masters Scoreboard: