Key events
Another par for Collin Morikawa, this time at 3. Not the worst result in the end, his chip up from the bottom of the big slope at the front nearly toppling down the bank at the back. He nudges a fairway wood from the fringe to kick-in distance. The 2004 Open champion Todd Hamilton would surely approve. Morikawa remains at level par, as does Min-Woo Lee, who also pars the hole. Joaquin Niemann makes it three pars out of three in the group; he’s in a shrinking leading group at -2.
-2: Kirk (8), Rai (6), Jaeger (5), Niemann (3)
The 30-year-old Colombian Nicolas Echavarria is making his Masters debut. He won the Par Three Tournament yesterday, beating JJ Spaun on the second hole of a play-off. A lovely thing to have on your resumé, albeit a mixed blessing: since the Wednesday tourney was first played in 1960, nobody has won it and then claimed a Green Jacket the following Sunday. Bogeys at 6 and 7 suggest Echavarria won’t be breaking new ground this week; he’s +2. His moment of glory upstaged by Poppy McIlroy, and all.
Birdies at 2 for Joaquin Niemann and Min-Woo Lee. Another par for Collin Morikawa, who passes up a good opportunity on a hole that has already coughed 14 birdies, having dumped his second into the bunker guarding the front right of the green, the pin over on the left. Lee and Morikawa are level par, but Niemann joins the leading group, one that no longer features Nicolai Højgaard, who drops a stroke after flaying his tee shot at 9 into the pines down the right.
-2: Vegas (9), Z Johnson (7), Kirk (7), Kent -a- (6), Rai (6), Harman (4), Jaeger (4), Niemann (2)
The world number one and defending champion Scottie Scheffler arrives for work. He’s going for a third win in four years! “Hallelujah!” cries a preacher man as Scottie splits the fairway. Justin Thomas sends his tee shot into the trees down the right, while the third member of the group, the US Amateur champion Jose Luis Ballester finds the first cut on the left. Ballester, the first Spaniard to win the US Amateur, will surely be boosted by the record here of his countryfolk. Seve, Ollie, Sergio and Jon Rahm, of course … but also Carla Bernat Escuder, who won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last week with three consecutive rounds of 68 (two at Champions Retreat, one at Augusta National). No country, other than the USA, has a better record at this storied course.
Joaquin Niemann is one of the hottest players on the LIV Tour right now. Some would argue he’s the most in-form golfer on the planet. The 26-year-old from Chile is living up to that billing, albeit with a data sample size of one hole. Birdie, having found the semi-rough down the right of the fairway, sending his second into the heart of the green, and stroking in the 20-footer that remains. His playing partner Collin Morikawa, another much-tipped player going into this week, makes a fuss-free par, but the third member of this group, Min-Woo Lee – who kept Scottie Scheffler at arm’s length, just, to win the recent Houston Open – bogeys, having hooked his opening drive into the pines down the left. Scottie very soon, by the way.
Nicolai Højgaard continues apace with his spectacular repair job. His fourth birdie of the day on 7; his fifth on 8. The young Dane is absolutely flying, and we’d already be thinking about possible course-record tilts … were it not for that appalling bogey, double bogey start. But what a response. What mettle. What moxie! He joins a leading pack that now also features the latest PGA Tour winner Brian Harman. The 2023 Open champ landed the Texas Open last weekend in typical street-fighting style, and has opened this week’s work with birdies at 1 and 3.
-2: N Højgaard (8), Z Johnson (7), Kirk (6), Kent -a- (5), Rai (4), Harman (3)
Noah Kent qualified for this year’s Tournament by finishing runner-up at the US Amateur. One of five amateurs in this year’s field – along with US Amateur champion Jose Luis Ballester, NCAA individual title winner Hiroshi Tai, US Mid-Am champ Evan Beck and Latin American Amateur winner Justin Hastings – he’s made back-to-back birdies at 3 and 4, and like Davis Riley before him, can now always say he once led the Masters. A fast start for Wolverhampton’s Aaron Rai on debut, too, with birdies at 2 and 3. Rai has yet to make a serious impression on any of the majors, but he broke his PGA Tour duck last year at the Wyndham, formerly the Greater Greensboro Open, so knows what it takes to enter the winners circle. Sandy Lyle’s first victory in the USA was at the Greater Greensboro, incidentally, for anyone interested in extremely tenuous omens.
