The conditions were extraordinary. The fight is fierce. Then, a player from the LIV Golf series is among the leaders. A fascinating prelude to a tournament that promises to be very interesting with three players sharing the lead at the end of the first round of the Masters Tournament. Although they each returned a 65 (-7) card, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland and Brooks Koepka had a very different Thursday.
In 2022, Scottie Scheffler won the green jacket with a cumulative score of -10. Ditto for Hideki Matsuyama the previous year. Things still have time to change, and they will, but the performance of the three point guards, at seven under par, speaks to the exceptional quality of the field and the weather.
Shortly after dawn, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson each teeed off on the first tee, as is the tradition, to kick off hostilities for the 87th edition of the Masters Tournament.
The day started with a trio of former champions and ended with a triad of eventual winners.
In fact, several golfers have stood out. The conditions were extremely permissive and the Augusta National let itself be tamed somewhat. Extremely rare are the winners who have been able to put on the famous jacket by being more than four strokes behind after the first round. If the logic is followed, about 16 golfers can believe in their chances.
At the moment, Rahm, Hovland and Koepka are in enviable positions.
Rahm had started his tournament badly. The world’s No. 3 player needed four putts to complete the first hole with a double bogey. He summed it up this way at the end of the day: “I missed my first [putt], I missed my second, I missed my third and I got the fourth. »
The Spaniard did not let himself be distracted. Even if he had to play catch-up golf and avoid another disaster at all costs, Rahm made it through this rocky start. He completed two straight birdies on the second and third holes.
Even if his putter was capricious at the start of the tournament, Rahm became himself again. He was intractable with his short game. He had an eagle and five birdies on his last twelve holes to finish with a round of 65. “I was happy with all my putts, because I felt good hitting them, it was just a matter of speed. Otherwise, everything else worked. »
For his part, Viktor Hovland wasted no time in showcasing himself, even though he had already attracted attention with his floral polo shirt, in a nod to the unique pink azaleas at Augusta National.
The Norwegian wedged an eagle from the second hole thanks to an exquisite approach shot and a perfect putt. Throughout the day, despite the grandeur of the event and the setting, the 25-year-old athlete was unwavering. He has always managed to get out of trouble thanks to his approaches. This is the key to success in this land of a thousand traps. He particularly distinguished himself in the 14th and 15th, where he made his only two errors of the day in the middle of the aisle.
“It was my first time playing with Tiger [Woods] and there was a lot of pressure this morning,” Hovland said after his round. But to go out there and play bogey-free and turn in a 65 and be able to rely on my short game, that was really, really special. »
Hovland was the most consistent and efficient player in this first round. “On days when the conditions are more accessible, you want to bring in a low score. So if the conditions get worse, it’s easier to protect the lead. »
Then Koepka, the enfant terrible of golf, also proved why he still needed to be taken seriously. With a victory on the LIV Golf circuit in Orlando last week, the quadruple champion in grand slam tournaments seemed to be surfing on this momentum.
Now that he’s found the sidelines, the Koepka parading in yellow and white on the perfectly trimmed grass of golf’s Mecca looked awfully like the dominant athlete he was in 2018 and 2019. “The conditions were right . I’m glad I landed my shots in the right places, although I missed a few easier putts. I’m happy with the way I played today in general,” he said.
He started his round quietly, but he still completed it with eight birdies. His reading of the greens on the 15th, 17th and 18th holes was stunning.
The mercury read 26 degrees Celsius at the start of the day. Even in practice, Woods was unable to hit three balls in a row without wiping his face with his white towel, he was sweating so much.
This temperature disturbed the five-time champion of the tournament. Between his first tee shot and his last putt, the temperature had risen above 30 degrees.
The 47-year-old athlete was exhausted. He had mentioned Tuesday at a press conference that his biggest challenge was not to hit the balls, but to move between each shot. And it showed in the first round. Not only was he affected by the heat, but he was inaccurate. Neither move seemed to work the way he intended in the early game. He was limping, too, as if his body was too much to drag.
However, since there is only one tiger, Woods had the crowd roaring late on the 15th and 16th holes with two birdies. He limited the damage on the back nine to end the day with a 74 (2) card. If he can return a score of 70 or 71 on Friday, the chances of seeing red Sunday, in the final round, are pretty good.