-2: Z Johnson (5), Kirk (5), Kent -a- (4), Rai (3)
The Honorary Starters. The dawn ceremony went strictly to plan. Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson – 140 Masters appearances and 11 Green Jackets between them – were love-bombed by the gallery. Of course they were. “The fairway gets a little more narrow every year,” cracked 1964, 1974 and 1976 winner Player, before teeing off and performing a high-kick, just because he can. They don’t call him Mr Fitness for nothing. “It got off the ground!” quipped 1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975 and 1986 champion Nicklaus of his shot, but of course it did. “It’s hard for me to get down,” laughed 1977 and 1981 champ Watson when teeing it up, despite looking so very nimble for a 75-year-old. Flush, stripe, flush. Beloved heroes one and all.
Chris Kirk hasn’t got much of a record in the majors. A top-five finish at the 2022 PGA Championship and that’s it. But the 39-year-old from Knoxville is coming off the back of two consecutive top-25 finishes at the Masters, shooting a best-of-day third-round score of 68 last year, and he’s taking that form into this year’s Tournament. Birdies at 2 and 4, and he’s the joint leader now with his playing partner today, the 2007 champ Zach Johnson, who has picked up strokes at 2 and 3. Meanwhile birdies for the old boys: Bernhard Langer at 3 and 1992 hero Freddie Couples at 1. Five former champions on this early leaderboard!
-2: Z Johnson (4), Kirk (4)
-1: Vegas (6), Weir (5), M Kim (5), Willett (4), Thompson (3), Langer (3), Kent -a- (3), Poston (2), Rai (2), Couples (1), Harman (1)
Nicolai Højgaard clearly loves this place. A top-20 finish on debut last year, and he’s not letting that aforementioned cold start of bogey, double bogey get him down. He’s followed up his birdie at 3 by landing his tee shot at the 182-yard par-three 4th to six feet, then from trees down the left of 5, sending a draw through a gap from 194 yards to 14 feet, making the putt on both occasions. Three birdies in a row, and having now carded his first par of the round at 6, he’s level again. That’s some response after that horror start to his round.
The two-time champion Bernhard Langer is playing in his final Masters this year. The 1985 and 1993 winner eases his opening drive down the middle of Tea Olive, then finds the centre of the green en route to par. Langer is 67 years old and still looks as young and sprightly as he did in his pomp. The German made the cut here as recently as a 63-year-old in 2020, becoming the oldest player ever to do so. (See below.) “My knees are shot,” he sighed that year, so it’s nice to hear he’ll be chauffeured to and from the course this week in a bespoke Masters-themed Mercedes-Benz with green paint, his own signature on the upholstery, all the trimmings. A living legend who deserves his pimped ride.
Erstwhile champions are out and about, and three of them have joined the leading pack with an early birdie. Mike Weir, who became the first left-handed player to win the Masters in 2003, has birdied 3, while the 2007 champion Zach Johnson and 2016 shock-winner Danny Willett pick up a stroke at 2. The early leader Davis Riley goes backwards, though, the first victim this week of those huge, deep bunkers down the left of the 5th fairway. Bogey, followed by another at the par-three 6th, the result of a weak chip from the bottom of the swale back left, and all of a sudden he’s +1. Welcome to Augusta National!
-1: Vegas (4), Weir (3), M Kim (3), Z Johnson (2), Kirk (2), Willett (2)
It’s cool early in the morning in Augusta, which explains the lack of early birdie action. (Only Jhonattan Vegas, at 3, and Michael Kim, at 2, have matched Davis Riley’s achievement of carding a red number so far.) Given that it should warm up later, and that there’s wind and possibly a thunderstorm expected tomorrow afternoon, today’s early starters appear to be on the wrong side of the draw. Good news for Rory McIlroy, then. In theory at least. Hopefully the thunderstorm will give Augusta National the bodyswerve tomorrow, and after that we should enjoy a sunny and dry weekend, if not a particularly warm one.
Nicolai Højgaard made his debut here last year, and on Thursday posted a magnificent 67. The young Dane ended the week in a very respectable tie for 16th, by some distance the best finish of his fledgeling major career. He’s making his presence felt this Thursday too, albeit in a more scattershot manner. He’s unable to get up and down from the bunker to the left of the 1st green, and follows that bogey by hooking wildly into the woods at 2, necessitating a reload, and leading to a double bogey. Birdie at the nearly drivable par-four 3rd takes him back up to +2, but the 24-year-old is currently propping up the current 14-player-strong leaderboard.
There are so many traditions to be observed at the beginning of each Masters. Arriving via Magnolia Lane. The Amateur Dinner. The Champions Dinner. Skipping the water at 16. The par-three contest. The Honorary Starters. And someone unexpected nearly always flies out of the traps early doors, able to say for ever more that they once led the Masters, and even though there were only a handful of fellow pros out on the course at the time, facts are facts and there isn’t anything anyone can ever do to rebut it. Step forward then Davis Riley, who took the opening shot of this year’s Tournament and followed a par at Tea Olive with birdie on the par-five 2nd, reward for wedging his approach to ten feet. The 28-year-old from Mississippi is on debut, so this is some introduction to life at golf’s most glamorous major. Great stuff, with the caveat that, unless Riley is to become the first debutant to win since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979, the only way from here is down.
-1: Riley (3)
E: Vegas (2), Weir (10), M Kim (1), Young (1), Z Johnson (1), Kirk (1)
Preamble
Welcome, patrons, to the 89th staging of the Masters Tournament. The contestants are invited guests and should be treated with courtesy and respect. Although cheering and positive responses to great play are encouraged, unsolicited or consistent calls from the gallery are prohibited. Running is considered to be unacceptable behaviour. Prohibited items include Cell Phones, Beepers, Electronic devices, Tablets, any device with recording and/or transmission capability, Flags, Banners, Signs, Ladders, Periscopes and Weapons of any kind (regardless of permit). Pimento Cheese sandwiches are $1.50 and Iced Tea is two bucks. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler is the favourite, all the tee times are below, and this is the famous CBS theme on a looooong loop to get you in the mood. It’s on! Masters fever is real; won’t someone please call Dr Golf?
First-round tee times (USA unless stated, all times BST)
12.40 Patton Kizzire, Davis Riley
12.51 Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den), Jhonattan Vegas (Ven), Chun-An Yu (Tai)
13.02 Michael Kim, Mike Weir (Can), Cameron Young
13.13 Joe Highsmith, Zach Johnson, Chris Kirk
13.24 Nicolas Echavarria (Col), Davis Thompson, Danny Willett (Eng)
13.35 Noah Kent, Bernhard Langer (Ger), Will Zalatoris
13.52 J. T. Poston, Aaron Rai (Eng), Cameron Smith (Aus)
14.03 Fred Couples, Harris English, Taylor Pendrith (Can)
14.14 Corey Conners (Can), Brian Harman, Stephan Jaeger (Ger)
14.25 Byeong-Hun An (Kor), Max Greyserman, Patrick Reed
14.36 Nick Dunlap, Billy Horschel, Robert MacIntyre (Sco)
14.47 Min-Woo Lee (Aus), Collin Morikawa, Joaquin Niemann (Chi)
14.58 Keegan Bradley, Jason Day (Aus), Phil Mickelson
15.15 Jose Luis Ballester (Spa), Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas
15.26 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Joo-Hyung Kim (Kor), Jordan Spieth
15.37 Thomas Detry (Bel), Tony Finau, Maverick McNealy
15.48 Rafael Campos (Pur), Cameron Davis (Aus), Austin Eckroat
15.59 Angel Cabrera (Arg), Laurie Canter (Eng), Adam Schenk
16.10 Brian Campbell, Thriston Lawrence (Rsa), Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa)
16.21 Evan Beck, Matthieu Pavon (Fra), Bubba Watson
16.38 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa), Tom Hoge, Matt McCarty
16.49 Denny McCarthy, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Hiroshi Tai (Sgp)
17.00 Max Homa, Justin Rose (Eng), J. J. Spaun
17.11 Justin Hastings (Cay), Dustin Johnson, Nick Taylor (Can)
17.22 Daniel Berger, Sergio Garcia (Spa), Lucas Glover
17.33 Patrick Cantlay, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng), Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den)
17.50 Russell Henley, Sung-Jae Im (Kor), Brooks Koepka
18.01 Viktor Hovland (Nor), Xander Schauffele, Adam Scott (Aus)
18.12 Ludvig Aaberg (Swe), Akshay Bhatia, Rory McIlroy (NIrl)
18.23 Bryson DeChambeau, Shane Lowry (Irl), Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)
18.34 Wyndham Clark, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Jon Rahm (Spa)
18.45 Sam Burns, Sepp Straka (Aut), Sahith Theegala
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